Studying in Canada: Three People's "Homecoming"

There are many elements of Chinese style in the immigrant life in Toronto, Canada. "If You Are the One" hosted by Morphy is popular all over the country. Nanjing people either don't read it, and they will feel particularly cordial after reading it. Zhou Yi (a pseudonym), a native of Nanjing, is no exception. He admired Morphy's hosting style, but for a while, he had to reach out and turn off the TV. ? This feeling is so weird. ? If it weren't for dawn, he thought he still lived in Nanjing, and he could go to bed after the show. In fact, as an immigrant from Toronto, Canada, he is separated from Nanjing by a whole Pacific Ocean.

Zhou Yi obtained Canadian permanent residency in August last year and arrived in Toronto with his wife and daughter at the end of that month. Like many people who immigrated overseas in recent years, Zhou Yi's family immigrated for the sake of their children. ? The educational environment here is much healthier than in China. ? As for whether the increase in the number of immigrants in recent years has really formed a new wave of immigrants, Zhou Yi is noncommittal, just answering with a special class reunion.

Half an hour

End the four-year wait

One day at the end of August last year, when Zhou Yi, his wife and daughter got off the plane ramp and walked to the lobby of Toronto Airport, a stone hanging from his heart fell to the ground. Although he had received a letter from the Canadian Immigration Department almost half a month ago? Immigration success? Confirmation letter, that is, the three of them have obtained permanent residency in Canada, but he is not practical in his heart. He thinks it's just? Successfully landed? Well, it's settled.

As soon as I walked into the airport lobby, there was a person who could speak Chinese? Chinese face? Introduce their families to a special passage through customs. Is it? Blocking? This paragraph, after all the formalities are completed, took almost half an hour.

? Half an hour, we can't afford to wait. ? Zhou Yi said that they had been waiting for four years from applying for immigration in 2007 to passing the exam last year. Compared with four years, half an hour is just a flash. ?

After that, they took the bus first, and then transferred to the subway to go to their new home in Toronto, a two-bedroom and two-hall apartment with an area of more than 90 square meters. The house is rented, and the rental procedures have been completed in China in advance. Zhou Yi said that he didn't want to wait in Toronto to bother and waste time looking for a house in order to get his daughter, a senior one student in China, into a local middle school as soon as possible. The experience of many new immigrants tells him that it is not easy to find a suitable house.

For children.

Go out anyway.

Zhou Yi, a 45-year-old native of Nanjing, was assigned to work in a public institution for the first time after graduating from university in 1980s. Not long, because there is too much work? Calm down? He went into the sea, set up a company, did domestic trade and foreign trade, and finally he left the company's main business to cultural brokerage and advertising. 10 years passed, and inadvertently, my career succeeded.

As far as immigration is concerned, the first person who influenced him was Ye Jing (a pseudonym). Ye Jing is a college classmate of Zhouyi. In 2005, Zhou Yi took his wife and daughter to Singapore, and Ye Jing received them. At that time, Ye Jing and her children were working in Singapore. Ye Jing and Zhou Yi's wife Wu Xinruo (a pseudonym) hit it off very well, so she suggested that they let their daughter Zhou Ting (a pseudonym) study in Singapore. Zhou Ting is in the fourth grade of primary school in Nanjing.

? I'm really touched. ? Zhou Yi said that after reading the Singaporean education method, that is, the humanized education which is completely different from the exam-oriented education around scores in China? What I want to say is that people really treat children as people. ?

They didn't make a decision at once because it was so important. Instead, he asked Wu Xinruo to extend the holiday and asked the primary school in Nanjing to ask for leave for Zhou Ting. In this way, Wu Xinruo accompanied her daughter to study in Singapore for some time.

? Three months later, they came back. ? Zhou Yi said that one reason is that the children are too young, and the other reason is that Wu Xinruo can't leave her job. But for the sake of her daughter's future, at the right time, it has become Zhou Yi's constant concern.

The second person who influenced Zhou Yi was not a specific individual, but Nanjing TV 18 channel. In 2006, Zhou Yi got a message on 18 channel: studying abroad is not as good as immigrating. In the program, the host found the parties to state their opinions and calculated an economic account: it costs a lot of money to send children abroad to study, including agency fees, tuition fees and living expenses; If the immigration is successful, not only will the pre-university education be free, but when you go to college, the university fee will only be a quarter of the cost of studying abroad. So Zhou Yi turned his attention to immigration.

Toronto

Four years of hard work, once realized.

In 2006, immigration was not as hot as it is today, and there were not many immigration agents in Nanjing. At that time, companies involved in overseas business were mainly studying abroad. That year, in order to get familiar with and understand the relevant policies and possibilities of immigration as soon as possible, Zhou Yi learned about the situation from the Internet on the one hand, and consulted immigration companies on the other. At that time, the main immigrant countries were similar to those now, Zhou Yi said, mainly Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and some European countries. After some comparison and screening, Zhou Yi and Wu Xinruo chose Canada, and then chose Toronto between Vancouver and Toronto.

? At that time, the procedures for investing in immigrants in Canada were relatively simple and the expenses were relatively cheap. ? Zhou Yi said that Toronto was chosen because it is the second largest city in North America after new york, and its education is the best in Canada.

Zhou Yi officially applied for immigration from an intermediary company in 2007. At that time, Canada's immigration policy was: you must have legal assets of 600 thousand Canadian dollars; You must pay an investment of 400,000 Canadian dollars, which will be repaid interest-free five years after your successful immigration. Zhou Yi said that there is another way to pay the investment money, that is, you can directly pay 400,000 bank interest.

? Most people in China choose this way. In that year, you only had to pay10.2 million Canadian dollars together with the agency fee. ? Zhou Yi said that in 2007, immigration was not hot, and people who handle immigration can bargain with intermediary companies. Zhou Yi finally paid C $654.38+million, that is, more than RMB 500,000.

