Nepal Now: One step from PR in Canada

Aayush Pokharel is very close to getting his 'invitation' to apply for permanent residency in Canada. It's taken the former student five years to get to this point, and he's had some tough times along the way. 

Not surprisingly, he's learned a few things, and has some advice for current students in Nepal contemplating the path that he took.

Resources

Government of Canada immigration

Immigration jargon
    - CRS = Comprehensive ranking system
    - CLB = Canadian Language Benchmark
    - PG = Post-graduate
    - PNP = Provincial nominee programme

Chapters

• 3:44 First career job
• 8:58 It all adds up
• 13:55 Permanent residency was the goal…
• 16:58 Easier for some students
• 25:35 Finances and feelings
• 27:38 A surprise

Transcript

Aayush: 0:00

The first thing that I came here for was for PR. Now that I feel that I will get a PR, the goal has shifted a bit. I need a proper job, and that's what I'm searching for now.

Nepal Now: 0:27

Welcome to Nepal Now. My name is Marty Logan. This is episode 112 of the show that talks about migration and Nepal. A very belated, happy New Year! I had hoped to post the first episode from our new location in January, but obviously didn't make it. if you're a regular listener, you might remember that my family moved back to Canada last October, so in 2026 the show is going to sound a little different. We'll be talking mainly with Nepalis in Canada or with links to this country. I'll be curious to hear what you think of this approach. Send us feedback using the Send a Text link at the top of the show notes. If you're in North America, you'll pay the usual charge, and it costs around eight rupees from Nepal the last time I checked. On with today's episode, Aayush Pokharel will be known to repeat listeners. A former student based in Ontario, he's now our only three-time guest. After we chatted in 2024, I was worried: Aayush had finished his classes and was working at a fast food restaurant, but was having no luck finding a job in his field. That's now changed. Aayush has been working as a CNC machinist, one who uses computer codes to make parts from woods or metals, for almost exactly one year, and he's confident that he'll soon be receiving his PR permanent residency. A couple of notes before we start. I didn't do a great job asking Aayush to explain the immigration terms he uses in our chat chalk it up to the long break. But better late than never. PG is postgraduate and PNP is provincial nominee program. I've put a few other terms in the show notes. And now please listen to my latest chat with Aayush Pokharel. Aayush Pokharel, welcome back to the podcast.

Aayush: 2:30

Thank you so much, Marty. Good to be back.

Nepal Now: 2:33

Yeah, great to see you. You're still in London, Ontario, right?

Aayush: 2:36

Yeah, I'm still in London.

Nepal Now: 2:38

Okay. Before we catch up with what's happening now, let's go back for people who haven't heard your story before. This is the third time I'm interviewing you. You're the only person I've interviewed three times, so congratulations on that, I guess. Yeah, there you go. Lucky you. So give me like a very brief description of when you came to Canada and what you've been doing since you got here.

Aayush: 3:05

Okay. So my background is mechanical engineering. I came here in 2022. And I did my first PG diploma course, which was Practical Elements of Mechanical Engineering. It was more like practical thing that I already did in my bachelor's degree. And then the second course that I did was Auto Body Repair Techniques. And then after that I worked one year in a Mexican restaurant, so I know like how to cook burritos, quesadillas, and all those things.

Nepal Now: 3:34

Important things. Yeah.

Aayush: 3:36

After completing my one year in there, I changed my field. Like I, I went into my field. I'm working as a CNC machinist now in a fishing rod company. I make all the grips for the fishing rod.

Nepal Now: 3:51

Ehh, that's very interesting! Somehow I assumed that in that kind of work you would be working on big machinery like cars or some industrial machine or something.

Aayush: 4:01

It's really small, but the thing is technical because the smaller the part, the more calculation it has so...

Nepal Now: 4:08

Okay. Great to hear that you're working, I know how important it was for you to get a full-time job in your area, right. That's what you're looking for, and then you build career experience and then you move on to the next job. Fantastic. Where are you in terms of your immigration experience?

