Time is green

First of 2 parts

IN April 2018, Louie, Johnny and Kirby completed their hospitality management bachelor’s degree course in a popular Philippine college.

The choices before them — a dilemma which confronts most college graduates — were: 1) to look for a job at home, or 2) to work abroad.

Three months earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had reported a 5.3 percent unemployment rate. They had their diploma but had no experience. The minimum daily wage in the National Capital Region (NCR) was P512.

The parents of Kirby and Louie were working in Dubai’s hospitality sector. On the other hand, Johnny’s parents were separated. His father Rene, went to the US on a tourist visa in 2010, filed for divorce and married a US citizen.

After getting his green card, Rene filed a petition for Johnny as an unmarried, over21 son of a lawful permanent resident. Johnny decided to just wait for his priority date to be current, apply for his immigrant visa, and join Rene and his stepmother.

After attending workshops and seminars, Kirby and Louie decided to pursue studies abroad. But where?

Kirby’s parents have cousins in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Louie has aunts and an uncle in Sydney, Australia. Their student visa applications were approved. Louie was able to travel ahead of Kirby in September 2018. Kirby was admitted as an international student in January 2019.

For the tuition, Louie’s parents shelled out $22,000 for the first year for a Diploma in Hotel Management, plus $19,830 for cost of studies (food, accommodation and other essentials) which was the total financial requirement, or show money needed.

Meanwhile, Kirby’s parents paid $18,000 for his hospitality management course. However, Canada only required $12,000 for show money.

Louie and Kirby were able to work 20 hours per week while in school and work 40 hours during breaks or when school was not in session.

Johnny was making P10,240 per month while waiting for the approval of his F2B petition and visa issuance.

The exchange rate at the time was Australian $1 to P36 and Canadian $1 to P39. The wage rate per hour in Canada was $12.23. Down Under, the minimum wage was $18.93 per hour. Kirby’s take home pay a day was $97.84, the equivalent of P1,196.59. He was earning more in 10 days than Johnny’s gross income.

When Covid-19 struck, both Louie and Kirby were not able to take in-person classes. The pandemic ravaged the hospitality industry in both countries.

Kirby was a bit more fortunate than Louie.

Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned international students that they were competing with the limited jobs for Australians and told them to consider returning home. On the other hand, Canada allowed online classes quicker than most of the five Desti-Nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US).

While Louie had a head start in studying abroad, he was not able to complete his two-year course. Worse, he would not be able to pursue permanent residency since Australia requires a student to complete the two-year academic requirement. In addition, Louie must have the necessary work experience to qualify for residency.

Kirby on the other hand was able to complete his course through a combination of online and inperson classes. In addition to his Canadian diploma, he got a job offer from his employer in 2021.

The road to permanent residency in Canada is faster and less complicated than Australia’s.

Canada has the Express Entry immigrant selection system which favors those who are already in-country either as international students or temporary workers.

Kirby submitted his profile to the Express Entry candidate pool. At the same time, Kirby explored British Columbia’s Entry Level and Semi-Skilled scheme under BC’s provincial nomination program.

Since he had experience as a food and beverage server — and that occupation was on British Columbia’s list of eligible occupations in the Entry Level and Semi-Skilled scheme, the job offer was the icing on the cake of Kirby’s application for permanent residency.

He got his invitation to apply. Before the deadline, Kirby was able to submit the documents and joined the 114,431 Express Entry candidates granted Canadian permanent residency in 2021.

To be continued next Monday, February 27.