When Raghunath Poshala immigrated to Canada from India in 2018, he was promised a better life for himself and his family.

"Everybody said it's a first world country — education and healthcare are free. So, I thought it'd be a better place for us to raise a family," the 39-year-old explained over the phone.

He didn't expect to spend the next five years struggling to find a well-paying job in his field that could support his family, let alone afford housing and the overall soaring cost of living in Canada.

"There is no living in this country; it's just surviving," he answered in a December survey that asked Canadian immigrants to share their stories.

Because of this, Poshala and his family are seriously considering leaving Canada.

And he isn't alone.

What the data says

A recent report released by Statistics Canada found that many immigrants leave Canada within their first five years here.

Based on over 35 years of immigration and emigration patterns, the national statistics agency concluded that 5.1 per cent of immigrants who came to Canada between 1982 and 2017 emigrated within just five years of getting here. This percentage rises to 17.5 per cent 20 years after landing.

Statistics Canada

Another recent study released by the Conference Board of Canada and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship suggested that the government is not paying enough attention to its strategies to retain immigrants, which is just as important as attracting them.

A 2022 survey found a sizeable proportion of younger immigrants are not satisfied with their Canadian experience, with 30 per cent of ages 18 to 34 indicating they are likely to move to another country within two years.

More recent surveys also show falling support among Canadians for the country's elevated immigration policies.

Amongst those who decided to leave, an average of 14.6 per cent moved on from Canada within 15 years of being granted permanent residency, according to the study.

To go beyond these numbers and figures, we spoke with Canadian immigrants about their personal experiences with moving and integrating into life in Canada.

Lived experiences

Why immigrants want to leave Canada

StatsCan attributes the exodus to the challenges new Canadians face in integrating into life here. It gave the example of getting a job that compensates well, which was one of Poshala's main struggles.

Despite having years of experience working in IT management in the UK and Netherlands, he had to first work what he called "survival" minimum wage jobs because the companies he applied for were looking for Canadian experience.

"I kept working so that I didn't have time to think and to get into that depression," he said.

He currently has a job in his field, but unfortunately, the salary still isn't enough to afford a bigger space for him, his daughter and his wife in Toronto.

He says they're stuck tolerating a cramped apartment that eats up one paycheque every month. Because of this, owning a home is out of the question for them.

"This is not the struggle that I'll go through,' is what I was thinking before coming here because these are the basic needs," he explained.

Many Canadian immigrants echoed his sentiments in our survey.

One 27-year-old man who asked to remain anonymous says his quality of life has declined, moving from his home country, Mexico, to Canada. For this story, we'll refer to him using the alias "David."

Because of the cost of living crisis, David says he hasn't been able to explore the rest of Canada, rarely eats out, and ultimately can't fully enjoy his hobbies.

He adds that his first impression of Canada was that it was a developed country, but he doesn't think so anymore and no longer wants to stay in Vancouver after five years.

"I realized that Canada is a very poor country, too; it's just that everyone is in debt," David wrote in the survey.

His and Poshala's experiences echo the Institute for Canadian Citizenship's findings.

According to its report, housing affordability, cost of living, and technical barriers to suitable professional employment significantly contribute to Canada's retention problem.

Moreover, these issues are most prevalent in the areas where immigrants are most likely to live — in Greater Toronto and Metro Vancouver.

Issues involving discrimination were another common thread among those who didn't plan on staying in Canada.

Marko Pavlovic says his first impression of Canada after immigrating from Shanghai to Toronto wasn't great.

"Xenophobic, cold (people), narrow-minded, arrogant…discrimination against immigrants, operating under the assumption everyone from outside Canada is a savage and inferior to them," he wrote in the survey.

Toronto-based Immigration lawyer Elizabeth Long says these issues can be exacerbated depending on a person's pathway to immigration.

She compares the differing challenges between people who come to Canada as temporary residents versus permanent residents.

For example, moving to Canada as an international student or worker can be a different experience from immigrating through Express Entry as a skilled worker.

"The conditions are very limited as to what they can do. Where can they work? How many hours can they work?" she explained.

Policies like the 20-hour work cap have been a critical concern for many international students' ability to survive in Canada.

"If they're coming as foreign workers, the imbalance of power between the worker and the employer is, is very, very high," added Long.

"Imagine you can only work for that employer, and you can only work for that employer under that position? If you were to stop working for that employer, you can't work for anyone else."

Why many immigrants still want to stay

Despite the growing number of immigrants wanting to leave Canada, plenty still see the benefits of staying.

