Landing in Toronto
New Immigrants Exploited By Consultants
In the past of couple of months, Toronto have been receiving significant amount of new immigrants from Kerala. We were fortunate to meet and help some of them.
There are unfortunate ones who fell into the trap of immigration consultants. Apart from the service charge of facilitating the immigration process, some of the immigration consultants offer settlement packages. This package has nothing to do with the Government of Canada. It’s a service they offer to new landing immigrants in Canada for a short time, usually a month for a “nominal cost”. It includes accommodation, Toronto transit, phone service, internet service, cable service and guidance to receive government issued documents such as PR card, social insurance card and health insurance card. Some of them even promise job the moment you land here.
Interacting with some of the new immigrants who landed in Toronto through these consultants, we heard some really terrible stories. Some of them did not find anyone receive them at the airport, while others got stacked up in a large home which they shared with other 5 to 10 families. The average rent for a home in Toronto is $1200 plus utilities (electricity, phone, cable and water which may cost an extra $250 based on how you use them). They are provided with a TTC pass ($121 for a month). Read the rest of this entry »
Ports Hotel for New Immigrants
A community member suggested Ports Hotel as a good accommodation for new immigrants to stay when they land in Toronto. He himself stayed in this hotel for a month or so, while looking for an apartment to rent, after coming back from 6 month long vacation.
Its located in the Mississauga area and twenty minutes to Downtown Toronto and Pearson International Airport.
Their accommodation include single rooms, bachelor rooms, double rooms, one bedroom apartment suites, two bedroom apartment suites and deluxe two bedroom apartment suites.
All units are fully furnished and have private bathrooms, free high speed internet access, cable television, telephone, refrigerator, microwave and balcony overlooking either Lake Ontario or the city of Mississauga. Units are air-conditioned in the summer. Read the rest of this entry »
Tips For Those Landing in Toronto
Arriving in Canada soon? Here is an extract of an email we sent to a new immigrant recently.
If you need any help when you arrive in Toronto, let us know. One of the volunteers, depending on our availability of time, from Toronto Koottam will be able to help you. Try to arrive on a weekend in Toronto, so that it’s easy for one of us to pick you up. If you need arrangements for accommodation, let us know ahead of time so that we can try to arrange something – at least a temporary one.
Like many of Toronto Koottam members, some of us migrated to North America relatively recent. We understand the pain of migration. Unless it is really needed, we recommend you to arrive in Toronto alone. One of the common mistakes that families, especially from the Gulf who migrate to Canada, usually make is to arrive in Canada all at once. We recommend you to take a vacation (temporary leave from work) and arrive in Toronto alone. That makes your life a lot easy until you find a comfortable job. You save a lot of money on accommodation as well as other living cost. In this economic condition, it’s not easy to find a job in North America, let alone Canada. Your family can join you later once you get settled. We understand your family have to arrive in Canada before a certain date. If they can wait, that would be the best. Otherwise, land with them and they can stay here for a while (2 to 4 weeks) and return. It’s not wise for all you to stay here without any income for a long period.
We are not sure what type of job you will be looking for in Canada. In any case, do some search on workopolis.com to see if there any good openings in your profession. There are some tips on TorontoMalayalee.ca on how to hunt for jobs in Canada; it might be useful too.
These are just some thoughts. We have seen families arrive here for retirement with lots of savings. These thoughts don’t apply to them. You know your situations better and try to make decisions accordingly.
Let us know. In case you need to contact us.
Toronto Koottam