Quote:

---

Orginally posted by razashah

I am planning to land in June 2004.

Age 50, working in IT and planning to establish my kinds in Canada.

Elder - MA Economics (Lahore)
2nd - BS in IT (USA)
3rd - A Levels
4th - O Levels ...........

Planning to start their further education in Canada & I continue working till they are settled in their life. Wife can be with them.

Any comments from Desis..... Do it or Not

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended Services- Servicedomino.com
http://www.servicedomino.com

This is addressed to all people like Daniel and Razashah and others who keep piping that they want to immigrate to Canada for the education of their children. That is the most hollow reason I have ever heard and makes no sense to me at all. Who in the hell says that we do not have good colleges and universities in India?? We have the best, who are in no way any less than the best ones here. The problem is NOT that there are not good universities in India, the problem is the fact that it is more DIFFICULT to get into thos universities and colleges. Let us call a spade a spade and not try to cover the competence of a student by saying that good education is not available in India.
To all those who are over 40 and have a decent job in India, my advice is simple - DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF COMING HERE!! Trust me...you will never always curse yourself for that decision and that my friend I am telling you EVEN if you get a reasonable job. How am I telling you this? Based on self experience! I came here from India when I was 42. I am an engineer, but since I knew that it was in IT that there were jobs available, I got myself trained in that. The employment scene was good at that time in 1998 and I landed myself with a decent job as a software analyst with a good company. You would say...What then is the problem?? The problem is that you do not work only for money! When I see that GM in my company who is my age and with the same engineering degree that I have and the same experience that I have, while I am at almost the bottom rung of the ladder, it hurts!! Man...it hurts...I am telling you...it hurts bad!! Yeah I have a car...so what yaar! Everybody here has a car..what's the big deal!! When in India you have a scooter and you want a Maruti, and when you have a Maruti you want a Honda and when you have a Honda you want a Merc. It is the same here...except that the base line is a little shifted...you start at the Honda level(used maybe). The point is that coming here does not really get you any happiness. You live in this far off place, lose all your friends that you made over the last so many years, suffer brutal cold for 6 months of the year and at 47 work at best at the level of a 30 year old.
Now here is my suggestion for your kids. The proposal of coming here for a short period and getting your kids into university and then going back will definitely work for the children but not for you. The children will continue to maintain their PR status and eventually also become citizens if they want to. But you will lose the PR status because, as someone said earlier, there is a time stipulation for residence here for maintaining the PR status. While the tuition fees maybe less for landed immigrants as compared to international students, please keep in mind that there will be other expenses to be taken care of which could be anywhere from C$9,000 to C$13000 per year. Hope you would keep that in mind too. Of course as Perm residents, the children could also work plus take available provincial and federal education loans.
What I would suggest is this - we all know that the job that finally get after having completed whatever studies depends on the last level of education that you had. Most would agree post graduate studies have become virtually necessary to land a good job. That means, an MS after the bachelors degree in engg or a Masters in whatever others. The post grad studeis are mostly 2 years in duration. The student should therefore do the bachelor degree in India, study well, and then come and do the post grad here! This of course does not apply to studies in medicine that have different requirements. This applies even to desis who are already here and whose children are getting ready to go to university. If they can study well, send them back to India where to any of the good institutions, giving a good donation if required, since the cost of education is peanuts compared to here. Let them study well and prepare to get admission into post grad studies here and come back and do that here. I know people will say that local students who have done their under-grad studies here get preference, but that is not true. If you see the number of students from IIT and other institutions coming and doing there MS here, you will realize that assumption is not true. At the PG level, the universities want just plain good students, whether local or international!
Think!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
wisernow

To Daniel and Razashah.
Although you have been reading the positive and negatives comments whether you should come, my advice is to try it out.
Please prepare yourself and your family that if you do not like Canada in the first year then you can always return to your homeland. It is not the end of the world.
I know once you come here you will have second thought on returning back even if you do not make it in Canada like the way you wanted it.
Anything we do in life requires taking risks. I say, "Go with your gut".
Taking risks is important to keep you moving forward and evolving.
Even though it can sometimes be really uncomfortable, the rewards
often exceed the discomfort.
We never seem to run out of fears. It could be fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of being vulnerable, fear of being wrong. The only way to move through fear is to take the risk, and do the thing you thought you could not do. In this way, you will continue to take part in the flow of opportunities and resources available in your life.
Most often though, our fears are "F"alse "E"vidence "A"ppearing "R"eal.
As Anais Nin once said, "And the day came when the risk to remain
tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom"

Thanxs Sahib98,
I am rethinking to take up the challenge, as earlier I had given up of coming I think this is better option, I come there, wait for a year or two & then if things are unfavourable will come back.
Somebody has said "Eerybody feels that the sufferings are for others, and I am lucky I will have no problems as I am so sucessful here in my hometown" and all these people end up in amisrable position. O.K. this is the calculated risk. thanxs sahib

Daniel,

Its honestly your call. Nobody can tell you whether to come here or not come here, that's a decision that you have to make. We can only acquaint you with the risks and yes, the risks at your age are much higher than at the age of 25.

One things for sure, you will be extremely fortunate to start where you left in India profesionally. More than likely that you'll have to begin climbing the ladder again from a much lower level in Canada.

But I would advise you not to think about going back in a year or so if things don't work out, it seldom works that way. A year isn't a magical demarcation line where you suddenly gain a clearer perspective on the situation, you may be in a semi-happy state here but not willing to go back. Besides, your kids will not want to move back for more reasons than one. Let me tell you, in my 4 years here, I have never seen anybody go back even though I have seen many people struggling. Even on a forum like Canadiandesi, I'm still looking forward to reading someone's experiences of going back. And for that small percentage who may actually have moved back, the majority wait for their citizenships before they move, always keeping an option to come back open.

My sincere advice is that if you still have doubts, give a lot of objective thought to the process of moving and calculate the risks. Aks for more specific information. But once and if you decide to move, don't look back.

And trust me, despite certain opinions, Canada isn't such a bad country at all. There are many people like me who love it here, as much as I miss India. More than likely that your kids will love it here and since they will start at a very young age, the possibilities for them are limitless.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Are you there?

It is hard to say that kids will be happy here in Canada. Not all are. It depends how old they are. If they are teenagers it is going to be harder for them to adjust to a new country compared to the ones that are five years old.
For a teenager you have to prepare them mentally as well as emotionally. They are old enough to have begun ties with their friends and the atmosphere around where they have settled so comfortably all this while. They will be going through a psychological phase when they come here to leave all that behind.
Just an example. A friend of mine immigrated to the US when he was 20. It took him two years to actually accept the U S of America as his home. All this time he was so nostalgic and missing his friend and his life in Bombay. This was affecting his studies and his health and it came to a stage where his family had decided to send him back. They took him to a doctor and then after that visit it made him look at things is a different way. So it is important that you prepare your kids well in advance if they are teenagers.
Fitting oneself is a new country is commonly conceptualized as having many dimensions. An optimistic outlook and sense of coherence must be present for life purpose to enhance a sense of overall well-being.

Quote:

---

Orginally posted by sahib98

To Daniel and Razashah.
Although you have been reading the positive and negatives comments whether you should come, my advice is to try it out.
Please prepare yourself and your family that if you do not like Canada in the first year then you can always return to your homeland. It is not the end of the world.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
I once made a mistake, but I was wrong about it.