Hi All! :)

Welcome to Expat-blog site.

I am a Malaysian based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Job employment is difficult depending on which industry you are from. Given that you are from the insurance industry, my recommendation is to stick with the more popular places like Toronto / GTA, Montreal (if you speak a lil' french), Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver. It'll be easier to find jobs there as compared to other more obscure mid-sized Canadian cities - like Halifax (for example).

The other advantage of targeting these cities is the fact that you'd have a larger pool of Singaporeans/ Malaysians there which you could connect with and thus do not feel a lil' left out upon your arrival.

On the job front, it is hard no matter which industry to come over to another country and find a job. Until and unless you are in a field where the local resource is limited (like nursing, IT, welding, oil and gas, etc.), you will be up against a large pool of locals fighting for the same position. Being present in the country itself helps when finding a job - then you are able to attend interviews in person and also network through various events like job fairs or networking sessions etc.

Your advantage to the job market here (and here's where you can sell yourself more to potential employers) - is your global exposure. The fact that you come from the far east, read, speak and write English fluently. Know more than one language (Chinese I presume), helps. I know a local company based in Halifax, Citco that hires lots of Chinese students from the local Canadian university here because they are starting a business unit that does off shore investment based in China - thus being able to converse in Mandarin helps. But really, it depends on the company itself.

All the best to you. If you need an advice of which immigration lawyer to use, let me know and I can recommend you a good one that I personally have use and am satisfied with.

Cheers,
Philip Yeo

Dear all, as this is my first time participating in a forum discussion, please bear with me if I miss your replies or am not observing the appropriate etiquette of a forum. A gentle reminder will be appreciated.

Hi Philip,

Thank you so much for your reply.
I have not personally been to Canada before and would like to visit next year so as to have a feel of which province I can better fit into.

I have initially decided on Calgary. But the freezing cold weather made me abandon the idea and to explore bigger cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

My fiance and I will be more than willing to take on any sort of office job and have no issue with starting from scratch. Anything.. both of us will be very willing to learn as long as there is chance for progression. You just gave me an idea that I can also look into jobs that requires people who can speak and read Chinese. Noted on Citco. With a bachelor in Economics and Finance, I hope that it will be of some relevance to the company. I will definitely keep Citco in mind.

I will be visiting an immigration officer (based in Singapore) later this evening for a free consultation in hope to get more insights about this whole process.

I am rather confused at which is the best approach to begin with.
1) Should I apply jobs through job sites first?
2) To apply for PR first?
3) To go through immigration specialist? (How much will it cost? How high is the success rate of them getting us a job? Will the money be gone to waste if there's no positive outcome?)

I just chanced upon your interview. Looks interesting. Shall read it up now!

Thank you for your time.

Hi MissyPanda,

I'm in my twenties too, and hoping to experience living in Canada. I am in the clinical research sector in Singapore.
Would like to ask, is the immigration officer you consulted with from the Canadian embassy? If not, how can I go about getting a consultation with one?

Thanks in advance!

MissyPanda wrote:

Dear all, as this is my first time participating in a forum discussion, please bear with me if I miss your replies or am not observing the appropriate etiquette of a forum. A gentle reminder will be appreciated.

Hi Philip,

Thank you so much for your reply.
I have not personally been to Canada before and would like to visit next year so as to have a feel of which province I can better fit into.

I have initially decided on Calgary. But the freezing cold weather made me abandon the idea and to explore bigger cities like Vancouver and Toronto.

My fiance and I will be more than willing to take on any sort of office job and have no issue with starting from scratch. Anything.. both of us will be very willing to learn as long as there is chance for progression. You just gave me an idea that I can also look into jobs that requires people who can speak and read Chinese. Noted on Citco. With a bachelor in Economics and Finance, I hope that it will be of some relevance to the company. I will definitely keep Citco in mind.

I will be visiting an immigration officer (based in Singapore) later this evening for a free consultation in hope to get more insights about this whole process.

I am rather confused at which is the best approach to begin with.
1) Should I apply jobs through job sites first?
2) To apply for PR first?
3) To go through immigration specialist? (How much will it cost? How high is the success rate of them getting us a job? Will the money be gone to waste if there's no positive outcome?)

I just chanced upon your interview. Looks interesting. Shall read it up now!

Thank you for your time.

Hi MissyPandy,

I can attest to what philipyeo had said about building up credentials. I was a senior manager back in SG but it's only good only on the CV. Well, it's not all doom and gloom for sure. It takes time..and patience nonetheless. I was in Vancouver for a couple of years before I decided to move on to Edmonton(about 2hrs 45mins North of Calgary). Yes, it's damn cold but we got used to it. There's a sizeable Chinese community in both cities. Edmonton has around half a dozen Bilingual(Eng + Mandarin) Public Schools (K-9). One great asset which both a S'porean & M'sian has is our ability to converse both English and Mandarin. By the way, some employers that has experienced dealing with Asian Chinese immigrants have high regards of them.

Check out the new EE system introduced in Jan 2015. You should apply under this category.
Skilled immigrants (Express Entry)
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/ … /index.asp

It's entire optional to go through an immigration specialist. You could make the applications on your own though. Me and wife went through a specialist cos we didn't have the time to do so on our own. Can't remember exactly how much but in the region of SGD$6-8k if I remember correctly.

Hope this helps!

nicolelocin wrote:

Hi MissyPanda,

I'm in my twenties too, and hoping to experience living in Canada. I am in the clinical research sector in Singapore.
Would like to ask, is the immigration officer you consulted with from the Canadian embassy? If not, how can I go about getting a consultation with one?

Thanks in advance!

Hi Nicole,

You should get in touch with an immigration specialist, not from the Canadian High Commission.
Came across one such example. Check Saturday ST Classified too.

http://aims.sg/canada-visa.php