Aayush: 4:25

I want to share a story to everybody who's listening or they're trying to do some immigration thing in Canada. So what happened was, the second course that I took, it was auto body repair techniques, and luckily, unlucky, I don't know, but in the PG diploma course, we have two certificates. One we call it graduate certificate, and the other one is called college certificate. But the college certificate was not eligible for OINP, which is like Ontario PNP program. And I had applied in like PNP program and then I later figured it out that the course is not eligible for that program. So I had to go away from the program. And then I am currently in Express I have filed everything. I'm just waiting for the draw to come. My score is 519. So I'm in the good range.

Nepal Now: 5:25

Okay, there's some jargon there that I don't understand and maybe other people won't understand either. So these are both like the Express Entry and P-I-N-P?. Okay. PNP. Both ways to get immigration,

Aayush: 5:44

Yeah. to move your immigration status towards PR: Permanent residency. Yeah. I'll try to explain a bit. So there are different categories through which we can get a PR. I previously had gone from trade category and OINP and then CEC, which is like Canadian Experience Class. OINP is for Ontario, PNP. Only the people working in Ontario and those who have studied in Ontario only gets to apply it. And in the trade category, if you are a cook or if you are working as a CNC machinist or if you are a construction worker only those who has like proper skill can apply from that. So previously I was eligible in all the three pathways. But later I figured it out that the certification was not, it was not eligible. So currently I am with CEC, the Canadian Experience Class, and Trade category. I am trying to apply from both. But let's see: if I get picked up in one, then the other one drops by itself.

Nepal Now: 6:51

I had this feeling before, but even more so now: this is so complicated, right? Are you doing this all by yourself or do you have people helping you, or do you have a lawyer?

Aayush: 7:02

I do have a lawyer because if I had to have to ask anything, then I can just go phone him and then ask him anything.

Nepal Now: 7:09

Have you had him like all along the process or...?

Aayush: 7:13

Maybe one year ago, when I first opened my file for my PR.

Nepal Now: 7:18

Do you mind telling me how much it costs you?

Aayush: 7:20

No, no, no. I, No. I want people to know. The lawyer, he takes around$1,500, 500 upfront, and then$1,000 after I get my invitation. The funny thing is I recently asked him about the fees that I required to apply for my PR because I think maybe next month or like the month after that, I will certainly get my invitation. So I'm just trying to save or planning to save money as I can.$1,500 is a lawyer fee and then$1,610 for PR application fee. And then I studied in Bangalore, so I have to pay$150 for police report. And that's it.

Nepal Now: 8:02

Okay and so the invitation is basically when you put in your final application.

Aayush: 8:09

No. How thing work is I have made a file, I have submitted the documents I have not submitted, but I have written like I have bachelor's degree and I have one year of experience, and I have created a file and they don't require you to provide all the documents upfront. By judging from the experience and the education and all those IELTS score that I have, they'll send me an invitation for PR and only after that I need to provide all the necessary documents. And then after four to five months, maybe six months, we get a official PR document. So it's a long process.

Nepal Now: 8:52

Okay, but it, sounds like this year you're hoping to get it.

Aayush: 8:56

Yeah. I surely will because as I told you earlier, I have two streams that I'm, pathways that I'm focusing on. Currently the score is around 510, CRS score, but my score is 519, so I'm just waiting for another draw it might be this week or like the week after that.

Nepal Now: 9:16

Okay. maybe I should know this, but what is a draw?

Aayush: 9:21

Immigration it conducts many draws, like they do conduct it biweekly. One day they will just conduct CEC draw and they have a cutoff score. For now it's 510. So everybody who has score of 510 and above they are eligible to get their ITA, invitation. Like I told you before, they conduct trades draw as well. For trades draw the score is less.

Nepal Now: 9:48

There's been a lot happening with immigration in the last year in terms of the rules, right. That happened with the Trudeau government, but also now even more with the Carney government and basically they're just like closing the window and making it harder for people to come in. Has any of that affected you, or because you got here a few years before, are you going along the old path?

Aayush: 10:11

So, if you had asked me this question like four or five months before, it was too difficult for us because the score was too high. It was around 532 to 534, CRS score. But now it has reduced to 510, which is like everybody is hopeful now and I think, by reducing the number of people, they did a good thing because there is a lot of job opportunity now. There was no job opportunity like in the past year, but now it's you can find job easily. I want to thank the Canadian government for that.

