Giving It My All in Canada, at Work and in Private Life!

While I was researching Canada online from Japan, I came across their website. The website was very informative, so I sent an inquiry, and that was how it all started.

I had stayed in Canada once before on a working holiday, and at that time it felt like a long one-year trip abroad, so permanent residence wasn’t on my mind. After returning to Japan, I started to feel “I want to live abroad once more,” so I first aimed to get a work permit.

Jinzai Canada introduced me to a Cook position in Alberta, and I passed a phone interview. After that, Visa JP Canada applied for my work permit, the visa was approved smoothly, and I came to Canada on a work permit.

Yes. I met my wife in Alberta. We met when I was invited to a “takoyaki party” hosted by a friend. The three of us—a mutual friend, her, and me—became gym members together to lose weight, and we grew close while going to the gym together.

It’s embarrassing to say while living in an English-speaking country, but I’m not good at English. I took the IELTS, but I couldn’t get the score needed for permanent residence.

When I asked a senior colleague at work about how to study English and about permanent residence, he told me, “I’ve heard rumours that it’s easier to get permanent residence in provinces and territories with relatively small populations, like Manitoba or Yukon.” I didn’t know what he was basing it on, but for some reason he strongly recommended Manitoba, and in my head permanent residence meant Manitoba.

I thought that wherever I went, as long as there was a workplace where I could make the most of my skills, I would start looking for work with permanent residence in mind, so I consulted Visa JP Canada once again. And it turned out that the place was not in Manitoba but in BC! That’s how I ended up moving from Alberta to BC.

I sincerely recommend not being swayed by rumours and consulting a professional first.

Alberta was colder than I had imagined. Temperatures below -20℃, blizzards at the end of May, and winter seemed to arrive with September.

My best memory of life in Alberta is taking part in a Japanese-language radio program, where I heard firsthand from Japanese people active in Alberta and was greatly inspired. Among them were athletes and dancers who had competed at world championships and appeared on TV, in newspapers and in magazines. Meeting people I would never have had the chance to hear from if I hadn’t lived in Alberta is my best memory.

BC has a nice climate and I’m enjoying all four seasons. The ocean is right next to where I live now, so I enjoy cherry blossoms in spring, the sea in summer, salmon in autumn, and hibernation in winter.

Since I had already stayed in Canada once on a working holiday, I first aimed to get a work permit so I could stay in Canada long term again.

Remembering the “Japanese people thriving in Canada” I met during my working holiday, I felt that among the many types of work, coming to Canada through the food industry had real potential, so even though I had no experience, I took the plunge, moved to Tokyo and entered the restaurant industry.

The restaurant industry in Tokyo was tougher than I had imagined. I had no experience and knew nothing, so every day I was being corrected by my senior cooks. I am who I am today thanks to their strict training, but those years of apprenticeship were really hard. Still, I think this experience is what allowed me to get a work permit and connect it to permanent residence.

So the hardest part wasn’t after coming to Canada, but the training in Japan before that. Since coming to Canada, I’ve enjoyed myself the whole time.

I have several things I want to do and goals, so I’ll first sort them out one by one and work hard to make them happen.

I was able to obtain permanent residence thanks to my own desire to stay in Canada using my profession, the owner who understood and supported that desire, and Visa JP Canada, who acted as the bridge between us.

I feel I was thrown around by rumours about permanent residence and by stories from people who claimed to know a lot about visas, so for those aiming for permanent residence from now on, I recommend consulting a professional first!