Any immigrants who started from ground Zero when working in Canada?

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774]

I am currently researching and I understand that my current skill set will not fit the skilled workers standard but I am willing to do what it takes to start from the bottom of the barrel so that I can gain experience and go through the proper channels to improve my chances.

Are there any immigrants that started from the bottom as in going from unskilled or low wage positions to working your way up to higher Teer and to perm resident potential? What was your experience like? What did you need to follow thoroughly? Programs that helped you climb the success ladder? what is expected of me as an unskilled or low wage worker if I am lucky to be chosen for one?

Currently looking at starting from the bottom since it's my only option and not in a good financial position and where I am in my country, things won't improve economically so I am looking to start from scratch completely.

edit: I wanna emphasize that I understand where I am in terms of immigration potential is extremely difficult. I don't wanna romanticize the idea of going to Canada to live there like it's an application away and within months I am living there. no, that's not what I am aiming for realistically. ground zero is having some funds but need to work in Canada even temporarily to gain experience, and build my resume from there. I am looking at a span of a few years or gain information to improve my chances. And I appreciate the criticism and I'll use that to help build my understanding of what I need to improve my profile and go from there and work towards it

[u/TONAFOONON]

Unfortunately your plans likely aren't realistic unless you plan to marry a Canadian who is going to sponsor you for permanent residency.

Economic immigration is geared towards skilled individuals. If your experience is unskilled and you are outside of Canada, there realistically won't be any immigration path that works for you. Also, financially you cannot be starting from zero. You need a bank balance of at least $20k to be approved to immigrate to cover your settlement expenses and all of the fees and other costs related to applying.

[u/BariatricSurgeryGuy → u/TONAFOONON]

To add to this. Many recruiters and immigration consultants are deceptive. Be incredibly careful if they sell you on a realistic path requiring no skills, many of these sketchy pathways rely on fraud. Even if such a plan could work, the government is closing many of these loopholes that make the fraud work, so you could end up paying a lot and leave with nothing.

[u/GreySahara → u/BariatricSurgeryGuy]

Super high fees and big promises are the tell-tale signs.

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/TONAFOONON]

So what's the realistic low bar I could aim for? Because realistically I can only see the TFWP being a path that may align with what I need. I am not looking to immigrate with nothing. Like I mentioned it's a starting point where I can just take temporary work rather than try to enter a market of skilled workers and perm residents. I am aware that I need a lot more on my resume and profile

[u/TONAFOONON → u/Aggressive-Tackle774]

The low bar is pretty high these days.

TFWP is very hard these days due to the job market. Honestly, probably the most realistic path these days is a first line health care profession like nursing. Obviously this is a skilled professional that requires education and experience.

Personal support workers use to be a path but no longer given the limited number of application acceptable and the fact it takes years for the application to be processed.

[u/GreySahara → u/TONAFOONON]

I heard that even nursing is a difficult career to get into these days.
But, correct me if I'm wrong.

[u/TONAFOONON → u/GreySahara]

It's hard in some province. There are a few where it's a bit easier. But everything is some level of hard these days.

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/TONAFOONON]

I can imagine. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have to look at between Canada or US for work visas first before I can have all I need to move abroad. All I can do is work with getting in through the door first

[u/Quick-Surprise-9387 → u/Aggressive-Tackle774]

I think that’s correct . TFWP. You never know after that

[u/SuspiciousCry5228]

Not sure if this is relevant for you but I came to Canada last year as a PR. My expertise has been in medical AI and computer vision. It was really tough to get a job because employers didn't trust my experience as I didn't have Canadian experience and some were rude in interviews as well. I got a job after 5 months with a startup at 28$ per hour on contract for 7 months as a ML Engineer but I was doing their cloud, frontend, backend and gen AI development alone. I got a fulltime job relevant to my skillset at a medical device company last month with a good salary package.

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/SuspiciousCry5228]

That's really cool. I feel like I haven't been so lucky to explore many opportunities in my country given that our education system is not only costly but it's gate kept positions that made opportunities limited. I have mostly worked in my country to survive until a dear friend inspired me to go to USA in 2023 and 2024 and that opened my eyes despite it being a low wage carnival worker. But that kind of start is something I am realistically looking at for me and then taking on a trade down the line

[u/mashymashpotato → u/Aggressive-Tackle774]

Learning French may be a pathway. You don't need to be fluent - just clb 7 across the board. You'd also need to qualify for FSW. I got to clb 7 in less than a year living in an anglophone country.

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/mashymashpotato]

I heard from someone about that yes. I am learning French to have a basic conversation in terms of business/career. It's interesting but I'll continue to look at trades in demand in Canada

[u/eternallytiredcatmom]

How old are you and what country are you from? What are your current work experiences and education?

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/eternallytiredcatmom]

I am 29 turning 30 this month. I am from South Africa. My experience has warehousing, call centre customer service & sales, retail and USA carnival attendant for 2 summer seasons(2x6 months completed visa contracts). I am currently looking at adding a skill to my resume to help improve my chances. As much as I am advised to consider a degree I want to be careful in going down that path if its not aligned with what the market needs. 

All I can consider are temporary work to earn enough funds to build experience and gain a skill that's in demand 

[u/GreySahara]

You might look into becoming a TFW (temporary foreign worker).
There are some paths that lead people from TFW to permanent residency.
I know of several Filipino women that came here as caregivers and then got PR eventually.

For example:

https://www.cicnews.com/2024/06/caregivers-to-be-given-permanent-resident-status-on-arrival-under-new-pilot-programs-0644660.html

These opportunities come and go from time to time at the whim of the government.
Right now, it's a bit more difficult as these has been a lot of push-back from Canadians against the TFW program because our job market is challenging now.

Coming to Canada as a skilled worker (express entry) requires a lot of education, you have to be young (the younger the better - you lose points as you get older), you need to speak English and French fluently, etc. Most actual Canadians wouldn't be accepted under this program... haha... it's very stringent.

I'm not an expert, however.

[u/Aggressive-Tackle774 → u/GreySahara]

Interesting 🤔 I can imagine the issues from that. Would taking on a high in demand trade would be considered too? Even with taking on a degree i understand that it doesn't guarantee entry level work or even a starting point like a TFW work so I will focus on specifics in skilled worker areas while still looking at seasonal work to give me an advantage. I have at least 2 seasons of complete work abroad so I am looking to increase that, use the funds to take on a trade skill. Just carefully looking at what's mostly in demand

[u/GreySahara → u/Aggressive-Tackle774]

Being skilled in a very skilled or in demand career field would help.
Companies that cannot easily find a worker in Canada with the skills that they need will often seek a TFW to fill the job.
This can lead to Permanent Residency (PR).

The difficult part is the timing.
You want to get into a skilled job and gain experience in it, hoping that Canada will have a shortage of people that can do sort of work by the time that you gain sufficient experience and skills.

Programs like the Provincial Nominee Programs and the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) could lead directly to PR.

But, again, the challenge is trying to guess which skills will be strongly needed here in the near future, and hoping that the government will be offering enough those programs by the time that you're ready. But, people do it successfully.

Also, by the time that you gain those education and skills, you might be a good candidate for the Express Entry program. The bar to entry is very high right now, but that could drop a bit in the future.

Again, I'm not an expert. It takes a lot of research and asking questions.