I appreciate the straightness with which you all have cleared many issues which confuse an immigrating Indian.Your posts have brought out the hard facts very well.
We are a business family, we have a sixth grade boy and we both are engineers,MBA(not looking for jobs). We want to ask your help in clarifying the realities according to our situation.We are working towards migrating to vancouver in near future,we dont have any relatives there,only a couple of friends.
We shall be accomodating ourselves in a holiday home for around 1 month before we decide where we want to buy a home/apartment.

We already have a business going on in India which we shall be continuing with our employees and relatives.So there will be no break in income.

We shall be carrying with us probably INR 4cr (+-1cr )for home,car,establishing business,recurring cost of living,Son's schooling.

We then hope to recognise and materialise any business opportunities near Vancouver city,perhaps import from india .We understand that this can take around 1 year or more.

We shall be applying under federal skilled worker category without a job.

We need your straight forward advise on the pros and cons of our situation.Should we go on with our dream?
It is , because of your article that we have become cautious of immigrating.Many many thanks for that.Your article will serve many indians whose dream is to settle in a developed country like Canada.It is very helpful indeed.
I hope you are able to give a bit of time,
Looking forward for your views
warm regards

OMG !

You are contemplating Professional/Financial suicide.

My God! please !please! think about the million CAD you are going to bring to Canada.

Please be a wise Financial person.

Please delete stuff in this post which will not apply to you. Eventhough you come from a good business family. This answer applies to many other people who are planning to immigrate here by selling RE in India.

What kind of ROI do you expect in Canada?.

Please come on a vacation to Canada and look around and talk to people about business opportunities and also the ROI they make.

I donot want to sound pessimistic. The Canadian way is to invest in a Franchise. You need a brand name to attract customer.

While in a franchise you literally work for the Franchiser and the nett return after all expenses is just like a labour job with all the added pressures.

Can you invest this 1 Million CAD in India with a good possible ROI and live in Canada without working?.

This way you will be able to get social assistance, free childcare/daycare, all the other governmental benefits.

If I were you I'll NOT sell any property in India. I'll get someone to maintain it and come to India with minimum and set up a business here.

I'll work my butt off, learn/master the system here and make money here. When I need to expand my business that is where I'll think many a times before transferring monies from India.

I can give you a classic case of a friend here. Even after repeated warnings this person went and sold a flat for 32 LACS INR in a nice neighbourhood in a major metropolitan in India in 2003. He sold the apartment for CAD 80,000. At that point his CAD 1 = INR 36.He came here and invested the monies on a townhouse in which was CAD 280,000 in price with all other cost his was CAD 300,000. He had a CAD 40,000 PA job here in GTA. His mortgage was for CAD 200,000.

The price of his townhouse in Canada would have gone up by 25% by 2010 and his homes price will be around CAD 375,000 now. After paying the 8% commission to the realtor and also the other incidentals his net gain may be around 12%. I'm not considering the savings he has made on his principal portion of his mortgage. Even if it something it is negligble as you tend to pay most of the interest for the first 7 years.

Hence he would have made a profit of let us say 10% that is CAD 30,000. He needs to invest this back into realestate to avoid any CG.

What happened to his apartment he sold in India 2003 is that it costs around INR 1 Crore + today. CAD 1 = INR 44.

He realizes that if had waited till today he could sold his apartment now and bought his current place with out any mortgage.

Hence if you have surplus cash or a RE in India which is totally unmanageable or unmaintainable do sell it now and bring it here. It will appreciate and pay for the total place which you'll buy as part payment with full payment in future.

Please comedown to Canada and snoop around and learn the basic facts. What is the cost of your house maid in India ?. Even if I assume INR 10,000 PM it is CAD 250 PM. The same person will cost you here CAD 40K PA. Whatever math you do you'll lose out on labour cost and other governmental rule adherence.

Eventhough doing business is easier here, there is a different Cost structure here which does not exist in India. For Good or BAD.

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Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.

Vandemataram : you seem to dwell only on the math of doing business. I wish you had also taken other factors of life into consideration - like the nearly corruption free society, the (relatively) clean air we breath here, the hygienic food we eat here, the respect for human rights, and so on.

