'Emotionally exhausted, physically burned': Indian-origin Canadian recounts ordeal, pharmacy degree-holder had to do hotel jobs
An Indian-origin Canadian, Keerthy Vinukonda, recounted the hardships that she had to go through after arriving in Canada from India, though Canada is now her home, as she got her citizenship last year.
IN CBC's First Person, Vinukonda wrote that she studied pharmacy in India but she had to work at hotels far away from where she was living. Braving the harsh weather of Canada, she spent 20 hours a week just commuting to jobs at multiple restaurants. At the same time, she was preparing for a pharmacist equivalency exam in Canada.
"Once upon a time, I also used to dream of coming to Canada. But my dreams did not include the twists and turns I would experience in my journey to becoming a Canadian," Vinukonda wrote.
After completing her pharmacy degree in India's Acharya Nagarjuna University, Vinukonda arrived in Toronto in a study permit in 2016, completed a healthcare administration program in 2017 and then got another certificate from a publicly funded institution. "Given the high levels of unemployment for young, educated professionals in India, it was difficult to find a job — even with my degree — so I decided to study abroad," she wrote, explaining her decision to leave India in the first place.
After obtaining Canadian degree, she got a work permit but had to work six days a week as a shift supervisor assigned to three restaurants. She explained that the hotel job, as it's considered Canadian skilled work experience, qualified her for the Express Entry stream of immigration and in 2021, she was invited to apply for a PR. In 2024, she became a Canadian citizen.
"Despite graduating 'first class with distinction' in India, I was unable to pass the Canadian pharmacy equivalency exams.
I was emotionally exhausted and physically burned out from commuting long distances to work a job that was unrelated to my studies. Although I later found work as a pharmacy assistant, I cannot claim to be a pharmacist in Canada," she wrote.
"Given what I had gone through, I wish I'd heard more realistic perspectives from people already in Canada rather than from immigration counselling firms in India, which advertised that you could earn more money in one month than people in India make in one year. I thought I could provide a luxury lifestyle for myself and my family," she wrote.
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