One of my students, an Indian lawyer, approached me for advice recently with a lot of sadness and anxiety.
He has been preparing to move to Canada for the past 12 months and was very close to D day.
Last month, he secured PR.
He already has a job offer from a Canadian legal tech company for approx. CAD 50k/annum.
He has already started preparing for the Ontario bar exam which he wants to write about a year later.
He had cleared the NCA Exam from India itself. He had also networked with a few Canadian lawyers and startups from India while preparing for the NCA Exam.
He secured a number of remote work assignments.
All of this proved to be very useful in securing a job offer and a PR. He thought finally his dream of living internationally will come true, but suddenly there is a new unforeseen issue.
His parents and friends were quite apprehensive given the recent political tensions between India and Canada.
They have heard many horror stories too about rising inflation in Canada, and how many Indians who migrated to Canada were in big trouble due to growing living costs.
On social media, many videos of people being forced to live in tents on the street has been circulating.
Some of it is not wrong.
Inflation was sky high after the pandemic. Scarcity of housing had driven rents up.
So my student has been told by everyone in his family to seriously rethink his decision. He is now worried if all his effort so far was in vain.
Is it a bad idea to move to Canada now?
Would he be able to manage? Should he just stay back in India? Is it too risky to move to Canada currently?
Here is what I advised:
- You always wanted to live abroad, in a developed country, at least for some time. This is your moment of opportunity.
- Canada is a migrant’s utopia. Even from countries like the USA & UK a large number of people migrate to Canada every year. For example, over 10,000 U.S. citizens and residents settle in Canada through Express Entry program every year. You finally have the option to migrate and experience this firsthand.
- Canada is a great country – amazing social benefits, education, free health services, child support, amazing public infrastructure, clean air, great outdoors – your quality of life will be next level.
- Canada is a very migration friendly country. It is a multicultural society. A large number of Canadians are migrants, especially from India. Which means desis never feel too far away from home in Canada. Many people who want to move to Canada already have friends and family living there who rave about the country.
- Government policies are migration friendly. You are well educated, young and can contribute to their economy, and will be highly sought after and have a bright future there.
- Unlike many countries that require you to have a job offer before you can apply for a visa, Canada allows you to immigrate to the country even without one. Of course, since it is an advanced economy, if you migrate there without adequate finances or a good job that pays you a minimum of 40-50k Canadian dollars annually, you might find it hard to survive there.
- That is the reason why many Indians who go there without having a job offer in hand face difficulty. Even students who are working on the side while pursuing offline educational courses in Canada cannot manage easily, because they earn minimum wage and can only work 20 hrs per week. You do not have those limitations.
- As an NCA-qualified professional your earnings will be approx. 10x of what a student earns. You already have a CAD 50k+ job offer in-hand. You can again double those earnings once you qualify the Ontario Barrister and Solicitor Exam.
- Canadians are nice and the country is incredibly safe. It has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Raising a family in Canada feels very sensible.
- Canada is an egalitarian society, where personal freedoms are respected. If you are looking to go as far away from discrimination, injustice and persecution, Canada will be one of your top choices.
- Also, if you want to migrate, you probably want to go to a country with a booming economy and low unemployment rate. Canada fits the bill perfectly. Canada is one of the G7 economies. Together with France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K., and the U.S.A, Canada forms part of the strongest economies of the world.
- It is true that Modi and Justin Trudeau had diplomatic differences over the Khalistan issue, but a change in government is expected in the next Canadian election scheduled in 2025. The new government is likely to be controlled by conservative who promise to reduce illegal immigration and increase immigration by skilled professionals, such as you. The new government is also much more likely to be India friendly diplomatically and increase trade ties with India which have terribly suffered under the Trudeau government.
- Inflation has cooled down recently while unemployment has reached historical lows and wages have grown a lot. While this may not be ideal for a low skill college student trying to get entry level jobs or working in grocery stores, for a highly skilled and well paid professional like a lawyer, paralegal or legal content creator the situation is very, very different especially if you started with remote jobs and have already got a job even before you move to Canada.
- Since the number of Indian students and professionals migrating to Canada is at an all time low right now, due to these rumours and apprehensions, those who are moving there now find the competition lower than ever. This is probably the best year in a long long time to start your prep or actually land in Canada.
The student was suddenly relieved.
You need very specific advice from people who actually know their stuff. You don’t want to make critical career decisions based on rumours and hearsay.
At LawSikho, we have assisted over 28 Indian lawyers to move to Canada in the last 12 months.
They were able to secure jobs that pay CAD 60k to 90k even before they moved to Canada. They moved to Canada with jobs in hand. They started by doing remote jobs first, and then got a solid offer to move there, which ensured that they had sufficient financial resources to thrive in Canada from day 1.
They learned high-demand legal skills that were relevant for the Canadian economy, built a track record with Canadian clients, and cleared the NCA Exam from India.
Some of them are now preparing for the Ontario Barrister and Solicitor Exam. Once they clear this exam, they will earn 50-100% more and have even brighter prospects ahead of them.
They will be in the top 20% of the Canadian population and the problems faced by other low wage earners, if any, will not impact them.