A study of over 13,000 immigrants conducted by World Education Services Canada shows that the country is still a strong choice, even during the pandemic.
According to the survey, 93 per cent of the candidates felt that the pandemic would not have an impact on their plans but would make them more interested in gaining permanent residency.
“It’s the quality of life that is the biggest attraction for international students that makes them want to come and settle in Canada,” said Malkeet Singh, an Indian resident studying Broadcast and Television at Humber College.
Even during times in the the pandemic when Canada imposed numerous travel restrictions, immigrants still came to the country, but through indirect routes.
“Because of the increase in cases, there was a flight ban so there were no flights operating from India and there was also a lot of paperwork that was required to come to Canada, so we had to take an indirect route,” said Anex Bejoy, an Indian international student studying Early Childhood Education at Seneca College.
Owing to a huge rise in cases in India last year, all direct flights operating between Canada and India were put on hold which made Indians travel through other countries for them to conduct their Covid tests and then travel to Canada.
“I had to travel through Egypt, get my RT-PCR test done there because Canada wasn’t accepting an Indian covid test, and then when I got back my results and then I traveled to Canada,” said Bejoy.
“There was a lot of paperwork involved and the whole process was quite financially draining, but it all would be worth it once I am done with school and start working towards my residency,” said Bejoy.
The survey also shows an increase of 12 per cent from 2020-2021, with respondents saying that the pandemic would either have no impact or a positive impact on job availability.
There was also a decrease in respondents who felt that the pandemic would have a negative impact from 45 per cent to 33 per cent on the job market.
“One of the biggest reasons for me to choose Canada was the job market of the country. If you compare the population of India with Canada, logically there would be more job opportunities available here, even with the pandemic which is why I decided to come here even with all the restrictions,” said Singh.
About 58 per cent of the respondents wanted to migrate to Canada because of the health care system and because of the Canadian government, while 74 per cent of the respondents felt that they would immigrate to Canada even if there was an economic recession.
The country saw 401,000 immigrants receive their permanent residency in 2021 and the plans to increase this number to 411,000 with most of the immigrants belonging to the economic class meaning skilled or professional people.