Nick Noorani Website

The land of the maple leaf, Canada has been a welcoming abode  for Indians over several decades. But today its amity has extended to our student community which has shown a 40% rise in enrollment numbers in maple land this year. “Canada is a very welcoming country. This year 4600 Indian students have been accepted by Canadian Universities, over last year’s count of 3200. By 2015, the plan is to take this number up to 15,000,” informed Maria Mathai, director, Canadian Education Center (India), an agency supported by the government of  Canada. According to Mathai,  Indians are flocking to Canada’s prestigious universities and institutes  to pursue postgraduate diplomas and degrees in areas like business, engineering, computer science and IT, hospitality and tourism as also animation. All thanks to some changes in rules that will make student life simpler.

What to expect?
For the 2010 January intake there are several changes in rules for international students. Firstly, students are being encouraged to apply for education loans to fund their education. Secondly, they have been recommended to apply with IELTS (International English Language Testing System) scores. The third and the most crucial change is that students graduating from eligible programmes at Canadian post-secondary institutions will get an open work permit of three years even without having a job offer on hand and without restriction on type of employment. This move is aimed at solving Canada’s labour shortage problem. Students will be able to meet the requirements of obtaining a permanent residency under the recently launched Canadian Experience Class with just their Canadian degrees and work experience in hand. What remains constant as the last few years are the costs. The living costs are constant at 4 to 4.5 lakh for one year of stay while the academic costs for most courses are at 4- 4.5 lakhs per year. The plus point is that International students are required to show funds for just one year which are around Rs9lakh, taking the above into consideration. “This has definitely made Canada a more attractive education destination,” said Mathai.

Last year, following problems involving false documentation, several Indian students received visa rejections. To avoid this; Canadian immigration has started a pilot project to enable genuine students to obtain visas within just seven to ten days. Those who want to benefit from such schemes must use bonafide, reputable immigration agencies with excellent track records; choose the right courses at the right educational establishments,     be truthful at all times and show genuine documentation. If the application is rejected because of fraudulent documentation, the chances of reversing a refused visa are very slim.

In Canada, most of the institutions are public institutions. Even private institutions, which have been set up have to get provincial accreditation. So, the students, before applying for colleges, should check whether their institutes are listed on the Canadian government website.

Get Ready
Students who have applied for visa, payed their fees and booked their hostel/ off campus accommodation four months in advance can take an easy breath. Maria advised that the last one month should be spent wisely on travel arrangements, packing clothes and other necessities to ensure a smooth transition into life abroad.

In January, the hottest regions in Canada will record temperatures between zero and five degrees celsius while the coldest regions like Toronto will be freezing at temperatures well below zero degrees celsius. For those under prepared; this can mean big trouble.

“Students should seek advice from the buddies/ mentors assigned to them. They should
arrange for a costlier airport pickup (50-100 canadian dollars) over a bus ride(30- to 50 canadian dollars). This will ensure they don’t have to battle the cold on arrival in Canada,” she said.

Students should take along good quality woolen socks, caps, gloves, water resistant shoes to survive the snow. Basic winter coats can be purchased in Canada on arrival, as the Indian ones won’t be very helpful. In Canada, unlike in India one can’t purchase medicines over the counter without prescriptions. Students should be well organised in their packing. To feel at home and personalise their hostel rooms., students can pack in memoirs like family photographs, favourite music, movies.

Life on Campus
Every Canadian university ensures 10% international students on campus. This will means that apart from living with other nationalities, Indian students will have to learn the way of life of the Canadians.” Canadians are very informal people. Students should not be shy; instead they should smile and introduce themselves to natives,” said Mathai. “Students shouldn’t compare Americans with Canadians to avoid hurting their sensibilities,” she added. Topics to be avoided on first contact are money, salary, religion, and politics.

Good topics of conversation are: work, studies, the weather (a good opener), one’s house, vacations, sports (especially hockey, American football, baseball, water sports and, increasingly, soccer/football) and other leisure activities. The food, the accent, the way of life will be very different; students should be prepared to adjust and live in harmony. Beyond academics, students must ensure their safety at all times. Every university has a safe walk programme. With just a phone call, students can call for volunteers who can escort them from and to any location on campus at nights. Those staying outside should behave responsibly and stay away from crime ridden areas.

While living in university dorms, students will get a brief introduction of the timings and rules of the dorm. “Indian pressure cookers tend to scare foreigners. Students should avoid setting off smoke detectors  while  preparing Indian cuisine. Elaborate cooking should be avoided,” advised Mathai.”Rest assured students will learn everything else once they are on campus,” she added.

Taking up jobs in the library, clubs or shops on campus or assisting faculty can help students earn around 8 canadian dollars an hour for 20 hours a week. It will also help them get a snapshot into Canadian campus life. “Students who have chosen Bachelor’s or Master’s programmes with co-op which is a work term of one semester (three months), also get the chance of working full time during their study,” informed Mathai adding that getting into such programmes is very competitive and only students with good grades will find success.

While fast-growing companies have long been the main source of new jobs and innovation, this country makes it outrageously difficult for immigrants to launch new companies here. This doesn’t make any sense. After all, Google, Pfizer, Intel, Yahoo, DuPont, eBay and Procter & Gamble are all former start-ups founded by immigrants. Where would this country be today without their world-changing innovations?

Immigrants have not only founded big, well-known companies. Foreign-born residents made up just 12.5% of the U.S. population in 2008. But nearly 40% of technology company founders and 52% of founders of companies in Silicon Valley.

Yet we don’t seem to care. We send recent, foreign-born university science and engineering graduates back to their own countries after their student visas expire—unless these creative sorts are willing to spend some of the most entrepreneurial years of their lives working in a big company under an H-1B visa after they finish their studies.

