Hello everybody,

I am trying to compile a list of mistakes made by us when we were ignorant about Canada (read it as when we were new immigrants). The intention of this list is to make other new and old desis aware of the scams or small prints so that they donot get cheated.

All contributions are appreciated. But, please no Canda or India bashing, please keep it to the actual experience.

I did not make my learners license and did not open a bank account and take a credit card (secured initially) when i first landed and went back to return after a year. that was a mistake as the more the number of years your license is the less is the insurance and also for mortgage you need at least a year of credit.

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You know you are a desi when ........ You spew forth the virtues of India, but don't want to live there...............You've never had a tanning salon membership

I came to US as a student, not Canada. However, the experience probably holds good for Canada as well:

I fell for those classified ads promising $$$ "stuffing envelopes". I sent in $26USD to get the info pkg which turned out to be a whole bunch of nonsense.

Be careful what you send money for when you are tight on money.

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Dimple2001

1. Thought that 1-900 calls were free but were not .
2. Had Basic cable and Internet lite (By Rogers). Went into a 3 or 2 year contract with them for a 15% discount each month in the bill. (I did not notice the fine print) but they upgraded it into Ultimate which ended me paying 10% extra (even with the 15% discount). I got some more channels but was not really interested in that.
3. Signed up credit cards without seeing the annual fee.
4. Signed up many PC financial Master cards at Loblaws for a $3 cookie packet. They offer only one card per person and this might have affected my credit rating ( experts to offer advise on this one)
5. Did not say sorry, excuse me, please to some canadians on various occasions. This landed me in some tight spots.
6. Sometimes when you buy things, they will ask , what pop do you want or what dipping sauce do you need. Say NO to them. It will be extra charge.
7. Before going to any Buffet ask the price for that day. They will say 6.99 buffet and you will eat your fill. Later you will find that on night it will be $7.99 and that on weekends, it might be $8.99.
8. In Garage sale, never eat eatable stuff kept on the table like cookies, lemonade etc.. Every thing is chargable. Some small kid willcome and ask for $0.25 for each cookie that you ate.
9. if you get a parking ticket, never act smart leaving it over night on the car, thinking that the inspector might think that he had already ticketed the car and that he will not ticket you once more. He will ticket you upto 3 times and then arrange to tow your car.
10. Never park near hydrants. it will get you a fine.
11. Always use ING bank, ICICI bank, PC financial bank for service. it is better than the big 5 banks which charge you a monthly fee for low balance and /or too many withdrawals
12. Never sign a paper with a realtor and then try to go to another realtor withing the signed period. They can put legal action against you.
13. If in a regulated profession, never put your indian title. They can sue you. I put the titile of architect and then went and fought with the Ontario association of architects for offering no jobs at all. They sent a lawyers notice advising me that they will sue me , if i still use the title in Canada. I had to go to a lawyer pay $500 to send notice to the ontario asso. of architects that i will not use that title.
14. always negotiate the price before giving the work. I gave my car for repaits like changing oil filter, gas filter,, transmission fludi change etc.. to a private mech. without asking the price. The bill came to 550$ incl. tax. All in my office said that the work was not more than $300. He did not give bill too.
15. When buying laptop or other 2nd. hand stuff, get in writing the warrenty period. I bought a laptop 2 years back for $1200 and it broke down in 10 days (when i bought it he said verbally that there was 30 day warrenty.) He refused to repair it free of charge. Paid $350 for the repairs.
16. I met a classmate of mine in Toronto and took him around town in TTC 3 years back. Since he was my friend, i put my hand on his neck in the TTC Subway train. I noticed that people were giving me funny looks and some of then went away from me. It was then i realised that we canot touch each other as we did in India. So it was a lesson.
17. I have PC financial Master card. This gives me 1% in points for every purchase that i make. So i devised a plan. I used to cash withdraw ($800 max a day) and then deposit it in my bank (TD). Night i used to go and again pay by electronic transfer to my PC master card account. I thought that i will get 1% in points for each withdrawal. It was not the case. for cash withdrawals, it seems that there is no points. At the end of the month i got charged $5 as interest for my cash withdrawals and TD charged me $5 for exceeding my min. withdrawals. So i advise people not to do this.
TK

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

If you are moving from US, you must have license valid for more than 2 yrs in US otherwise take a letter from US state DMV on original letter head for your license holding years for that state or other state you lived before.

Few provinces need original proof for license having from last 2 yrs in US. Keep your Indian License also many times they consider that also if you are short of few months in US driving. My wife trade Indian license for 3-4 months additional to get so she manages to get license here.

1. I came to Canada in the second week of December and that is the worst time to look out for a job because everyone is in festive spirits and not many companies are serious about hiring till the middle of January.
2. Opened a savings bank account with TD bank but forgot to read the fine print because they offered me some fancy cheques. So even though I maintained the minimum balance the bank was deducting $24 every month. This went on for 4 months and since I had neglected in informing the bank of the change in address they kept posting the monthly statements to my old address. When I informed the bank of this they said sorry but did not refund the fees but they haven’t charged me monthly fee since then.
3. I was having my international driver’s license but I wasn’t used to driving in the snow and one night I did a right turn before slowing down and smashed my sister’s car. Luckily no one hurt but I had to pay for the damages. So new immigrants who are not used to driving on the snow should be very careful in the initial days.
4. I used to smoke a couple of cigarettes with coffee before attending any interviews. Later realized that the smell is quite distinct and can be a disadvantage if the interviewers don’t like employees who smoke. I kicked the habit off a couple of years back.
5. The first job I worked in Canada was in research and development and I was teamed up with a female scientist who had worked for the organization for many years. She was very nice to me and showed me all the research papers for the past 6 years, helped me a lot in my work and on a few occasions brought me lunch, which was cooked by her. In appreciation of that I brought her a present but she got upset about it. Later on I came to know that she was unmarried and had misunderstood my intentions. But now I bring her flowers and she happily accepts it and we are the best of friends. So till you become familiar with your female colleagues do not buy presents for them.

Nikhil

1.The record of landing looks like any ordinary piece of paper but please preserve it carefully. I lost mine and had to pay $30 to get a certified true copy and had to wait for 8 weeks to obtain it.

2.As far as your career is concerned please don’t follow anyone’s advice blindly. You are the captain of your own ship so you are destined to steer it in whatever way you feel best. I had gone to Mississauga for an interview and while returning back to Toronto an Indian guy who had an M.Pharm degree came and sat next to me. He advised me to forget working in my own field and instead concentrate on finding a call center job. I refused to listen to him and told him to mind his own business. So please don’t get swayed by other peoples opinion and thoughts. There are many who will guide you to the wrong path. Believe in yourself, fight the obstacles that come in your way, win the battle and cherish the joy.

Nikhil