Jorge Arango moved from Colombia to Vancouver with his family as an international student in 2021. He said over the phone that the West Coast city aligned with his and his wife's interests in sustainability and photography.

After graduating, Arango says he still had difficulty landing a job within his field, even with 22 years of experience in Colombia on his resume. He stuck it out for three months doing a basic skill job to get the Canadian experience employers sought.

Now, with a job that he loves in his field, Arango, his wife, and his daughter are content here, and they plan to apply for permanent residency this year.

The two main qualities he likes about Canada are its safety and community.

"We came from a country that has a lot of security issues," explained Arango.

He says using public transportation in Colombia wasn't an option for their daughter. In Vancouver, they don't need to worry about her getting to school safely, even if she takes a bus.

Arango also found comfort in being a part of a community.

He said one of his cousins already lived in Vancouver, so she helped them find an apartment near hers.

"She also has a couple of friends that already live here, so we went here with a support network to help us with the transition," he explained.

Many immigrants found the positives outweighed the negatives in our survey.

A 39-year-old woman from Indonesia says she's staying in Canada because it's more secure and there's less discrimination compared to her home country.

"It's a safe place to live, better public services, less government corruption, free speech and better cost of living overall," said Ricardo, a 35-year-old man who immigrated to Surrey, BC.

Looking at the bigger picture, Long says that Canada is doing quite well on the world stage regarding immigration.

"We have a lot of issues in Canada, but overall, compared to the US, even the UK and Australia, in many respects, we do much better in terms of how fast people can get work permits and how a lot of the skilled workers can get permanent residency in Canada as well," explained the immigration lawyer.

"So it's all relative… it's definitely not perfect; it could improve a lot more, of course."

"I am at a crossroads"

Some people are on the fence about a long-term future in Canada.

Thirty-one-year-old Shiva moved from India to Vancouver on a work visa. He said that he's currently weighing the pros and cons of staying there.

"I am at a crossroads. While I value the access to superior resources and the potential for a better quality of life, the financial strain and the undercurrents of racism are substantial deterrents," he explained.

"If the situation doesn't change, I may have to consider finding a new place to call home, one where we can afford to live and feel welcomed and respected."

A 44-year-old man who moved from the Philippines to BC a little over a year ago on a student visa is in a similar predicament.

He appreciates the free, quality education provided but is struggling amid the high cost of living.

"[I'm] mentally stressed figuring out how to help my family survive," he wrote in the survey.

He says he's not sure if his family will remain in Canada.

"If we don't get PR in the next six months and things don't change, then we might be forced to leave," he wrote.

While people like Arango have easily fostered a community in Canada, others are having a more challenging time.

Aparna Bose Dey immigrated to BC from India with her husband over two years ago and received their PR early last year.

While they're most likely staying, she says she doesn't feel truly settled. One of the main reasons for this is that she has found it difficult to make friends in her city.

Bose Dey has spent time in California, where people were more welcoming and conversational.

"I had heard Canada was very friendly…now that I'm here, I don't know," she said over the phone. "They generally like to mind their own business; they just smile and ignore you."

To top that off, she has also been struggling to secure a job as a veterinary assistant — a position she has years of experience in – even after applying to around 40 postings last year.

"There's no long-term vision"

All in all, Long says there's a lot the government needs to do to retain immigrants.

She says the first thing the feds can do is to raise the quota and give permanent residency to the hundreds of thousands of people who are already living and working here.

"People who are already here working should not be competing with people overseas," she said.

"They already have a job; obviously, we need them here in Canada. Why are employers losing their valued employees because of immigration laws?"

The immigration lawyer also wants better programs for entrepreneurs who wish to move to Canada.

"A lot of people are retiring, and they don't have people to take over their businesses," she explained. "Getting entrepreneurs who can come here to take over these businesses should be one of the ultimate goals for the Canadian government."

Long says the same goes for prospective immigrants who work in health care.

"Right now, it's so difficult because of licensing issues to have nurses and doctors, and we all know we need them," she said. "Why are we just putting up such barriers, especially for health care professionals to come to Canada?"

Ultimately, the future of Canadian immigration lies in who leads the country.

Long says one of the biggest issues is the turnover rate for immigration ministers.

"Imagine having a department where you have different leadership every year," she explained. "There's no long-term vision as to what needs to be done in one of the most important portfolios."

With no long-term vision, immigrants like Poshala have been crushed by their experience in Canada.

"This is not the dream we thought of…we thought that we would get a better quality of life here, but there's no life for us."