Each year, thousands of international students come to Canada. Despite the fact that many are from modest backgrounds, they pay hefty tuition fees for the chance not just to study in this country but, potentially, to start a life here. Yet the realities of their decision can stand in stark contrast to the dream. They face difficult challenges, unforgiving timelines and social isolation, and are often prone to exploitation by employers and others. In a new series, Hard Lessons, we look at whether Canada is living up to its bargain with these students.

Being an international student is a life-changing experience, an adventure, where learning takes place both inside and outside of the classroom.

Whether it’s being away from family for the first time, learning a new culture and unfamiliar social norms, trying to build a professional network from scratch or hunting for a first job, there are things that many of these students wish they’d known in order to ease their transition.

International students, who pay three to four times more in tuition fees than their domestic peers, are contributing to more than Canada’s GDP — with an estimated $21 billion a year they bring to the economy.

Increasingly, they have become the largest source of temporary migrant workers in Canada and are groomed to be future Canadians. Over the past three years, despite the pandemic, more than 350,000 international students got a postgraduate work permit. In 2019 alone almost 60,000 became permanent residents.

Yet, as temporary residents in Canada, international students are not eligible for settlement services and must rely on a patchwork of supports on campuses to navigate their new lives. Many rely on peers for tips.

The Star interviewed former international students who have been there and done that to share their lessons learned to help prepare those who are following their steps to make a better life in Canada.

Start making connections

At 19, Jaspreet Kaur came to Toronto by herself in 2018 — it was her first time away from her parents, let alone cook for herself, budget her expenses, solve her day-to-day problems and make independent decisions. While her family back home can offer moral support and guidance through video calls, they know too little about Canada to give any concrete advice.

“Being by yourself and trying to figure out everything on your own is so hard and on the top of that, there are so many challenges,” said the now 22-year-old Brampton woman, who graduated from the social service worker program in Sheridan College in 2020 and is now here on a postgraduate work permit. “I was crying every single day.”

Although international students are allowed to work unlimited hours on campus and as many as 20 hours a week off campus, Kaur said jobs are not easy to come by without Canadian references. She never worked in her native Punjab because it’s “not normal” back home for young people to work unless their family is desperate for money.

She landed her first job after nine months, selling credit cards at a grocery store.

“I needed any experience I could get because I didn’t know how to talk to people here. I’m grateful for the experience. It made me a stronger communicator. I did it for three months,” said Kaur, who later found a position on campus as a student admission representative.

To build a professional network, she also took an unpaid internship at a community job centre in Oakville while working off campus at Burger King, warehouses and LCBO to support herself.

Other international students would suggest she move to move to smaller provinces, where it’s easier and less competitive to obtain permanent residence because even managing a fast-food chain could qualify them for permanent residence.

But Kaur stuck to focusing on a career in her field in order to justify the exorbitant tuition fees that her family had forked out. In February 2021, she landed a contract job as a community health ambassador at a social service agency in Mississauga.

“You need to increase your network. You need to talk to your professors because they were the ones who gave me a lot of tips. You also need to enrol in a course with internship because it helps a lot,” she said.

“Many international students are doing two, three labour jobs to pay for their tuition and fees instead of investing their time in building those networks. If you want to get your permanent residence, you need a good job in your field and you need good connections.”

‘Thank God for Google and YouTube’

With an undergraduate business degree from India, Ayush Verma opted to enrol in the project management and international business management programs at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ont., rather than another bachelor program at Queen’s University, which cost a lot more.

Long before he came to Canada in 2019, the native of Dehradun started looking for information he needed about his initial settlement — from how to open a bank account to the public transit system — all through YouTube.

While school officials can provide information about how things generally work in Canada, Verma said nothing compares to those detailed lessons and recommendations shared by others who have lived through those experiences.

“Thank God for Google and YouTube,” said the now 23-year-old, who graduated last spring and has worked in a restaurant on a postgraduate work permit since October.

When he first came, he stayed in a hotel in Mississauga for several days to set up his life in Canada, applying for his SIN card, subscribing to a cellphone plan, opening an account at a bank headquartered in India and securing a rental space in Kingston on Kijiji.

However, he didn’t realize how far Kingston was from Mississauga so for over a year he had to commute to deal with his bank when he had to handle matters with his account in person.

In Kingston, he was sharing a place with six other international students, all from India, and felt he didn’t have the opportunity to interact with Canadians and learn about his new home.

“Everyone was international. Everyone was from India. You feel you’re not growing,” said Verma.

A few months after his arrival, he met an off-duty Kingston police officer near the skating rink downtown and a casual chat over his new life in Canada opened a whole new world for him. Verma was invited to dinner and has become a good friend of the officer’s family, which helps him a lot and gives him a glimpse into Canadian living.

Many of Verma’s Indian friends have told him to move to Brampton, but he prefers living in a smaller community.

“I feel the schools in Greater Toronto are highly overrated. They charge you a lot of money and the costs of living are so high there. You can’t be a student there just doing part-time work,” he said.

