YOURSELF

What is your name?

Have you ever used any other names beside your current name?
Will you need an interpreter today?
How do you spell your name?
Will you please state your date of birth?
Have you used someones help in preparing your immigration application?
Tell me about yourself?
Where do you live?
What is your address?
Do you own a house, or do you rent?
Tell us about your ethnic/origin/family background.
How do you assess your English/French language skills? Reading/Writing/Speaking
Are you married or engaged?
Please describe your typical working day?
What do you like doing in your spare time?
Do you hold any other citizenship besides (your_country)?
Whats your patronymic or Surname?
Did you ever have any other names in the past?
Have you ever changed your name?
How much money do you have in the banks?
What is your financial situation?
Do you have any assets? Total value of all the assets?
What is your monthly salary?
What is your current source of income?
How many sources of income do you have?
Please tell me about your Job Responsibilities?

How do you plan to support yourself for the first few months in Canada?
You said you will be taking $ 10000with you, where did you obtain this amount?
What proof of your assets do you have?
Do you owe money to anyone?
Are you planning to leave any money with your parents?
When and where did you sponsor for the first time?
How did you meet your sponsor?
How old is your sponsor? What is your sponsors birth date?
What does your sponsor do for a living?
Where did your sponsor go to school?
What degrees or formal training does your sponsor have?
How did your sponsor immigrated to Canada?
Where does your sponsor work?
What is the name of the company? What position does your sponsor hold? How long
has your sponsor worked there?
What is the salary?
Where does your sponsor live?
Whom does your sponsor live with?
Where are you going to live when you go to Canada?
Please explain the type of relationship you have had since your first meeting.
What is your religion?
What is the religion of your sponsor?
Does your sponsir have any hobbies? Describe them.
What type of music do you enjoy?
What type of music does your sponsor enjoy?
Have you and your spouse ever exchanged gifts? Explain.
How many family members of your sponsor?
How many children does your spons have?

What relatives do you have in Canada?

What are their names and where do they live?
What relatives do you have outside of Canada?
Do your family members (parents, siblings) want to immigrate to Canada?
Do you plan to bring your parents to Canada once you are there?
Do you have family/friends in Canada? Tell me about them
Please tell me about your educational background?
What qualifications do you have for your present job?
Do you think your qualifications are sufficient to help you find a job?
Do you plan to study further in Canada?
Have you had your qualifications assessed in Canada?
What do you do?
What is your profession?
Where do you currently work?
What are major duties of your current job?
What did you do in your past job positions?
What project are you working on recently?
Can you give us the name of your supervisor/Manager?
Can you tell me a little bit about your work history?
Can you please tell me more about the company where youre regularly employed?
Can you tell me about your current project? What are you working on at the moment?
What are the hours you work?
What do you love about your work?
Why do you want to quit this job to go to Canada?
How would your current job help you land a job in Canada?
How would your current job help you integrate seamlessly into Canadian society?
What jobs have you had prior to this?

Can you provide professional references?

What are you currently working on?
Can you work under pressure?
What do you think about your field in Canada?
How did you find your current job?
How large is the employer of yours?
In what line does your employer work?
Whats the address, phone and fax number of your employer?
How can we find your employer? How can we reach them?
Are you taking any English course now? Where?
Where did your learn English?
What was your major in University?
What University did you enter, when and why?
Do you have a Master or Bachelor degree?
Did you take any post university education?
Why do you want to immigrate to Canada?
What influenced your decision to leave your country?
Why didnt you apply to Immigrate earlier?
Have you ever been to Canada before?
Is there any specific reason why you chose Canada as your destination?
What will you do in Canada?
What are your plans if you fail this interview?
Do you have your family or friends in Canada?
What are your preparations for leaving your country?
Which city in Canada do you want to go to? Why did you decide on that city?
Have you found out about the cost of living in your intended destination?
How will you prepare for the initial settlement if you pass the interview?

Did anyone tell you what to say in your application?

