Before you go to Canada, read this first-hand account from a skilled immigrant
Margee
read the following story. It is not intended to discourage anyone to
go, but it will hopefully serve as a warning to people and make them
aware of what may lie ahead for them as a newcomer.
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Last year in December I was approached by company which I will call
XYZ in Canada to come and work for them after one of the HR people had
picked up my online resume. Back then I was living in Australia and
had received my PR visa a few months earlier.
Everything seemed to go well. I did my interview, was sent a contract
which I signed, was sent a relocation agreement which I also signed,
and at XYZ they said they might even have something for my husband.
He'd been working as a program manager / director in Australia and
they were hinting at that he might become the next vice president of
the XYZ office (because the sitting vice president was ready for
retirement). Since they had such big things in mind with him, they
couldn't interview him on the phone. They really needed to see him in
person.
So over to Canada we went, believing XYZ on their word. We spent two
weeks wrapping up our lives in Australia to commit for at least a year
but hopefully a couple of years in Canada. All on the basis of trust.
We put our 38 foot sailing catamaran on which we normally live (rather
than a house) on dry dock, our cars in storage, did all the necessary
maintenance tasks on the boat and cars so that they were ready for
their long term storage (worth thousands of dollars). We bought our
airline tickets (also worth thousands of dollars for the two of us),
arranged our accommodation in Edmonton where we would be based, set up
our bank account, insurances, gym membership, etc.
Then we started in our jobs at XYZ and everything turned out to be a
big lie. My husband had been lured to Canada with the promise that
they had something big in mind and that promise was also held up
during his interview. He would initially be placed in a project
manager position, but was told not to worry, because he would move on
to bigger things soon. None of that ever happened during the 8 months
that followed. As for me, I was interviewed for an application
development project, but my job description changed on arrival. I was
instead put to work on a business project that didn't interest me in
the slightest. In addition to that, XYZ also started to make a fuss
about my relocation agreement. First they denied they even had one
with me, then they only wanted to pay a portion of it, then they
didn't want to approve it and then finally it took ages for the amount
to arrive in my bank account. My former project manager, who was one
of the good people there, is still chasing up XYZ for here expenses
six months after she finished her contract. At XYZ they tell her they
can't pay her yet, because the client hasn't paid yet.
Unfortunately there was no turning back for my husband and me any time
soon. We had spent heaps of our savings to wrap up our lives in
Australia and to build up our lives in Canada (committed to a rental
agreement for 8 months, gym membership, airline tickets that we paid
upfront). We first had to work to earn some money before we could go
back home. And so we accepted the situation as it was and tried to
make the best of it. At XYZ they didn't care. We were just another set
of bodies that you replace when they are used up.
Things got a lot worse as time went by. We were both made to work long
hours on weekdays and almost every weekend. After 5 months I was
totally burned up and had no other option than to resign. My husband
was determined to stick it out a bit longer, but it was sheer hell for
him, to be in a position for which he was overqualified, having
managers who were less experienced, and be forced to work overtime on
a daily basis. The Indians (and Eastern Europeans) at XYZ were treated
the same, but they kind of accepted it. They only complained about
their situation when they were amongst themselves, not when management
was around. It's also not in their culture to be vocal about it. My
husband and I were different. Working conditions in Australia are
usually very good (exceptions to the rule), so we spoke up about it.
This however only resulted in bullying and harassment. The sad thing
is that there was nothing you could do about it. The sitting vice
president, to which we had escalated things, just condoned it and
remained passive. And at XYZ they probably knew they could get away
with this, because newcomers to Canada don't know the rules and they
don't know where to go for help anyway.
I eventually found a new job at a company which I will call UVW in
Montreal which was, although heavily underpaid, the kind of work that
I liked doing and the team was also great. The fact that my husband
and I were now forced by the circumstances to live 4 hours of flying
apart from each other and in different time zones was not ideal, but
we managed. My husband intended to come over to me because he hadn't
seen Montreal yet at that point in time.
So at some stage my husband checked his TOIL status. TOIL is a system
XYZ uses to record "time off in lieu". It appeared my husband had
accumulated around 60 hours in TOIL and he wanted to spend it on a
long weekend with me in Montreal, so he put in a request. At XYZ they
then removed all his TOIL hours and even more to put him in the
negative, and told him he hadn't worked enough yet and that he
couldn't take the weekend off. That was the so-called straw that broke
his back, so he told them to stuff it and went to Montreal anyway. We
both agreed that enough was enough, so after the weekend together my
husband and I both resigned from our jobs (which was tough for me,
because I liked my work and environment at UVW) and we decided to do
our six week trip from Vancouver to Halifax which we had planned since
April, before we would head back to Australia and resume the good life
we used to have.
It's a long and sad story, but also a very true one with real people
whose lives were almost destroyed at the hands of one single company.
I have personally never forgiven myself for the misery I put my
husband through, even though I had done my homework. XYZ’s website
looked professional, they were a global consulting company, and I
couldn’t find anything negative about them on the internet. Still we
became a victim of their unethical way of conducting business.
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Good luck to all of you. I hope none of you will ever have to go
through what we have been through in Canada.