For those who studied elsewhere, but who nonetheless want to bring their job-creating ideas here, American policies treat them—the job-creating, trouble-making innovators that they are—as a cross between deadbeats and queue-jumpers. Why can’t they wait in line like everyone else to get a visa in five years or so? What’s their hurry?

Their hurry is Joseph Schumpeter’s hurry: They want to hustle out and disrupt markets when the opportunity arises.

In the 21st century those opportunities don’t wait for our interminable, employment-based visa programs. As a result rather than saying “Come and create jobs here” we, in effect, tell them to shove off. Come back when you have a few million in sales— at which point they will be rooted elsewhere and creating jobs somewhere else.

That needs to end now. Immigrants who come here to create companies create jobs. We need the jobs.

One good idea to make this process easier is to create a new visa for entrepreneurs, something that is increasingly being called by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and angel investors a “start-up visa.” It might work like this: If immigrant entrepreneurs want to start a company in the U.S. and are able to raise a moderate amount of money (perhaps as little as $125,000) from an accredited U.S.-based venture capital firm or qualified U.S.-based angel investors, we should let them start a company here. It could be a couple of founders with an idea—that’s it. We would give visas to the founders and welcome them in to our country.

Would it work every time? Of course not. It would fail more often than not. Start-ups often fail.

But having failed, the immigrant entrepreneurs could try again, and again. And as long as they are trying, raising money, creating jobs, and making sales, we would let them stay here. Founders of new companies are precious for a vibrant economy, and we should welcome them. Indeed, the country would be better served to find more of them.

Some will say a start-up visa program will be abused. They will say that it will become a way to end-run immigration rules, to jump the queue if you have money.

There are at least two answers to these objections. First, to get such a visa you would have to raise money from real investors. Second, Canada and other countries already allow entrepreneurs to start a company in their country. Shouldn’t the U.S. stop worrying so much about keeping these people out, and start worrying about bringing them in?

We also think science and engineering graduates should get visas stapled to their diplomas. You complete your higher education here, you get to stay so that you can get out and create jobs, innovate, and grow the economy. Uncle Sam wants you, if you’re a prospective entrepreneur.

The U.S. remains one of the most attractive countries for entrepreneurs. It has a culture of risk taking, capital formation, and an economic dynamism that is the envy of the world. This gives us a competitive edge that we should not let slip through our fingers.

Mr. Kedrosky is a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation and an investor. Mr. Feld is a managing director at Foundry Group, a Boulder, Colo.,-based venture capital firm that invests in start-up companies in the U.S.

StatsCan study shows new immigrants slow to achieve success in Canada,
but training is only part of a winning job-market formula
Glen Korstrom
Statistics Canada data released last week revealed that two-thirds of university-educated
recent immigrants to Canada are underemployed and work in jobs that require at most a
college education or apprenticeship.
But StatsCan failed to reveal why this disparity exists or how new immigrants can find jobs
commensurate with their training.
Soft skills are the answer, according to Nick Noorani, the founder and publisher of
Canadian Immigrant magazine. “I don’t need to pick up a newspaper to read that it’s hard for immigrants to succeed in this
country. Please don’t tell me that. I know it. Tell me how to succeed,” Noorani told
Business in Vancouver.
Noorani lectures on what he calls the seven success secrets for Canadian immigrants. He
developed them from speaking to countless immigrants while growing his magazine from a
startup in 2004 to an asset he sold to Star Media Group, a subsidiary of Toronto Star
Newspapers Ltd., for a six-figure sum in December 2006.
His seven secrets are:
• learn English;
• stay positive;
• embrace Canada;
• have a Plan B;
• steer clear of ethnic silos;
• take risks; and
• volunteer and take advantage of mentorship and networking opportunities.
“Immigrants come here with 90% technical skills and 10% soft skills because this is how
Canada chooses immigrants – on the basis of technical skills,” Noorani said.
“What do Canadian employers want? Sixty per cent soft skills and 40% technical skills.”
The Business Council of British Columbia’s (BCBC) biennial skills and attributes surveys
reveal that recruiters’ hiring decisions come down to which candidate has the strongest soft
skills. BCBC’s surveys give recruiters a list of 15 attributes and ask which are most
important.
In 2008 and 2006, the three most sought-after attributes were:
1. Accountability/responsibility
2. Positive attitude/motivation/energy/passion
3. Honesty/integrity
Noorani said soft skills involve being able to relate to clients. He added that networking,
volunteering and approaching potential mentors can also pay off. Noorani founded the
networking website immigrantnetworks.ca
“When I started Canadian Immigrant, I had 12 mentors,” Noorani said. “I said, ‘I admire
what you do. I’m new at this, new to Canada. I would love to be able to speak with
someone who has your depth of experience. I wonder if you would be willing to mentor
me?”
The multi-service Asian settlement society S.U.C.C.E.S.S. launched a research project
November 25 to try to determine the positive factors that contribute to the success of new
immigrants.
S.U.C.C.E.S.S. has partnered with University of British Columbia psychology professor
Norman Amundson for the project, which will involve interviews with 20 immigrants who
believe they’ve achieved success in Canada.
Amundson and his assistants will analyze the in-depth interviews, which will be conducted
in the immigrants’ mother tongue. They plan to release a report in March at the Career
Management Association of B.C.’s annual conference.
New StatsCan data shows that the average hourly wages were $23.72 for Canadian-born
workers in the core working age group of 25 to 54. That’s $2.28 more than those of
immigrant workers. The wage gap was larger – about $5 per hour – among those who had
arrived within the last five years and between immigrants and Canadian-born workers with
university degrees. According to StatsCan, immigrants that have been in Canada for more
than 10 years have a similar likelihood of being underemployed and similar salaries to
those of their Canadian-born counterparts. •
gkorstrom@biv.com