“I always encourage my friends to come to a smaller place, a beautiful place like Kingston or Cornwall, where you can find a job and your rent is really low.”

‘Just say yes’

Fares Khouri, a former international student from Jordan, took exactly that route by picking Trent University in Peterborough, attracted by its small-community feel.

Without an upbringing in Canada, he said newcomers need to build their own social and professional network and one of the most effective ways to do that is through volunteering.

“It’s simply from knowing someone who knows someone who can keep introducing you to someone else before a meeting ends. That’s how you keep building professional networks,” said Khouri, who came to Canada on as study permit in 2008 and became a permanent resident only in 2017.

“The best thing was to start volunteering and showing your face, that’s the only way. You can show people what you are capable of and that you can get along in the Canadian workplace. Then when something opens up, you can get it.”

Having good communication skills has proven to be particularly crucial for those trying to land a job with an education background in general arts like Khouri, who majored in political science.

With his interest working in the charitable sector, Khouri volunteered at the not-for-profit groups in Peterborough before landing a first contract job administering a mentoring program for newcomers in the region and later as a fundraiser for a marketing and fundraising firm.

“It was a lot of door-to-door fundraising. It teaches you the communication skills that you need. Nothing is better than going door to door and meeting people and knowing how Canadians talk and make jokes,” said the now 32-year-old, who works in public affairs in Toronto. “Most importantly, it does give you thick skin.”

Some employers are hesitant to hire international students, worried that would mean a lot of unnecessary paperwork or the financial commitment to sponsor a candidate on a work permit.

“If they ask if you are eligible to work in Canada, just say yes.’ The shorter the answer, the better. All they need to know is you can work legally here,” said Khouri. “As soon as you say you’re on a work permit, it complicates the situation.”

Beware of scams

Starting fresh in Canada in the middle of a pandemic is tough but Jemy Sta. Ana, an international student from the Philippines, is also racing against time to get a shot at becoming a permanent resident.

She needs to rush to find a job that not only helps pay her bills but also falls into the eligible jobs stipulated under Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) O, A or B — essentially managerial or skilled and semi-skilled jobs.

International graduates are eligible for a postgraduate work permit based on the length of their academic programs. Sta. Ana, who came last August for a one-year marketing-management program at Humber College, will have just one year to accumulate enough relevant full-time work experience to meet the threshold for permanent residence.

Sometimes, international students, eager to get the coveted job experience, are preyed upon by unscrupulous employers — or worse, fall victims to fraud.

Carrying a full-time workload in school, Sta. Ana was thrilled to be hired as a virtual assistant through a Facebook job post that would give her the flexibility she needed. She investigated the prospective employer’s social media accounts and everything seemed to be legit before jumping on the opportunity.

Everything was fine in the first week and she helped handle her boss’s email correspondence and other clerical tasks. Then, she got an email from him one day requesting her to buy a bunch of gift cards for clients. He paid for her Uber ride to the Shopper Drug Mart and send her cheques to cover the costs. She did what she was asked, got home and e-transferred him the gift cards.

She also deposited the cheques, amounting to $2,000, right away but only woke up the next morning that the cheques had bounced and the employer was nowhere to be found.

“I contacted him. I texted him and told him I needed the money to support myself. That’s like four months of salary in the Philippines,” said Sta. Ana, who was too scared to report to police about the incident. “Something I’ve learned is we don’t have anyone in Canada and can only rely on ourselves.”

‘Don’t depend on anyone’

Like many of her peers from India, Rincy Jedison Reeta resorted to a local education agent to handle everything for her study plan, from preparing her language test to finding her the school and getting her student visa.

Her agent only came back with two options, both in smaller communities far away from her two cousins in Brampton. With just two days to accept an admission offer, she took up a two-year business accounting program at St. Lawrence College.

The 22-year-old from Kerala said those looking to study abroad must invest heavily in the planning from day one — whether it’s picking a program and school or deciding on where to settle and what they want.

Reeta said she researched on the job eligibility for permanent residence and was familiar with each of the steps that would lead her to that ultimate goal. A whiz with numbers, she set her eyes on a career path in accounting from the get-go.

“You need to try to make a connection network and do your research rather than opt for a program that’s least relevant for your future job hunt,” said Reeta, who deliberately picked a two-year program for a lengthier postgraduate work permit to give her time to build her career.

“If you choose a one-year program, you only get a one-year postgraduate work permit, which is hard for long-term sustainability for your goals.”

To develop her network, Reeta also reached out to professionals in accounting on LinkedIn and asked for their guidance and advice about the industry, skills sought and job leads. Ultimately, she found a mentor who helped her land her first job as an income analyst at a financial company in November.

Still, her final advice is: “Don’t depend on anyone or overexpect from anyone. Do your own hard work.”

Nicholas Keung is a Toronto-based reporter covering immigration for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @nkeungSHARE:

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