The Preparations

Receiving Permanent Residence status is the beginning of a new journey. The preparations require you to look at a lot of aspects before you get a move on. It’s unlike going on a short trip or a vacation where you just stuff a duffel bag, buy your tickets and be on your way. Well, for me short trips are also different. I must know where I am going to eat and bode. My google map is marked with stars for all locations I am going to be visiting one week prior to my travel date.

The preparations for me were different than my brothers. I decided to use all resources available to me as a new Immigrant to fare well in the new country I was moving to. This didn’t mean that I was going to sit and see what comes next. I had to ensure that what comes next is of my choosing and my liking.

Moving on to a new country means uprooting your life completely. This means wrapping up your business, leaving your job, saying goodbyes to your friends and family members and of course saying goodbye to the country where you were born. Goodbye doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t be coming back again to visit. Doesn’t work that way.

The Preparations

There are certain things that you need to know about your new home. Understanding these factors is important because all of a sudden you will have to ensure that your finances match your expenses and you don’t go broke. You must make sure that you are not jobless for a longer period. All of this requires research and using of new immigrant services which are available to all new Permanent Residents.

Firstly,

You need to ensure that you have enough finances available to you for when you land. Why? Because you are job less and you don’t know when you will find a job and start earning back again. As my father says, “Even wells would go dry if you sit and eat”. The preparations are supposed to take in to account how much you have and how you can control your expenses.

How do you decide how much is enough?

Canada Immigration website gives you an accurate amount that you would need to settle. They require you to provide Proof of Settlement Funds during your Permanent Residence application. The amount is specific and considers the lowest amount needed to live through 6 months in Canada. This table is updated every year considering inflation in the country’s economy.

Secondly,

You need to know where you will bode when you land as an immigrant. Being a Muslim, our main concern was to move to a city where Halal food was available abundantly. And researching on google, I found that Mississauga was the core of the same. More restaurants, easily available meat and chicken and multiple international grocery stores etc.

What stores were prominent? Adonis, Iqbal Foods, No Frills, Walmart, Costco. All stores had halal meat available and international foods. Fun right?

Next, we had to decide on the housing, we had to see where we will find updated listings to look for houses. Following of the websites came in handy:

1. Realtors
2. Kijiji
3. Zolo

Just an FYI – You don’t pay realtor fees for finding you a house as the homeowner is the one paying that. So, just find a good Realtor and let them search according to your budget and location. Realtors mostly work around a specific area so be wary about that.

Thirdly,

The most important factor in the preparations for life in Canada is Jobs. Where do you find them and what do you look for? As a new immigrant, there are services that you are provided, and these include job search agencies. These agencies are sponsored by the Canadian Government (Of course Taxpayers money) and they find you jobs as per your skill set and education.

Now don’t go on and think that once you land in Canada, you will be getting the Manager’s job that you left in your home country (You might too). That life is over once you land here. You have to start your life over, probably change careers, find something that will pay your bills at least and then keep on looking for your dream job. A few resources that can help you here:

1. Canada Job Banks / Resources
2. Job Bank
3. Indeed
4. Workopolis
5. Monster

Fourth,

Get involved with New Immigrant Services, they assign you a contact who helps you in various settlement services like Community Service, Getting School Admissions help/guidance, finding a place to live, Job placements etc. The most prominent and helpful service that I found during the preparations were as follows:

Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC)

I enjoyed taking their pre-arrival training courses that helped in knowing more about the country and job searches and was able to find their resources very useful.

Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP)

Registering with this service helped me find a sponsor that guided me with various settlement options. I am still in contact with my sponsor who now and then checks on how I have fared so far in settling in. She keeps on emailing just to check on me and has been phenomenal in providing guidance and welcoming me to Canada.

JVS Toronto / Employment Source Toronto North

Another great resource was getting in touch with JVS Toronto who assigned me an Employment Counsellor / Mentoring Coach. He ensured that he checked how my CV has been made and how it will help me score jobs when I arrive in Canada.

Access Employment

I utilized the services of Access Employment in scoring my job with DHL Canada as they had on-premises job fairs for their registered users. An equally amazing opportunity to ensure that you are ready when you arrive in Canada. I had to attend their office physically to ensure that registration is completed and then I attended a job fair at their premises. Just an FYI, this was my 2^nd job in Canada, which was through them.

Lastly,

You need to decide if you want to take your furniture with you or leave it behind. Shipping charges for a 40ft. container used to be around AED 10,000 from Abu Dhabi to Canada and you could take quiet a bit of stuff with you.

I made a mistake and decided that I will sell my stuff in Abu Dhabi and then buy new furniture in Canada. Trust me, it is costly to source furniture here and most of the furniture is made out of MDF. Wooden furniture is equally expensive here so I would suggest getting your materials shipped if the furniture is in good condition.

Now that you are ready?

Now that the preparations for the journey ahead are complete. You need to make sure that you say your goodbyes and leave on good terms with people. Life is not always smooth sailing, there are ups and downs, your friends and your family members are always there for you. You will never turn to a stranger for help. So choose wisely and leave on good terms.

Goodbyes are difficult but they are a must in a journey of an Immigrant. You do move forward, and you eventually turn out fine. Things do get settled and life continues. There are hitches on every ride. I cannot promise that it will be the best of the journeys for everyone, just that you will eventually be out of the woods. But guess what, most of the immigrants find it to be amazing.

Leaving, well you must when you are at this stage. Read about “The Flight” next on my blog page. Good luck with your journey and hope all this helps you make the right decisions and choices in your journey.

See you next … stay safe, stay strong!