After the price was settled, Zhou Yi began to prepare materials according to the requirements of the Canadian Immigration Department, and the intermediary company sent these materials to the Canadian Immigration Department as part of the application, waiting for their approval.

? The most important part of the materials is that you must prove the source of your assets, your first income, your tax payment certificate, your purchase contract, and the proof of the source of the purchase money, etc. ? In Zhou Yi's view, the reason why Canadian immigration departments attach so much importance to the legitimacy of income is because they want to introduce law-abiding and honest people and their families.

Since 2008, Zhou Yi, like many China people who are eager to emigrate, has become a waiting person. ? Nothing you can do can stop it. You must wait. Immigration is not a simple economic activity. You must stand the moral test. ?

There is a epigraph called. Good things are near? Four years later, something good happened in Zhouyi. 20 1 1 One day in August, a message came from Zhou Yi's mobile phone: there was a new email. This is an email from the Canadian Immigration Department, which says: Your application has been approved, and you must arrive in Canada before one day of this month.

Or for the children?

Choose the right school and the right house

In 2007, when Zhou Yi applied for immigration, her daughter Zhou Ting was a junior one girl. She was already a high school student when her immigration application was approved last year.

Before the application was approved, Zhou Yi had begun to find a suitable school and house for her daughter. ? This should be my initiative. ? Zhou Yi said that in Canada, children must have a housing contract to enter school. What houses and schools are there? Bound? Together.

In order to choose the best school that is most suitable for children, Zhou Yi looked up a lot of information on the Internet and finally took a fancy to a school in Toronto New District. ? That place is equivalent to Pudong in Shanghai, and there are 10 subway stations from the old city, so the traffic is very convenient. ? Zhou Yi said that in order to promote the children of new immigrants to integrate into society as soon as possible, Canadian schools offer ELS courses for children whose mother tongue is not English, that is, they offer English rapid improvement courses in primary and secondary schools in some school districts with a large proportion of immigrant families, and invite experienced teachers to give targeted lectures, so that the English level of immigrant children can quickly reach a higher level. Schools in Zhou Ting have such courses.

After the school was confirmed, Zhou Yi found a house near the school as soon as possible and signed a lease contract with the landlord through local friends in Toronto. ? It only takes seven or eight minutes to walk from your new home to school. ? Zhou Yi said.

Same city, same school, same class.

A special class reunion

After investigation, some media reported that there has been a large-scale migration tide in China in recent years. Zhouyi said that people are inaccessible? Macro? I don't know much about the data. However, an episode he told the Express reporter seems to be a proof of this immigration tide.

One day, two or three months after Zhou Yi arrived in Toronto, he received a phone call. The caller is Shen Jian (a pseudonym), a classmate of Zhou Yi University. David Shen told Zhou Yi that he lived in another neighborhood not far from him, and he suggested that the two families have dinner and get together once.

Zhouyi agreed. In fact, he is not ignorant of David Shen's immigration to Canada. They met once when he was in Nanjing a few years ago. At that time, both of them submitted immigration applications and were waiting, but Shen Jian had sent her daughter to Canada to study before the immigration was completed.

The situation in Shen Jian is similar to that in Zhou Yi, and both resigned in the early 1990s. He has always been a trading company and is very influential in the circle. After a friend successfully immigrated a few years ago, he also moved his mind. His application was approved on 20 10, one year earlier than Zhouyi.

A week later, the two families met in Zhou Yi's neighborhood. Dinner is arranged in a Chinese restaurant. This is a story about Nanjing dialect. Official language? Party. In fact, they are not the only two participants. Ye Jing, who worked in Singapore a few years ago, also immigrated to Canada. Between Singapore and Canada, she finally chose Canada.

In the same city, the same school and the same class, more than 20 years later, three old alumni held a special meeting in Toronto. Homecoming? . Zhou Yi told reporters that the residential area where the three of them live is only 20 minutes' drive.

Immigrants don't move.

Nanjing will always be your home.

? Immigrants? This word, according to the past understanding, means to emigrate overseas and join a foreign nationality. Today, the definition of immigration is much broader, in fact, it is to obtain permanent residency in a certain country, and obtaining permanent residency does not mean that you have entered a foreign nationality and become a foreigner.

? I won't be naturalized. ? In the office of a cultural company in Nanjing, Zhou Yi said that he could not really make his home in Canada. He said that the main purpose of his immigration was to give his children a better education. In fact, he was very satisfied with his studies in the months after emigration. The learning style of senior high schools in Zhou Ting is completely different from that of exam-oriented education in China. The school has many clubs, interest groups, public welfare projects and activities to choose from.

? It is hard to imagine that this is a high school. In China, students have long been fascinated. ? Zhou Yi expressed the hope that his children can gradually adapt to life in Toronto, and if possible, they can continue to receive university education and also integrate into the local mainstream life.

? My career and social circle are in China. ? So after spending half a year in Toronto, Zhou Yi, a native of Nanjing, returned to his familiar Nanjing in February this year.

Immigration Canada has a rigid rule that new immigrants who have obtained permanent residency must live for two years within five years before they can continue to obtain permanent residency, and they can be naturalized after living for three years within four years. Zhou Yi said that he didn't care about this rule and wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for himself.

Zhou Yi said that in fact, there is no shortage of elements of China culture in Toronto. Turn on the TV when you feel homesick, and all domestic TV programs can be seen, including If You Are the One hosted by Nanjing people. ? However, it is strange to see the same figure, the same handsome man and beautiful woman in Toronto. ? Zhou Yi said he felt divided.

? Still comfortable in Nanjing. ? Zhou Yi said.