Come Immigrate To Canada: 5 Big Reasons Why You Need To Apply

Inside: Top reasons why you need to come to Canada based on our personal experiences.

We immigrated to Manitoba, Canada in 2008 as permanent residents. My whole family came – my hubby and our two kids.

Because we already had families here before us, it was not that hard for us to adapt to the new environment.

Plus, we had an open mindset, it was a challenge but doable to start from scratch.

We stayed with my aunt’s family for 7 months then we moved to a rental apartment where we stayed for only 5 months, then moved to a rental house of my brother for one year, then we bought our own on our second year of arrival.

Related post: Our Immigration story

Through my brother’s referral, my hubby got a job within one week of arrival. Meanwhile, I attended a new immigrant’s support program to learn the basics of finding employment.

I then started trying to get my professional license back to practice my career, but unfortunately, despite passing all required exams, I was not successful.

I challenged all 3 exams in a span of 4 years, passed all, repeating 2 of them twice or thrice, plus several language proficiency exams to get the needed scores, but eventually, I exhausted the 5 years in active practice as requirement, to nothing.

I sacrificed not being with my family, especially my three-year old son then, to stay with my aunt for weekends or a few weeks ( I was on employment insurance at this point ) to have undisturbed reviews.

With persistent prayers, God revealed to me that practicing and getting my license abroad is not for me. During the pandemic, I was so thankful being not in the direct care job. I was happy doing my job at home! With no direct exposure to the deadly virus.

After almost 17 years in Canada, here we are, happy and fulfilled of what we have achieved.

We have stable jobs, our daughter is done school and has a good paying job, and our son is in college.

We are Canadian citizens and are enjoying many benefits, which are also available for permanent residents.

I know that at this point, we are so grateful to be here, and happy to share with you why applying to come to Canada and staying long-term would be also beneficial for you and your family.

Related post: You are Welcome to Manitoba ( Apply through the MPNP )

Here are the reasons:

1. Free Healthcare

When you come to Canada as a permanent resident, you apply right away for your Provincial health card which will give you free doctor consultations ( including free diagnostic work-ups like bloodwork, xrays, scans, ultrasound, etc. ) and free hospitalization.

My son had appendectomy at 5 years old and stayed in hospital for 3-4 days because it ruptured. We did not pay anything, except for the home antibiotics that we bought after discharge.

At work, you will be offered an affordable  medical insurance that will allow you to pay for a portion of your dental and eye needs and other outpatient and/or maintenance medications. But if you get confined to the hospital, everything is paid for by the government healthcare program.

Waiting is just a problem with this free healthcare. There’s a long queue at times in the emergency room, long wait for diagnostic work-ups, long wait for specialist consults, but they’re all worth it, because they’re free.

2. Diverse Community-Open to Different Immigrants

You will meet various ethnic groups here. Filipinos are all over,  in your workplace, the malls, restaurants, leisure areas, etc. You will be exposed to different cultures and learn about their food, language, and traditions.

Canadians are friendly people and there is no hierarchy in the workplace. You can talk to your supervisor like your friend. There may be exceptions, but this is the norm. You call each other your first names, including kids to their teachers.

This way, you learn to get along with others and adapt to each other’s idiosyncracies and you have the chance to showcase your own traditions and practices.

Canadians have come to love our ” pancit , ” ” shanghai or egg roll, turon, adobo, etc.

Here in our province of Manitoba, we celebrate ” Folklorama, ” a 2 – week long multicultural festival in the summer, that showcases the different cultures, cuisine and traditions of each country.

3.Jobs and Equal Opportunities

You need to be open to starting from scratch. Forget about your education at first, just look and apply to any job that you think you are able to handle to gain Canadian experience.

You can even volunteer to some places of interest and you can put this in your resume as part of Canadian experience. You can get the supervisor as one of your references when you apply to a more permanent job.

I volunteered at the Children’s Emergency at Health Sciences Centre when I first arrived, once a week for 2 hours.

With referral of my aunt, I started working 2 hours a day to prepare meals for an old man in his apartment and 1 hour daily as lunch monitor in the nearby elementary school, supervising young kids during their lunch hour.

Eventually, I was hired as  a call center agent on our fourth month of arrival,  this  was my first entry level job, where I started to contribute to my employment insurance ( EI ) and Canada Pension Plan ( CPP ).

Fast forward, I am now stable working as a Clinical Research assistant for the last several years, which is related to my previous career back home.

4.Child Benefits

Whether you are working or not, the government of Canada gives out child benefits until your child is 17 years old. This is the CCB or Canada Child Benefit, given every month. If he is less than 6 years old, more given. This is calculated every year based on the family income.

Sports and other cultural activities like piano lessons are also covered partially by the government, through tax rebates.

Education is free in public schools until high school. These are top notch schools, by the way.

You can start saving for your child’s university or college education while he is still young, with government counterpart or grants. This is called RESP ( Registered Education Savings Plan ). My son, who is in college, is using this money now for his tuition fee and other expenses.

Student loans, though are easy to apply, if you need to, with government grants, so the student does not need to pay everything that he borrowed, after he graduates.

5.Government Financial Help

When you get unemployed, for any justifiable reason, you will receive EI ( Employment insurance ) for a certain period of time, until you find another job.

I have used this benefit twice already, the first time, I was a new immigrant and working in a call center, and I talked with human resources if I can stop working to have full-time review for my examination. They allowed and I got EI for about 4 months, until I found a healthcare-related job as a Clinical Research Assistant.

The second time, was when this Research job ended because funds ran out for my employer, again got EI for longer.

With Employment insurance, you don’t feel neglected and can continue living decently.

During the pandemic, the government provided the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) which provided financial support to employed and self-employed Canadians who were directly affected by COVID-19. Qualified applicants received $2,000 for a 4-week period ($500 a week), between March 15 and September 26, 2020.

In Manitoba , the Employment and Income Assistance (EIA) program is the government financial help to low-income individuals and families that offers financial support for basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter, and can also provide support to help individuals find and start jobs, including the Rent Assist program which helps with housing costs for those eligible for EIA and for other low-income renters.

If a family member is disabled, or with mental challenges, there are various government support as well, including income support and community helper services.

Watch this video to learn how the Canadian government provides support to immigrants with special needs.

Nowadays, we also get this quarterly Canada Carbon Rebate ( CCR ), plus GST /HST credit , if you are low income and qualified.

Paid maternity leaves stretch all the way to one year or up to 18 months if you wish.

After retirement, you get CPP ( Canada Pension Plan – you contribute to this while employed ) OAS ( Old Age Security ), and GIS ( Guaranteed Income Supplement ) if you are qualified.

We pay our taxes regularly through pay slip deductions and the benefits that we get from the government offsets this seemingly huge cuts.

6.Other Benefits

• Affordable transit fares, with easy commute, buses are many and with less traffic ( at least where I live as a small city )
• Dental insurance for seniors
• High level quality of education for students
• Easy student loan application, with bursaries and scholarships

Setbacks

There are setbacks though about immigrating to Canada, like missing family and friends back home, not being able to attend special occasions, even funerals of loved ones, etc but all these sacrifices are worth it if they align to your goal of living a more comfortable life and brighter future for your children.

Start researching and applying if Canada has been at the back of your minds. Who knows you might find your much needed place and second home here, like we did!

If you have plans of applying to Canada, we can help. We do affordable coaching.

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Email us at admin@canadaboundcoaching.com

Photo credit: Vecteezy