Immigrating to Canada ? Have you contacted a Settlement Support Services company ? Read this before you book your flights !

Canada has been attracting professional people from all over the world for decades. People migrate or immigrate to Canada for a variety of reasons, a better quality of life and better higher education being amongst the major reasons. The Canadian government has fine tuned the immigration application processing system to quite an extent. Initially it was cumbersome with somewhat difficult to attain points. But as Australia and the United Kingdom opened up competitive immigration schemes thereby attracting from the same pool of talented professional people, the Canadian Government apparently took notice and streamlined the process. However it could be improved further, as applications still take a long time to process. This apparently is not simply a manpower issue as has been claimed but simply the government trying to control the numbers of immigrants that arrive each year. My point being that the application process should be completed within 6 to 12 months and not the 36 to 48 months it is currently taking in some parts of the world. But I digress from what this article is about. Once you have jumped all the hoops (and there are a lot of them) that the application process requires, you are now ready to wind up your affairs (that’s business not private affairs !) and proceed to Canada. You are now looking forward to getting your hands on the Permanent Residence (PR) Card that gives you right to live and work in Canada. By now you are thinking that the worst is over and nothing can stop you from your dream of settling in Canada. Nothing could be further from the truth! I bet you did not expect that but read on … Most new immigrants or migrant (I use the terms synonymously) landing in Canada are doing so as total strangers, without knowing anybody in the country. The small percentage of lucky ones have a relative or friend or know a friend’s friend who is already in Canada and expect or hope that they will help in the settlement process. In most cases, such relatives and friends do. But at the most, what can they help the new immigrant with? Pick up from airport and depositing at own home, hotel or suitable accommodation. For a person or family arriving in a new country even that can be a big help. The problem arises after a couple of days when you get over your jet lag and have to start learning how to live and earn in the new country? You need a job (unless you brought in a lot of money), you need to complete certain government registration formalities, the kids need to go to school, you need a car (as this is a must in North America), you need medical insurance coverage as the Canadian Provincial Health Authority will not cover you for the first 3 months after landing and a host of other tasks including opening a bank account, transferring your funds in and hoping that the cash you brought with you lasts the distance. Before we proceed, a word of warning about friends and relatives who you hope will help you once you land in Canada. Unless you know them personally and have done so for many years, even then, my advice would be not to take their help or advice at face value. There have been instances for example when people have put up their newly landed friends only to charge them more rent than the going market rate. When you are new to a place you don’t have the necessary information to make decisions and can be asked to sign up for more than you bargained for. On the other hand, no matter what treatment you get, you will be morally obliged to your friend or family for life, since they took time out to pick you from the airport and put you up for a couple of weeks and over charged you as well ! Alternately if you want to strike out on your own, you can land in Canada and ask the taxi driver to take you to a hotel, hoping that he won’t over charge you. At the hotel, unless you have booked earlier, you are liable to the maximum charges that apply to walk in customers. So it’s not the place you want to live in for a few months until you find a job, have the references and credit file to enable you to move to an apartment. Unless you have won the lottery, even the cheapest hotel at minimum charges will be setting you back a hefty amount each day. Now that you have checked into the hotel, where do you go from there? The government’s new immigrant pack contains basic information but it can be misleading and it certainly helps if you have the advice of someone who has already landed in Canada. To be honest, I have been through the complete immigration process and landing in Canada is the hardest part. People have given up and returned to their home countries within 6 months of arriving in Canada as they could not cope with the pressures of everything that they faced. Finding employment or starting a business will be the hardest tasks for the newly landed immigrant. And this is the one that is on ones mind from the onset. Many newly landed immigrants have left their previous occupations and started working in shops or stores as assistants to make ends meet. Some professional people such as doctors had to resort to working as security guards for the simple reason that their medical degrees were not recognised in Canada. They must now undergo a tortuous process to retake exams but until they do, they cannot practice medicine there. Hence they work anywhere they can in the meantime. While you are passing time looking for a job or trying to set up your business, your bank balance or savings are being whittled away, faster than you expected. That is why within 6 months some people just throw in the towel and leave. This is not meant to discourage you as the prospective migrant. Canada can be, to quote a cliché, the land of milk and honey for people who are prepared to work hard and make an honest living. It provides the opportunities to those who aspire to achieve better and are willing to put in the effort. So much for the entire doomsday scenario! There is a way to ease your arrival in Canada. My recommendation would be to use an immigrant settlement and support services company to make the settling in process as painless as possible. Basically what these companies do is to provide a range of services for new migrants. This can include pick up from airport, accommodation, help with registration process, getting the hang of Canadian cities, help with banking, setting up of credit facilities, buying a car, help with finding a job and even finding a suitable business to buy. These services can be purchased in advance, prior to your arrival in