I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my father. He spun our blue and tan globe, I closed my eyes, and ran my finger along its surface until it stopped. When I opened my eyes I was pointing at Canada.
We would play this game often and he’d tell me stories about the countries to which my finger pointed. I’d learn about its weather, what it produced, and its religion, politics and more. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for travel and adventure – and, later, a purpose. A purpose summed up by this memory: I remember asking him why there were so many lines on the map, and whether you could cross them.
More than 15 years after we started our own business we are still helping others navigate immigration borders. Helping people realize their dreams of a better future is the “why?” behind Canada Immigration Partners. To this day we still get the same amount of enjoyment at helping people achieve that happiness, which is why we are still Vancouver immigration consultants in 2023.
You might recognize your own motivations for immigration to Canada below, or in my story on how I immigrated to Canada. If you can relate, we are well placed to help you permanently cross those lines on the globe. Immigration is a narrative with human relationships at its core. Let Canada Immigration Partners contribute to your story.
Vancouver Immigration Consultants, our take on why people immigrate
I’ve been fortunate enough to realize my childhood dreams of travel and adventure. Wherever I went there were immigration stories happening right in front of me. Now, I get to hear those stories on a daily basis. Understanding them is at the core of a successful immigration plan.
Economic Betterment
When I was 12 years old my Dad took me on a motorcycle trip to Spain. From the back of his bike I remember seeing North African immigrants cooking over an open fire with only tarps for shelter, undergoing considerable hardship in pursuit of the opportunity to seek a better life.
Years later, I taught English in Hong Kong. Visiting Central Park Avery on Sundays, I would see hundreds of Filipino workers sitting on blankets with picnic baskets and talking to one another in Tagalog. Many had left home in order to earn money that they would then send home to their families.
According to the World Economic Forum: “Migration is motivated, first and foremost, by lack of economic opportunities at home.” It’s also a win-win situation: despite representing just 3.4% of the population, immigrants are responsible for over 9% of global GDP. Thankfully, enlightened countries like Canada recognize that fact.
To Avoid Inefficiency or Corruption
While in India at 18 years old, I waited for nearly six hours in a stuffy room with a tired fan watching my passport being passed from desk to desk. I was attempting to get a visa that would let me cross a line on the map – only to be told that the officer whose stamp I needed to complete the application had gone home and wouldn’t be back till tomorrow morning. As it turns out a bribe would have gotten me a visa in less than half the time.
Canada’s bureaucratic process is not as difficult to navigate as India’s, but it can be incredibly complex. Applying for immigration to Canada has been compared to removing your own appendix with an incomplete “how-to” manual. You might pull it off, but you’d be a lot better off with professional help.
An international education and a path to residency
At university in Oxford, I was privileged to learn alongside a host of students from all around the world. Each offered a different perspective and made my university experience so much richer.
Canada hosts more than 600,000 international students each year and provides a route to permanent residency through study and the Postgraduate Work Permit program. If that’s a channel you’re interested in exploring, we’ve got a full guide.
Talent ignores borders
A stint with an investment bank gave me a front row seat to the cosmopolitan nature of talent, where specialist and knowledgeable workers at the top of their fields came from all corners of the globe. I quickly came to recognize its importance in bridging cultural divides and fueling innovation.
So has the Canadian government. Canadian businesses are experiencing severe talent shortages across industries and regions. Those skills gaps are set to increase as an aging workforce retires. The Global Talent Stream, Temporary Foreign Worker Program and a host of trade agreements have been established to encourage immigration and ease the shortage. They’re important routes for working in Canada and moving towards permanent residency.
Security
More recently, we’ve been receiving urgent calls and emails from families in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Russia wanting to learn more about how to move to Canada. It has highlighted the peace and security on offer in this country that many Canadians take for granted.
Canada Immigration Partners — removing borders to your Canadian immigration dream. Your Vancouver Immigration Consultants Partners
By sharing my backstory, love of travel and helping people, and by highlighting the driving factors motivating migration hopefully you are informed enough about our honest motivations and love of giving other people the same joy we felt and winning our permanent residency and then citizenship. Every time we receive a card or a testimonial from happy clients it always makes us smile.