I know that the OP did not mention any of this - merely asked what starting a business, would entail. A wholesome, and balanced view of life here would help the OP make a right decision.


There are some part of your response that are more a matter of opinion, rather than fact:

The Canadian way is to invest in a Franchise. You need a brand name to attract customer.

You seem to suggest that investing in a franchise is the only way out. A part of that is true - there are non franchise businesses too that thrive here, in Canada. If one has the vision, one can create a new brand and succeed in business.

Can you invest this 1 Million CAD in India with a good possible ROI and live in Canada without working?.

This way you will be able to get social assistance, free childcare/daycare, all the other governmental benefits.

Not a great suggestion for someone who looks to live long term in Canada.

About the house this person sold in India for $ 32 lakhs: did you take the capital gains tax he paid, into account, or was that just unaccounted income.

If I understand right- there is no capital gains tax on sale of principal residence in Canada : Please correct me, if I am wrong.

a housemaid costing $ 40,000 per year?
What am I missing here? When did having a housemaid become so expensive here, especially with desis?

Thanks for making us cautious about not selling all our assets in India.

We are attracted to Canada especially vancouver as it is one of the most livable city,has lovely mountains,fresh air,good water and proper system of administration,better traffic sense and ofcourse nil corruption.Also a high level of education for kid attracts us too.Mcgill university is among the first 15 universities of the world.

The negative factors for Canada seems to be the amount of cold weather we shall face and cost of living and also ofcourse the absence of maid to do housework.

Positive factors for India are that we enjoy good living and social circle,identity in city.We have a full time house maid ( INR5000 expenses per month).We go to five star healthclubs regularly everyday,enjoy 10 days parties outside monthly.We maintain couple of cars and sizeable properties.

Negative factors-But we do feel frustrated with administration,public amenities,corruption,everyday accidents,crime level here.

We are in a fix whether we would be able to attain the same lifestyle in Canada as we are having over here in India with all the other positive features of Canada.With the grace of God,we are selfmade persons and started business from scratch over here too.So we feel that why cant we do the same in Canada with so much of positive environment?

With God's grace you have a very good life in India, which many only dream of. I'can't suggest anything but just want to say try coming to Canada for few months, may be when schools are off in India, live here, chat, look for all your options, make a sound a business plan and then make a decision.

My masi took the same decision some 17 years back, they were extremely well off in India but decided for USA and though they are equivalently successful here too but still miss the old life. Like you they are also selfmade and did everything from scratch, she many times says and now more as she's close to 55 that "we struggled in India and made a good life, then packed everything and came here and worked more harder but in all this never stopped or enjoyed the life or money for a moment" Don't you want to travel see places, all over the world and enjoy the money/standard India and your hard work has given you? Are you ready for one more round of struggling life full of anticipation, hard work?

Sometimes when we have acheived whatever we thought of, a kind of monotony, routine sets in and we get bored, depressed that what kind of life is this? Trust me I have all in my life and still feel this and want to throw away and feel like running somewhere, then my husband will say "think of the days when you had nothing of this, go back in that phase and remember" those simple words are enough for me to get up and start a new day without feeling bored, me and hubby travel a lot and I personally believe, anyone who can afford it should do it to enjoy the one life god gives!

Sorry for the philosphical point of view of mine I hope it helps you in any way.

Jona

Jona ,

Its a very nice philosophical point you ve made .... We keep ourselves in a monotonous routine from studies to job to retirement , little realizing that age is passing by and we are losing opporunities to stop , look around and enjoy the moments .

Out of the last 10 yrs + that I have been abroad , I distinctly recall and enjoy most the 6 months (in the past 3 yrs ) that I was in India vacationing , going around and enjoying ....... You bet I will do it again !!!

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Fido.

Thanks so much for your valuable suggestions Jona,Vandemataram,ilovena.
We got discouraged at first,but now we are contemplating visiting vancouver for two months without selling any of our assets.That way we shall be able to judje first hand the business environment over there.

What about kid's schools? Are government schools having enough quality of teaching and extra curricular activities? Do private schools offer more in terms of quality and out put of students?If so what are the fees for private schools?Good studies and overall development does matter a lot .

Also, is living around vancouver greater, better than living in proper vancouver city?Any disadvantages?