Canada, so you are taken care of as soon as you land. Won’t these services cost a lot i.e. be expensive? Sure, these companies will charge a certain amount depending on the services you require. But in my opinion it’s a small price to pay for the benefit you get. Let’s use an example of one of the services. You engage this company to buy a car for you so you are mobile on arrival. Assume that you have the driving license and are allowed to drive in Canada from day one. You agree a budget and type of car i.e. sedan, MPV, SUV and the make and model number. You make the initial payment to them to look for the car, their service fees, say C$500. They go to their registered car dealers and come back with 3 or 4 options, you approve one out of them, wire the money and presto, the car is available the day you arrive. How does that benefit you? Well, as you are dealing with a reputable company, they have a reputation to worry about and will do the best to ensure that you get the best deal. As they have been in the country for a number of years, they cannot be sold an overpriced car and more importantly you are saved the running around in taxis to view cars, a process that takes time and money. Your benefit? Your car is available from day one and you can focus on job hunting. Spending a few hundred dollars to engage the services of such a company can save thousands in car costs. More importantly, don’t forget the opportunity costs, something that is commonly overlooked and almost never understood. While you are looking for a car to buy, you should have been looking for a job. Each day spent on car hunting is a day lost looking for a job. A lost job day could set you back a couple of hundred dollars, 4 or 5 lost job days can set you back a thousand or more dollars. Similarly if you are inclined to start your own business in Canada, it can be one of many types. You can have a convenience store, a grocery store, car wash/service station, gas station or food franchise. Now each day you spend looking for the right business to buy, you are losing income. Wouldn’t it be great to have somebody identify and shortlist a number of businesses that you are interested in? The settlement support company can do this. Plus they can also try identifying the potential of these businesses in terms of clientele and potential turnover. All you have to do is to go over the options they have short listed and make your decision as soon as you land in Canada. Note that you should have the option to not go ahead as well. This short cut to starting out in a business can be worth tens of thousands in terms of lost income i.e. opportunity cost. Again, the company will charge a few thousand dollars for this service. But always keep the income you are losing, if you don’t start out soon, in mind. That will put their charges into perspective. The sooner you buy a business, the sooner you start earning and getting on your feet in Canada. The fees seems like a small price to pay for this. So how do you identify a genuine company or what do you look for in any company claiming to be a migrant settlement services company? Here are a few things to look out for: Do they provide arrival assistance? Not very important but it would be nice to know somebody is meeting you at the airpot. Do they provide interpreter services for you, if needed? Should be optional if you feel you need one. Do they help with short term or long term accommodation needs? Important as last you need to do once you arrive in Canada is start running around looking for accommodation. Do they help with the subsequent government registration process? Relative as it saves you finding out about government offices and visiting them. Check that they provide transport for this. Do they help with buying a car and/or getting the driving license? Depends on your personal requirements. Check beforehand if your current driving license enables you to drive in Canada. If yes, buying a car in advance might be a good idea. Otherwise hold on until you arrive and pass the driving test. Do they help with medical insurance arrangement? Can be arranged by you beforehand or can ask them to do this. Very important step for reasons stated previously. Do they help with finding a job? Note they can’t offer to employ you but rather guide you through the job seeking process in Canada. As they know the employment agencies and network with other placement agencies, they can reduce the time it takes to find employment. Do they help with setting up a business? This is important if you are inclined to start a business as it can save you time and money. Do they try and force all their services on you or are you allowed to choose the ones you need and are charged on a pro rata basis ? Important as you don’t want to buy services you are not going to utilize. Why pay for something you don’t need? So check if you are sold the full pack or you can choose the services you require. If the answer is yes to all of the above questions, then it is safe to say that the company is a proper migrant settlement and support company. Anyone not offering all those services should be avoided. Are there many companies that provide these services? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is not many. In fact, there is only one that I know of. It’s called Avanti Migrant Services (http://www.avantimigrantservices.com) and has recently started serving the migrant community. This company was set up with the new immigrant in mind to ease the arrival pains and subsequent transition into a new life in Canada. They pretty much cover all the requisites that have been identified that you should look for. It’s been started by former immigrants and it looks like they know what they are talking about. In the end, it’s your choice on whether you want to utilize these services company or not. In hindsight, had I known such a company existed when I landed, I would have signed up with them in a flash. And the reason for that is simple. The knowledge about life in Canada I gained through experience, over the course of 1 to 2 years. Had I known someone could impart this knowledge to me within a couple of weeks of landing, I would have been up and running in a month’s time rather than the six months it took me including making some bad business decisions. Therefore I strongly recommend that you look seriously into utilizing the services of a settlement support company. It could save you thousands of dollars and days/weeks/months of frustration. Trust me I speak from experience!!

Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Abid Khan

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