Advice For Those of You Who Are Thinking of Moving to Canada and the U.S.

We’re not all millionaires living large

I have been noticing countless questions on Quora from people who want to move and work in Canada. I do have a concern about it myself for the reasons that I am going to list below.

First off, like everywhere else in the world, both Canada and the U.S. are currently in a pandemic. So, why do you want to come here when there are people who are already sick with Covid-19? Some of them are not vaccinated and in hospital to the point where hospital staff are extremely stressed out.

Now that I mentioned the “P” word, that means that both countries are on lockdown at the moment. Thousands of people are (like me) now laid off from their jobs and are looking for another one. So chances of finding work in either country are extremely slim. Also, the only jobs that new immigrants will get are low paying ones like taxi driver, janitors, fast food workers, etc.

The chances of you coming to Canada or the U.S. thinking that you will be rich is zero. You have to start the same way as everyone else: from the bottom. Just like everywhere else in the world, there are poor people in Canada and the U.S.

A Cautionary Tale.

I am first generation Canadian. I was born here. My father is a Hungarian refugee. He came to Canada in 1957. If you don’t know your world history, in October 1956, there was the Hungarian Revolution where people were trying to fight for freedom against the Communist. Hungary lost, and thousands of people, including my dad (Who was 20 at the time), became refugees and escaped to other countries.

My father came from a poor farming family. He was a laborer during the revolution. He didn’t talk much about his experience in the revolution. Only that he came to Canada because he preferred not to be forced into being a soldier in the Red Army.

He came to Canada and started work for the railroad in Lethbridge, Alberta. Most of his working life was as a laborer.

In 1956, my mother was 11 years old. She was being educated the Communist way. She, too, came from a poor farming family. Furthermore, she dropped out of school at the age of 13 to help with the farm. She did go to beauty school to be a hairdresser for some time.

She and my dad met through one of those pen pal things in the 60s (Or you can say, mail order bride). However, in my mother’s mind, she thought that everyone in Canada and the United States are rich.

Both my parents got married, and my mother came to Canada and became a housewife. Plus she also became an immigrant.

Now like most married couples, they did have fights about money. My father was a cheapskate. He wanted to make sure that my brother and I have a better life than he did.

My mother, on the other hand, does give her Hungarian family members money. They ask for money and lying to her saying a family member is sick and can’t afford to go to the hospital. To obey them, my mother had to sneak around my dad to do that. But eventually, my father did find out, and arguments starts. Because of this, He also didn’t like his in laws. He thought that they were all money hungry beggars. My dad did have to take control of the family money.

The last fight about money that they had, I do remember. I was in my 30s and I overheard my mother tell someone over the phone that she was upset that she sent thousands of dollars to her relatives back home because one of them said that they were sick. She sent them a few thousand dollars only to find out weeks later that those family members bought a car with it.

When I was alone with my dad, I did blurt out what she said, and later on, they did have a fight about it. I was up in my room on the internet when that happened.

I’ve only been to Hungary three times. The last time I’ve been there was when I was 11 years old. My mother forced me to go, even though I didn’t want to. At that time, she was not convinced that I can cook a meal and be on my own the majority of the time while both my brother and dad worked that summer. And that trip wasn’t all that memorable.

I haven’t been to Hungary since. I don’t want to go there only to have family members ask me to give them money and gifts. That’s my reason why. I would rather meet with people who want to see me and not my money.

Some of those family members did visit us. One of them wanted my mother to pay for everything. Now she doesn’t speak to them.

Since my father passed away, my mother is trying to prove to her in-laws that she is not a gold digger. She’s not getting much regarding her pension, so she has to make sure that she has enough money for food, shelter, and her health. I don’t know if she is still blindly giving money to her relatives who lie about being sick.

The Lesson Is…

But the real reason why I am writing this article is to let everyone who hopes to be an immigrant in North America know, that you will not be automatically a millionaire once you are here. Like everyone else, you have to work your way from the bottom to the top. Most of that time, you will be impoverished while working hard. And you are going to struggle with day to day living at the same time learning to speak English.

I know that what you see on TV in your countries about the North America is not reality. Only five percent of us that live the opulent lifestyle of the rich and famous. The rest of us have to work hard just to save money for rent, food, and family.

Face it, there are rich, middle class, and poor people everywhere. Just because you see the Kardashians or the Real Housewives on TV live large doesn’t mean that everyone else in Canada and the U.S. does too.

By the way, I don’t go out and by designer everything. I don’t care who I wear. I don’t find designer anything that appealing.

One More Thing

For those of you who want to study in a University in North America, be prepared to pay thousands of dollars on tuition, rent, food, etc. Yes, there is no free university education in Canada or the U.S. Which means that you do have to find a part-time, minimum wage job, or two (Yes, there are people working two or three jobs) while going to school. That is what all North American-born students do too, work while going to school.

So, I hope that I have proven to you that not everyone in Canada and the U.S. is rich. Yes, we have a higher standard of living, but not everyone can afford that.

But…

If you are still planing to find a job in North America, please wait until all the Covid-19 restrictions in both countries are lifted. That might take months to do.