Nepal Now: 10:50

Okay, so the CRS score is basically their ranking of you in terms of employment, language, all of your skills and experience.

Aayush: 11:00

Yeah. Yeah.

Nepal Now: 11:01

Okay. While things have gotten more difficult overall for people trying to come in, the one thing that could have prevented you from continuing to your PR has somehow, reversed. It was at one level, then they raised it, it got much more difficult potentially, and then somehow it came back down to a level where you will still be eligible to go ahead as planned.

Aayush: 11:28

Yeah. Yeah. what it was like in 2018 or 19 before COVID. So it's quite good for us.

Nepal Now: 11:36

Any idea why that happened? I understand why it would go up because they're trying to make it harder, but then why would they again relax it?

Aayush: 11:45

the thing is, what happened was people, all the immigrant that migrated here like me. I graduated in 2020 and I just had two years of experience, but people have 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 years of experience and because of the experience, they get a lot of CRS score. And that was the reason the point was too high. But what happened now was some people didn't get job and they had to return back to their own country. Even I feel lucky because I came in 2022. If it had been like earlier, then it would be too difficult. I think I would also return back home. There was no chance of me getting a PR within that range.

Nepal Now: 12:27

Oh, okay. So it's basically the pool of people have changed it's gotten smaller. So I know that you were living with a bunch of friends from Nepal before. Are you still in that situation or?

Aayush: 12:38

No. We are currently four people living together; we split. Like we have three homes now. We catch up now and then, but it's not every day, but like once in a month or...

Nepal Now: 12:50

okay, so does that mean that everyone is doing a little better?

Aayush: 12:55

Yeah, everybody's doing better than before. They have a set target and luckily they are getting jobs that will be like easier for them to increase their CRS score and apply for PR.

Nepal Now: 13:08

So is anyone ahead of you in the process, of your group?

Aayush: 13:11

Yeah. One of my friend who came one year earlier than me, he has already got the invitation of PR and he has submitted every document and he's just waiting for the official letter of PR to come.

Nepal Now: 13:25

Okay. And that could come any time.

Aayush: 13:29

He submitted last month, so maybe four, five months. They'll check everything like the experience that you had, is it legit or not? And then the police report and everything, and then they will come to a decision.

Nepal Now: 13:44

And then if you get a positive decision, get your PR you've reached the goal, no?

Aayush: 13:50

If you're here for PR, yeah, you get the goal, but what is happening to me is Marty, like the first thing that I came in here for was for PR. Now that I feel that I will get a PR, the goal has shifted a bit. I need a proper job, and that's what I'm searching for now.

nepal-now-podcast_1_01-18-2026_100312: 14:14

But the two things go together, no. No matter what, you're gonna try to get your PR.

Aayush: 14:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nepal Now: 14:20

Right. But along the way, you're trying to get a better job. What is it about the job? Is it that you're not, you don't enjoy it? Or is it the pay or is it...

Aayush: 14:31

no I do enjoy the job and the pay is fine, but like I told you before, like on our previous podcast, I wanted to be a design engineer and this experience will lead me ultimately to that position. But I just, I don't know if it's normal thing or not, I just want to rush to next level. So I think that's a problem for me. And even in my work my employer is so good. It's a small factory, but there are a lot of areas to learn. So I can learn every, everything. They are trying to train me in some design thing now, and I feel so lucky that, okay, this experience will help me to reach my ultimate goal, like to be a design engineer.

Nepal Now: 15:19

Okay. It sounds like maybe you should try to stay there for a little bit longer since the conditions are so good. When you say small, is it like 10 or 20 or 50?

Aayush: 15:30

People there?

Nepal Now: 15:31

Yeah.

Aayush: 15:32

Maybe 20, 25 people, mm-hmm.

Nepal Now: 15:35

So you know each other pretty well.

Aayush: 15:36

Yeah. We do know it. Every person is an immigrant. Only the owners... we have four people who is in the higher management and all other people are like somebody from India, Nepal, or Philippines or some other country.

