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Published: 04/14/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)

More than half the people leaving the UAE for Canada return
Hello Canada. Bye Canada.


About 5,000 expatriates left the UAE last year in search of a better life in Canada.
Interestingly, at least half that number who had earlier left the UAE for Canadian shores returned - and the percentage of returnees continues to increase.
While various factors are suggested for this reverse osmosis, perhaps the single most important factor for the increasing number of returnees is that a large number find they cannot get a job in Canada that matches their education and experience.
"The grass looks greener on the other side from here. Only when you get there you find it's turned to snow," said one expatriate of his Canadian experience.
"From there, it is the Gulf that looks a lot more inviting."
Driving force
Consultants say the driving force behind exapatriates' migration from the Gulf was the hike in rents, the drop in quality of life and job uncertainty.
But the real motive is a lack of security in their home countries, horrendous competition for university seats for their children and low quality of life.
The large number of people who migrate from the Gulf countries are Asians, Iranians, Lebanese, residents of Saudi Arabia and South Africans.
But more than half of those who migrate from the Gulf region invariably return, consultants say.
Some of them are used to their comforts of life here and cannot adjust to their new environment.
Some go unprepared for this major transition in life.
Horror stories
The expatriates themselves recount horror stories of doctors selling pretzels from kiosks in malls or airline executives doing telemarketing.
Others like Ameena say they returned to the Gulf after years in Canada because the environment their children were growing up in was "scary".
Ameena said her daughter underwent tremendous peer pressure at school. "If you go (emigrate) when the children are a little more mature, it is fine," she said.
The mother of two, originally from the southern Indian state of Kerala, said the other reason she, her husband and two teenage children have returned is because it is easier to visit India from here.
"I was used to going home often from Saudi Arabia," she said. "It is so far away from Canada."
She said she knows of another couple from Ottawa who have come back to Dubai. It is again due to cultural issues: the couple has three girls.

The comforts
"There are many reasons. These people do not want to give up the Gulf," says Norbert D'Souza, consultant with Ozzie Opportunities.
"They do not want to give up their comforts like Shantas and Kanthas (house maids) to wash their clothes or cut their grass," he says.

According to a Statistics Canada report, one in six male immigrants leaves Canada for better opportunities elsewhere within the first year of arrival. Those who leave are the "cream of the crop", businessmen and skilled workers, it adds.
Migrants from Hong Kong and the US were the most likely to leave Canada, followed by those from South America, Central America, the Middle East, and Australia, in that order.
No secret
A sociologist at Toronto University says it was no secret that some people come to Canada with the intention of returning home.
"The idea that used to exist was that the world consisted of a lot of highly educated people who wanted to come here, and Canada got to pick and choose. But that's something of a myth," the report quotes sociologist Jeffrey Reitz, of the University's Centre for International Studies, as saying.
"When it comes to immigration, we are in a very competitive market. We have to recruit them and make sure they stay."
A parliamentarian earlier told Gulf News that Canada should give new immigrants a complete picture of what to expect when they land.
"These people have come to contribute and we don't give them a chance," he said.
But it is not just people seeking a chance to hanker after the Canadian dream, consultants say.
Secure future
Some people earning as high as Dh60,000 per month are also applying for immigration, according to Prabhjeet Singh, branch manager of Worldwide Immigration Consultancy Services.
"That person cannot expect to earn that much in Canada, but it is to secure his future and the future of his children," he says.
D'Souza, who suffered a heart attack while in Canada, says he would surely have died if it had occurred in Mumbai, or in the Gulf on a Friday.
"The medical care is the best in the world," he says, adding that he did not pay a cent for the $80,000 (Dh293,600) bypass surgery. He is now a volunteer for an open-heart support group.
But despite the many benefits, people still keep their options open.
"Some people station their family in Canada and continue to work in the Gulf," says Elizabeth Joseph, spokesperson for Aries International.
There is a residential tower in the outer suburbs of the Greater Toronto Area playfully nicknamed by new Asian immigrants as the "Saudia Building".
Curiously, most of the tenants in this building are women and children.
Apparently, the menfolk of the new migrant families still continue to work for the Kingdom's airline, while their families become eligible for Canadian passports.
Upgrade skills
Anecdotal evidence for several years has suggested immigrants are leaving in droves because they can't land suitable jobs in Canada, according to the Statistics Canada report.
Nikhat Rasheed, co-coordinator of a national advocacy group for foreign-trained professionals, is quoted as saying that a big frustration is getting Canadian employers to recognise overseas credentials.
But Singh says that doctors, engineers, nurses and those falling in the category of regulated professions have to upgrade their skills in Canada, just like anywhere else.
"If you are a doctor, you have to undergo the 48-week internship," he says.
A media professional who considers himself highly educated said he was puzzled when he did not get any replies to his job applications.
He said even his wife who holds an American degree just managed to get a job as a production inspector on an assembly line.
"At one point I was advised to change my name," says the Arab Muslim.
One computer professional said many immigrants forget the age factor.
"It is difficult to compete with a young, locally qualified IT specialist," he says.

Not changing
But according to another consultant, the main reason people are returning is because they are very reluctant to change themselves.
Sayeeduddin Bakhtiar, general manager of Flagship Immigration Centre, also concedes the fact that it is not an easy life for new immigrants for the first few years.
D'Souza says that getting a job in Canada is the least of the problems.
But getting THE jobs will take time, he says, noting that it is unfortunate that people go with a "mental block" even before they land.
He said the massive competition for education and jobs back home in the Asian countries is an impetus for migration.
"To qualify for university education your child has to get 97 to 98 per cent in high school. Even after getting an education what do you get? You have to give your child an opportunity."
He says people ask him what a Canadian is doing here, sending people to Canada and Australia, while he himself is living in Dubai.
"I am 53 years of age. I have financial freedom. My daughter has got a good education. I have a passport in my back pocket. I can do what I want. It gives me satisfaction to help give people an opportunity for a better life," he says.