Did anybody train you for the interview?
What do you want to do in Canada and what is your goal there?
How are you going to look for a job in Canada?
Explain how you plan to find a job in Canada?
Do you know any other job hunting tools besides Internet?
Do you have any prospective employers or contacts in Canada?
What if you did not find your favorite job after one year in Canada?
Would you come back to your country if you were unable to settle in Canada?
What do you intend to do upon your arrival? How are you going to settle in?
How do you plan to support yourself for the first few months in Canada?
Are you prepared for the challenges that come with a move to a new country?
Which city in Canada do you want to settle? Why did you decide on that city?
Do you have any friends or relatives in Canada?
What if your Application for Permanent Residence isnt approved?
Do you have any idea about the cost of living in Canada?
How do you evaluate your chances to find a job in Canada?
Did you tell your boss that you would be having the interview at the Canadian
embassy?
Why did you want to leave your home country?
For a better life in a freer country.
Why did you decide to move to Toronto?
Because a family member lived here.
What family members or friends did you leave behind?
My parents, siblings and my friends.
How do you stay in touch?
I stay in touch via phone and email.
What was the single biggest struggle once you first arrived?

Finding employment.
What is the worst thing that has happened to you since then?
Not having been able to find employment within my professional field and settling for
a job way below qualification/experience/education. Having to quit that job because of
embarrassingly exploitative conditions and subsequently spending a year of
depression and anxiety while trying to find another, and upon getting one, having to
lose it because the company went bankrupt.
What was the best thing?
The luxury of drinking fresh water straight out of the tap.
Did you experience any culture shock when you first arrived?
Not really. I have worked and lived in different countries before coming to Canada,
with members of all the world's major cultures. The culture shock to me now will be
going back to my country of birth.
Were there any language barriers?
No. I'm fluent in English and having worked in different countries, retain very little
trace of an accent. My British-English pronunciation of words, however, sometimes
sticks out like a sore thumb. I have now started to learn French as well.
Who has helped you the most since you arrived in Canada?
My brother who immigrated before me and who has been a citizen for a few years
now. I stayed with him and his family when I arrived, until I found my first job and
rented my own apartment.
Is there someone that you really look to for help and support?
No.
Did you come to Canada with a wife, girlfriend, partner or children?
No. I am single.
Have you been trying to find someone in Canada? Do you plan on marrying
here?
Yes, it's in my plans.
How did you go about finding employment when you first arrived?
I wrote to all advertising agencies (my actual profession) in Toronto, sending my
resumes and asking for just a foot in the door without any big salary expectations or
title, but never heard from any. Frustration grew after a while, so then I just started
applying for anything in any profession, underselling and diluting my qualifications to
a laughable point, and got a ridiculously exploitative job.

What more do you think could be done to help new immigrants find
employment?
Something more than the superficial and self-serving government-funded cushy
programs that seem content only on handing out glossy recycled information
literature that actually serves the purpose of showcasing what they are doing in order
to get continued funding and grants. I think the only employment help they are
capable of providing is making sure they stay employed themselves.
You mentioned in your entry Newcomer Employment Tips that companies
and industries in Canada fail to recognize international credentials for
engineers and doctors. What more do you think our government can do to
allow professionals to work in their fields once they arrive in Canada?
I know it sounds daring or even crazy, but something like this should at least be tried,
even on a small scale:
Skilled-worker class Immigrants must be given at most one guaranteed chance to
prove themselves in their relevant skill fields say, an appraisal based testemployment program even if the cost is borne by the government or businesses.
Of course, there will be problems and resentment in the beginning, but this will ensure
immigrants get into professions with whose credentials they applied for immigration.
And those are the professions that are supposed to have need for workers, for
government to approve their immigration applications in the first place.
If the immigrants fail on the job while under this guaranteed test-employment
program, let them fail themselves and realize that they should do something else. At
least the government will have done its duty to put them into areas for which they
were granted immigration, in all fairness.
When you could not find decent employment in Canada in early 2008, how
did that make you feel?
It was early 2007. I could not find anything for an entire year. What it made me feel, is
something I don't like to revisit, even for the sake of making a point.
You also mentioned that you considered returning home. What made you
decide to stay?
A last ditch attempt resulted in a somewhat acceptable job that was still very remote
from my actual profession and for which I was way overqualified and had to undersell
myself. But at least I could afford an apartment to live in. That job, as I write, is lost,
because the company went bankrupt this week. I am too dumbfounded to comment
on that development right now.
In the entry, Time to think of leaving may be approaching, you said that you
do not have any connections or networks or friends. How important do you
think a support system is for a new immigrant?
It's as important to an immigrant as it is to any regular' Canadian or a human being
for that matter. However, having said that, I think that a majority of older newcomers'
tend to be so unsuccessful and detached from the mainstream Canadian life that at

