{Before I start, I would like to say with the advancement in technology, any blog can be turned into Audio version with two steps on your device.
Just go to Accessibility— Spoken Content— Speak Screen (Apple Devices) or Accessibility— Text to Speech Output (Android Devices)}
Preamble: Tips for New Immigrants – The purpose of this blog is to provide tips for immigrants moving to another country- based on my own experience, personal knowledge / observations and research. This blog is relevant for anyone moving to or wish to move to another country for study or work or for temporary or permanent settlement.
The inspiration of writing this blog is because I moved from home country to North America for permanent settlement on permanent resident visa. During early stages, faced various good and bad situations. So, my goal is to make others aware and ready to handle such situations in a better way. I would have done some things differently if I had access to such information.
Not only that, things have changed a lot over the years with the advancement of technology and we should make the best use of these resources to run our life better.
I write blogs in a non-traditional, crisp and user-friendly way. Therefore, I have divided the whole blog in few categories and these categories are meant to take care of needs and requirements of everyday life. We should not forget when we move to another country, it means we have challenged ourselves to come out of our comfort zone.
Definition of Comfort Zone: On Google search I found this definition:
A psychologocal state in which things from the environment are close and familiar to a person and under their control, enabling low level of stress and anxiety.
Another definition from Oxford Languages: A place or situation where one feels safe or at ease and without stress.
In the present context for immigrants moving to new country, this is called stepping out of your comfort zone.
Stepping out of your comfort zone means learning new things, meeting new people, seeing new places and trying new experiences. This may cause nervousness and uncomfortable but ready for challenges.
The above two scenarios are opposite or let’s say different from each other. The best way is to cope with the new zone. The starting step is to bridge the gap between comfort zone and out of comfort zone and this gradual change will help in making the new zone also comfort zone.
To achieve that goal, I have divided our daily life into the following categories:
Housing, Food, Work – Earnings, Commuting – Vehicle.
Here comes the purpose of the blog Tips for New Immigrants. These tips take into account all aspects of our daily activites and in my opinion will help living a comparatively comfortable life.
Here you go:
1 Housing Accommodation: As we go or plan to go to any destination, the first thing comes to mind is where am I going to spend my night. I need roof over my head.
And for anyone moving to new country, my advise is to book an accommodation like AIRBNB or long-term stay hotel accommodation. The reason being these are fully furnished accommodation, you don’t need to worry about anything when you land in a new country.
When you move to a new country, you need to register for identity cards, open bank accounts, medical insurance etc. These accommodation will also work as your resident address for registration.
These things should take priority over hunting for new accommodation and furnishing in a new country.
However, if you already have close family or friends, that would be great anyway for the first month.
Accommodation options are- AIRBNB, Short-term rentals, long stay hotels
During the first month, familiarise yourself with the new city in a new country and then look for permanent or long-term accommodation depending upon your needs and requirement. Try not to make long-term commitments for housing rentals – ideally month-to-month rental or at the most six month lease agreements.
2 Infrastructure Requirements: Infrastructure items mean furniture and fixtures, full kitchen etc. This aspect is taken care of if you go for Housing Accommodation as per #1 above.
3 Daily Meals and Snacks: Another worrysome area is arranging / preparing meals and snacks. In a furnished house, there is a complete kitchen with appliances as needed to prepare home cooked meal.
My suggestion is still very different for the first month in a new country. Now a days, there are options available to order takeouts – all kinds of nutritious meals are available. Regarding the money part, depending on the budget it could be dine-in, delivery or pick-up. Techinically, you are replacing the botheration and expense of grocery with outsourced cooked meal.
4 Travelling and Commuting: For the purpose of commuting, one needs access to reliable vehicle from the day 1 in a new country or for that purpose anywhere you go for short term or long term. In my view, one should not go straight away to buy a car – primarily, you will need to pay for the full cost of vehicle as it takes time to build credit in a new country to have financing options.
Other options are renting a car or take car from car-sharing company. For more details on this option, please click at the link below:
Question 1:
5. Occupation and Earnings: People move to another country for various goals and purposes. However, there is one commonality is to set up a career for reliable long-term source of income. Career choice could be a job in a company or start your business and work on self-employed basis. I am quite sure in majority of the cases new immigrants go with the option of job hunting. Either way, it is desired to start some kind of financial inflow for the everyday expenses.
With the advancement in technology and more specifically smart phone, there are lots of gig work options.
Gig worker means a person who works temporary jobs typically in the service sector as an independent contractor or freelancer.
Working for ride sharing companies like Uber, food delivery companies like DoorDash / Uber Eats / Grubhub / Skip etc, The only requirement is to have a valid driving license and access to car. Even if you do not own a car, there are creative ways to find a solution. Please click the link below and read Question 1:
6. Entertainment and News Options: Another important area is remaining up-to-date on news and also access to entertainment options like cable TV and streaming channels in the new country.
The recent trend has been seen as cutting cable cord. What it means is instead of paying for the full cable package and having access to the channels you never watch, other option is to subscribe channels which you want. Channels charge on per month basis or on annual basis like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and many more. In fact, Amazon Prime Video comes free of charge if you have an Amazon Prime membership.
Cable cutting is not just for budget purposes. Streaming channels are on mobile apps- they are with you wherever you go. You can watch them on tablets, smart phones or laptops. If you are going on vacation or out-of -town for few days, you can sign in to any smart TV in your hotel or resort or AIRBNB.
For more detailed information, please click the link below and read Question 5 :
This Blog will be updated time and again based on my research and availability of new information.