Nepal Now: 15:52

And do they have their status, PR or citizenship or.

Aayush: 15:57

Yeah. Some has it and somebody are like me and the owners are active if I require any letters, they're quite helpful with that. It's easier for everybody who is working there.

Nepal Now: 16:13

Okay. Okay, you know what's been happening with the immigration changes and where you're at now, do you feel like somehow you're lucky, luckier than other people who are maybe trying to start the process now?

Aayush: 16:29

Yes, surely I do but even if somebody's trying to apply now, it's, I think, quite easier for them. if you have one years of experience or two years of experience, then you can get PR easily now. We can be hopeful for that.

Nepal Now: 16:46

Okay, but if, let's say you're someone in Nepal, in the situation you were in 2020, are you gonna have a chance to get in, into Canada?

Aayush: 16:56

so the thing is they made it easier for the people inside Canada to get a PR, but they are limiting, they are putting cap on students to come in. If you are coming in for PG diploma, let's say it's quite difficult because the provinces, every province, has had a cap for students in every colleges. So it's not easy for a person to come in, because when I came in for my first program there were seven sections, but now it's I think two or three. So there are very few students. I think that's the reason for the CRS score to drop as well.

Nepal Now: 17:39

So the number of entries being permitted is really low. But if you're already here, then your chances are still good.

Aayush: 17:50

Still good. Yeah. But if you have finished bachelor's degree or your master's degree and then you apply the CSS CRS score is in the upper limit, more than 500. But if you are somebody who had just completed your high school and is trying to apply and then get a PR, it's quite difficult for them because after, even after one year of experience, they'll just have 375-80ish score. And that's too low. And I want to tell everybody and you as well. There is a program or a category, which is called French language category, francophone, and the score, the last score was 399. The CRS score was 399. If you are somebody who has just high school, then I will advise them to study French and then get CLB of, I think, seven or eight, and then you can easily qualify for that as well.

Nepal Now: 18:49

All right. That's a good tip. Last time we talked, you mentioned that there had been some incidents of people calling names and this kind of thing. How are you finding the reaction, the treatment, from non brown Canadians, let's say, or any Canadians I guess? Because immigration is still very much in the news. And people's attitudes in general we keep hearing are still more negative than one year before. How are people treating you and your friends?

Aayush: 19:23

the place that I'm working now is quite good. We don't have anything that's racially abusive or something like that. And I think it has more to do with the environment as well. last year I used to hear a lot, but nowadays, even my friends, somebody's working in Voyago, it's a transportation company and one of us is realtor and I'm working as a machinist, but I don't think anybody has faced any racial abuse as of now. I have not heard from anybody. I think we are working in more professional environment, that's the reason. People are more educated and they think that, okay, we need these people. They are trying to make our future or our country better. I think that's the reason I have not heard about it now.

Nepal Now: 20:12

Okay. And let's say you go shopping one day and you're out in the more general population. How do you feel then?

Aayush: 20:19

Sometimes I feel like awkward in some situation, but other than that, personally me, I have not faced anything like that.

Nepal Now: 20:27

And you feel like London is going to be your home base for as long as you can imagine, you're not planning to go to Toronto or somewhere else.

Aayush: 20:38

I am trying to apply for jobs now because in February 24th, I will get my one year of experience from this company. The company is small. I get to learn a lot, but, there is not proper growth as I would expect. So I'm looking for something to grow, and then I think for that I need to be in a big company or big place. But I don't want to just rush and leave the company and search for a job again, but I'm just waiting for everything to settle down, even my PR application things. But back in the mind, I'm thinking about leaving London and going to somewhere if I ever find a job, if I find a proper job.

Nepal Now: 21:19

Yeah, that makes sense. You're a young guy, you're trying to further your career: that's totally understandable. So if I can summarize if people were to ask you, what should I do now? You would say to the people who are in Canada already, roughly in your situation, trying to get their pr, stay there, keep moving ahead, stick with the process. Someone who was, for example, in Nepal finishing their schooling, looking about where to go in the next years, you would not advise them to try to get to Canada.