times I wonder if it is actually better that a new newcomer' does not have any
connections or networking with the old boys network' at all.
Have you experienced overt racism since you arrived in Canada, either in
the workplace or otherwise?
Not in the workplace, yet. But I have experienced it out on the street, as I've written
on the blog. There is a lot of overt racism in the comments sections of all major and
minor Canadian newspapers online. Internet's anonymity brings people out of their
closets.
What do you think we all can do to prevent racism towards new immigrants
in the future?
Racism is not aimed just at new immigrants. Racism is aimed at anyone appearing
different than the majority at any given place. It will decrease as society becomes
more integrated and offers more equal opportunity. But racism is often a direct result
of bigotry. For immigrants from some parts of the world, bigotry can be reduced if
Canada's policy towards the world changes. When a 4th generation western
European-ancestry Canadian soldier is killed in a war that is perceived as them
versus us, bigots will not like them living in this society and will never accept
them as us. Canada's interventionist foreign policy should be questioned by an
increasingly multi-racial nation.
Do you feel that immigrants from certain countries are given unfair
advantage over other countries?
I don't think so. If it appears that way, it could be because of the sheer numbers of
people applying to immigrate from certain poorer countries. A developed country will
have fewer people immigrating. As a result, anyone applying from those developed
countries will have a much more rapid and easier experience than immigrants from a
country where there's a huge backlog of applications. This should create frustration
and accusations of unfair advantage. I think given its enormity, the Canadian
immigration process is quite fair.
Despite that you weren't able to vote, did you feel that one party should
have won in the recent Canadian election?
No, I see both main parties as equally glum, insipid and uninspiring. Besides, hardly
anything was achieved with such an expensive exercise after which everything
remained quite the same.
Your list of Successful, Famous Immigrants, includes a list of successful
immigrant men in Canada. Are any of these men your role models?
No! In fact, the list was done to show how little accomplishment is there from
immigrants.
I also noticed that in this list there are no women. Why do you think that is?
I'm sure there are many women qualified to be on the list. It's just that I haven't come
across any particular name or looked hard enough.

Do you think it is more difficult for women than men to immigrate to

Canada?
I don't think so. In fact, I personally think women have a better chance of integrating
and becoming more successful immigrants than men.
In your blog entry Wanted: A family doctor accepting new patients! you said
it is impossible to find a family doctor. In another blog entry, you note that it
is difficult for international doctors to find work in Canada because their
credentials aren't recognized. Do you think allowing more internationally
trained doctors to work in Canada would solve this problem?
Yes. But I think the problem is fundamentally caused by an alarmingly increasing
aging population of old Canadians' who will continue to take the largest chunk out of
Canada'shealth care. I wouldn't be surprised if all health care in future is entirely
dedicated to them and the rest of us end up using home remedies!
Do you experience any financial struggles on a day-to-day basis?
Not as long as I have steady income. When I don't, I struggle.
What are these struggles?
Biggest worry is paying out the rent and being able to keep the apartment.
Should others be doing more to help immigrants struggling financially?
No. It's the very prevailing welfare handout culture in Canada that makes everyone
feeling entitled for something that they should be earning with hard work given fair
opportunity. It makes us all uncompetitive and just plain lazy.
If you do not have any financial struggles, what has kept you financially
stable?
What little life-time savings that I brought from back home, which have now dwindled
and made me sad to have spent it all for apparently nothing. In fact, at times I feel
that starting from the immigration application process, I have given more money and
effort to Canada than Canada has returned in kind.
Do you think you are better off living in the Greater Toronto Area than in
another part of Canada?
Yes. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, because of its ethnic/cultural diversity and
also it being the financial, cultural and commercial centre of Canada.
What are your hopes for the future?
To continue with my Pursuit of Happiness to quote, ironically, the United States
Declaration of Independence.
Will you become a Canadian citizen?
Yes.

Why?
Because it's the country I chose to live in and call my home not new or old but
one and only home.
How much information do you know about Canada?
It's important that you have a basic understanding of Canada, current and a bit of
history.

What have you heard about Canada?

This would be the perfect time to list the beneficial points of living in Canada. Things
like Canada being a kind and friendly country. Many Canadian communities are built
up of international residents.

Who is the current Prime Minister of Canada?

This is very important to know. The current Prime Minister of Canada is Stephen
Harper. A Canadian Prime Minister is the equivalent of an American President.
What is the capital city of Canada? The capital of Canada is Ottawa, Ontario. You will
want to spend some time studying the capital cities of all Canadian provinces.