Aeram moved from Mumbai to Calgary in 2018 and came home within a year. She gave Canada a second chance in Toronto, then returned to India when her husband's career opportunity arrived. She explains what changed her mind about cities, work culture, schools and Canadian accounts.
Aeram moved to Canada twice and came back to India twice. She explains how a city can change the whole experience, what Canadian work culture taught her, and how her family planned the return.
Aeram opens with an observation. She says 99% of Indians have what she calls the great American dream. For her, the dream was never the only path, and she does not treat the choice to move or the choice to return as wrong.
Her view of life shaped her story. She says people abroad treat life as life, and work as one part of it. In India, she says, many of us grow up the other way round. We hustle for grades, for jobs and for the next role.
Her advice at the end of the conversation is simple. Ask what your why is for choosing a certain life. She says there is no right or wrong place. It depends on what works for you and your priorities.
Aeram is a hospitality sales professional. She worked in travel sales in India before moving abroad, and she spent many years with Marriott. She says that background helped her later in Canada.
Like many families, they had a reason to explore. She says they applied for permanent residency in Canada and received it. They went to see what life there was like. They did not go for higher studies. They went with the permanent residency in hand and a plan to explore.
The family first moved in 2018 and settled in Calgary. They stayed there for less than a year. Aeram says she did not like it much, and that is why they came back.
She gives two reasons. The first is the weather. She calls Calgary extreme. The second is the city itself. She had moved from Mumbai, a major metro, to a much smaller city. She says the population is lower, and she is a person who likes to be surrounded by people.
She jokes that if you tell her you hate traffic, she will tell you she loves it. She likes the crowds and the noise of a big city. She says she missed that in Calgary and that missing it was a big part of why she did not like it.
She also admits something that many returnees will recognise. At that time, her family equated Canada with Calgary. They did not think of exploring any other city. Their permanent residency was still valid, and they told themselves that if life gave them another chance, they would come back. For then, they said goodbye to Canada.
Aeram went back to Canada in 2023, this time to Toronto. She calls Toronto a very good city. Having lived in Mumbai, she compared it with Mumbai, one financial capital with another.
She describes Toronto as a very nice city that is full of life. Something or other keeps happening there, even in winter. She says her own experience in Toronto was really good.
Her advice for anyone planning a move abroad is that people often have fixed expectations, and they do not see the reality until they land. She adds a caution for immigrants. Some people put all their stakes in moving, and the cost of living is high. Sometimes people land, and the life they find does not meet their expectations.
She also says the weather is extreme in both countries. In her words, India can be around plus 40 degrees in summer, and Canada can be as cold as minus 40.
If you are choosing a city, read our guide to moving back to India from Canada and compare the city, not only the country.
Aeram says the job market is tough anywhere in the world right now, so it takes time to land a suitable role for your qualifications. She says that in 99% of cases, people she knows took a step down in their position when they moved to Canada. She does not think that is bad. In her view Canadian workplaces have fairly flat hierarchies compared with India. People give their best in one role, and she describes people who stay in one position for five to six years.
She says the work culture was the biggest lesson from living in Canada. In India, she says, we are taught from childhood to hustle. When we go abroad, we carry that mentality. The people she worked with in Canada treated life as life. Work is a part of life, not life a part of work.
She describes what that looked like in practice:
She says many people assume Canada has a laid-back work culture. Frankly, she says, it is not. People finish their work on time and then spend the rest of their time with family. If you want to read another view, our story on work culture after returning from Canada covers it from a different career.
Aeram says that when the family decided to try Canada again, friends played a role. All of their friends were in Toronto. Those friends had been living there and told them that, looking at their lifestyle, Toronto was best suited to them.
She says the decision was made in a hurry. The family had returned to India after less than a year in Canada, and they decided to give Canada another chance and see what life held for them there. That is why they chose Toronto the second time.
She enjoyed it. She had a good time in Toronto. It is a big metro, and she says a lot is always happening.
Aeram says there was no long build-up to the return. She says it happened almost all of a sudden. Her husband received a good career opportunity in India, and that was the reason to move back.
Otherwise, she says, they were not planning to return. Both of them had good jobs in Toronto. She stresses that the only reason for the return was the career movement for him.
This matters if you are weighing the same question. Her story is not about a family that was unhappy abroad. They had a settled life in Canada, and an offer from India changed the calculation.
Aeram says she was one of the few lucky ones. She had been part of Marriott for a long time, and that experience helped. The key, she says, is to network. She did not have to hustle hard to find her first job in Canada.
She is clear that conditions have changed. With the global recession and a slowdown in the economy, it is becoming tougher by the day in all sectors, including hospitality.
On finding a job in India from abroad, she is candid. She says it is tough, and she makes the same point in reverse. Finding a job in Canada from India is also tough. Recruiters and employers want to see you in person, and they want you in the country.
For people who want to return and apply from abroad, she gives two points:
Her family was out for three years and still kept in touch with the Indian market. She says her husband's case was very unique and should be treated in isolation, as it does not happen every day.
Aeram stayed in Toronto for a few more months while her husband joined the new role. He came to India in December, and she joined him in May. Staying let her avoid a long break from her career, and her daughter's schooling was going on at the same time.
She shares what the planning covered:
If you are choosing a school for a child coming from abroad, our guide to CBSE, IB and IGCSE schools for NRI children compares the boards. Her broader advice: before you move, look at the pros and cons of everything, then write a step-by-step checklist of what you want to do.
Aeram's phrase is "don't close doors for ever". She says the family never closed their doors in Canada last time either. She suggests asking yourself whether you really want to break every tie with the other country, or keep something there and something here. Choose what suits you best.
On accounts, she shares her view of a few Canadian products. These are her views from her own situation, not individual tax or financial advice:
For the rules on leaving Canada, including pensions, see our guide on CPP, OAS and GIS when leaving Canada. Check your own position with a qualified cross-border adviser before you close or keep an account.
Aeram says life is good. In her words, it is home. She says she cannot really complain, and she likes the traffic and the chaos, though it can become overwhelming at times because there are so many people. She had not yet been back for a month when she recorded the conversation, so she says it is early.
When asked what she misses from Canada, she says the main thing is how far away family is. In an emergency, she says, it is a flight of around 22 hours. Time zones and distance are things you think about when you talk to family. In day-to-day work they slip out of your mind, but she says they come back when you think of them.
She also has a message for people who assume India is still cheap:
She also points to timing. Some people move in the middle of their career, aged 45 to 50, when more than half of their career is behind them. They have to decide whether they want to rest, or start all over again and hustle. Nothing is right or wrong in that case, she says. It is your call.
To work out what a move costs before you decide, see our budget guide for the cost of moving back to India, or try the should I move tool.
This article reflects one person's experience. The financial and account discussion is general information, not individual financial or tax advice.
If you are working through the practical steps of a move, our cross-border transition packages cover the planning side. See the cross-border transition packages.
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