Aayush: 21:55

No, if you are coming here for your master's degree or let's say bachelor's degree, it's possible for you to have a proper settlement here. But if you are coming just after your high school or plus two, then I won't advise them because it's hard for them to get a job and after they come here, they do two years of diploma certificate, and then that's not enough for them to get a job. And they can't afford to study bachelor's after that because they had spent a lot of time and money. For those student, I won't advise them to come to Canada. Other than that, if you're coming for bachelor's or master's, it's quite good.

Nepal Now: 22:39

And the housing situation, are prices going down or they're stable?

Aayush: 22:44

Yeah. It's going really down. My friend work as works as a realtor, and he told me that this is the lowest that he has seen, and even the rent is low. I was searching room for my sister, master bedroom with attached bathroom, and I saw the price falling down, like when I first asked the person, it was around$850 But the room that I saw for 850 was for 750 now. The reason is because there are less students and there is a disturbance between supply and demand.

Nepal Now: 23:22

Right, right. Okay. And sorry to jump around, but for new students who have just finished plus two or high school, where is the place that they're going now? What are people talking about? Is it Australia? I'm guessing it's not the US right?

Aayush: 23:38

Hopefully

Nepal Now: 23:38

Is it Germany or other places in Europe? What's the most popular?

Aayush: 23:43

I think people should go to Australia because I don't know about the immigration situation or how easy is it to get a PR, but if you want money, then I think Australia is good because it's easy to get a job and then there are a lot of Nepali people and we have a big community there so people can help each other.

Nepal Now: 24:07

Okay. Big support system.

Aayush: 24:10

And we are trying to get that level in Canada, but we don't have like enough people in community. I want to tell you something about the community as well. I don't know, if I'm not in those type of community or I'm not educated about those things but what I see is in communities in Australia, there are like successful people, they have their own company because they have been living there for around two decades or three decades now. But everybody here are new. The most you can go is for 10 years, 11 years, 12 years maybe. And everybody's trying to struggle, so we don't have that powerful community who can give you a job or something like that. I think that's the reason. And even if you are applying in big companies, we don't see a lot of Nepali people, so it's hard for us to get the referral as well and to get to know how to apply in that position or get into those kind of jobs.

Nepal Now: 25:11

What have you learned, uh, during your time in Canada and you know, has anything surprised you about Canada?

Aayush: 25:17

Okay. The thing that I learned. Maybe how to handle finances, because I never had to think about anything to do with the finance. When the salary comes to my account, I think I just have to manage it, like this is for rent, this is for this, that, and I'm trying to invest a bit as well. I. I put some amount, like separately, for me to invest and to travel. And the other thing is like how to handle emotions all alone because back in home I used to like just go in front of mom and ask for advice or something like that. But here I'm the mom, I'm the dad. So I think, that's also another thing that I learned: how to manage my emotions.

Nepal Now: 26:06

Those are two very wise things for a 28-year-old. I'm impressed.

Aayush: 26:12

yeah.

Nepal Now: 26:13

And then, uh, have there been any surprises or were you more or less prepared for Canada?

Aayush: 26:19

I came prepared. I knew like, there, there will be a lot of problems along the way, but once you face every problem, or like once you started to feel the problems, it's a lot different. The understanding goes away and it hits you. I don't know how, how to explain it, but like, uh, you are all alone and if something hits you or something comes up, then you are not able to cope properly and you have to handle on your own. And that thing, it really surprised me.

Nepal Now: 26:56

Okay, Aayush. Well, I'm really happy that you're you're still here, number one, and number two that you found a job and you're moving ahead. Looks like your PR application is going to be successful. Best of luck with that.

Aayush: 27:09

Thank you Marty. I'll definitely let you know when I get...

Nepal Now: 27:11

Please do. Please do. I'll be in touch also.

Aayush: 27:13

Thank you so much.

Nepal Now: 27:15

Thanks to you for doing this. Let me know what you thought of our first episode from Canada. And if you have any ideas about Nepalis in Canada who you think we should talk to, get in touch. We're at nepalnowpod(at)gmail.com or you can message the show on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Blue Sky. I'll talk to you next time...