Written in 2026, based on my personal experience and the immigration landscape at the time. Policies change — always check official IRCC sources for current rules before making decisions.
If you’re searching this, you’re probably an international student or a hopeful immigrant somewhere outside Canada, scrolling through glossy YouTube videos and immigration consultant websites that all say the same thing: Canada is the land of opportunity, come build your future here.
I’m not going to tell you that. I’m going to tell you what I actually found after living here for over two years.
My Honest Answer? I’m Still Not Sure.
I moved to Canada from Bangladesh more than two years ago. And if you asked me today — was it worth it? — my honest answer is: I don’t know yet.
Not because nothing good has happened. But because the thing most people move here for — a stable path to Permanent Residency (PR) — has become harder, not easier, since I arrived. And it keeps getting harder every year.
If you’re an international student in Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, or anywhere else, dreaming about Canada because you’ve heard “it’s easy to get PR after you study there” — I need to stop you right there.
The PR Pathway Is Not What It Used to Be
A few years ago, the story was simple: come to Canada as a student, finish your program, get a work permit, work for a year or two, apply for PR, get it. Thousands of people did exactly that.
That story is mostly gone now.
The pathways have tightened significantly. The points you need, the competition you’re up against, and the categories that used to be “easy wins” have all shifted. People who arrived even two or three years before me had a completely different experience than what’s happening now. What was a realistic 2-3 year plan for many has stretched into something far more uncertain — for some, it might never happen at all.
I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m saying this because nobody told me, and I want to tell you.
The Money Problem Nobody Talks About Honestly
Canada is one of the most expensive countries in the world for international education. Tuition for international students is multiple times higher than what domestic students pay — often tens of thousands of dollars per year, before you even think about rent, food, or daily life.
Here’s the part that breaks my heart a little. I know students — real people, not statistics — who came here with serious financial pressure. Some took loans. Some had families back home who sold land or borrowed money to send them here. And the plan was always the same: “I’ll work part-time and cover my tuition and living costs once I’m there.”
I need to be blunt with you: that plan is now extremely difficult to pull off.
Finding a part-time job in Canada right now — any job, not even a good one — is genuinely tough. The job market for newcomers and students has gotten more competitive, not less. So if your financial plan depends on “I’ll figure it out once I land,” please rethink that plan before you book your flight, not after.
So Should You Still Come?
Here’s where I’ll give you my honest, two-sided answer.
If your dream is genuinely about the experience — studying abroad, living in a new culture, building international exposure, seeing what life is like outside your home country — and you can afford it without betting your family’s financial future on getting a job here, then Canada can still give you that. The experience itself is real. The exposure is real. Some things genuinely are better here.
But if your main goal is Permanent Residency, and you’re treating the student visa as a stepping stone to staying here permanently — think twice. Then think again.
This isn’t me being negative for the sake of it. This is me telling you what I wish someone had told me before I made decisions based on a version of Canada that doesn’t quite exist anymore.
What I’d Tell My Past Self
If I could go back and talk to myself in Bangladesh, before I made this move, here’s what I’d say:
Don’t move here based on what worked for someone else two, three, or five years ago. Immigration policy changes fast, and what was true for them may not be true for you.
Don’t bet money you can’t afford to lose on the assumption that a job will be waiting for you. Have a real financial plan that doesn’t depend on Canadian income, at least for your first year.
If PR is your real goal, research the current requirements — not the requirements from old YouTube videos or what your cousin’s friend did in 2021. Things have changed, and they’re still changing.
And if you do come — come with realistic expectations, not a dream sold to you by a consultant who gets paid whether your life here works out or not.