3 things you need to do before moving to India from Canada

Relocating to a country like India, whose culture and way of life is as different as it could get from the culture and lifestyle of Canada, could prove to be a difficult process for Canadian citizens who move there. An international relocation is anyways one of the biggest challenges you could face. And the challenge assumes even tougher proportions when you move to India from Canada. But how easy or difficult house shifting to India is for you actually depends on how well you plan and prepare for it. It depends on whether or not you do the things that make moving to India from Canada easier. Unaware of what these things are? Well, then things might get a little tricky for you, unless of course, you read what follows and execute the tasks discussed here. So without further ado, here are the 3 things you need to do before moving to India from Canada.

Visit the FRRO website

If you plan to stay in India for more than 180 days at a stretch, the first thing you need to do is visit the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office website and read up on what you need to do to ensure that your stay in the country is hassle-free from the immigration standpoint. You would need to register there and provide the office with relevant details. We would advise you to register a couple of weeks before you arrival to ensure everything goes smoothly. Any hiccup here would mean that you could lose your visa and all that storage moving from Canada to India would become an exercise in vain.

Learn the local language

Now India has the second largest English speaking population in the world. But that does not mean that a majority of the country’s population speaks the language. Only about 12.5% of Indians speak English, which means that 7 out of 8 Indians are unfamiliar with the language. While English is the preferred language for conducting business in India, and you won’t have much trouble conversing with clients and colleagues, you’d probably find it a little more difficult to converse with people outside of work. Your househelp, milkman, vegetable vendor, taxi driver, etc. would all be much more comfortable speaking their local language. So if you want to avoid any miscommunication, spend some time trying to learn the local language. And by local language, we don’t just mean Hindi. If you are moving to the southern part of India, Hindi would probably be of no use there. You need to learn the regional language to communicate with the locals. Of course, we don’t expect you to become proficient enough to write songs in that language, but just learn some basic words and phrases that would be enough to convey what you want.

Hire a relocation company that offers consulting, assignment & management services

When you move to a country as unique as India, you need someone to guide you through your initial days there and take care of all your headaches. You need someone to manage your payments, set up your utility services, find a school for your kids, etc. Even locals find it difficult to execute these tasks at times. What you need is a service provider who would offer consultancy, assignment, and management services. And if that service provider is the same one who helped with your household shifting from Canada to India, then there’s nothing better than that. Writer Relocations, for instance is one such company who offers a bouquet of services pertaining to an international relocation. And included among these services are a language & cultural training programme, expense management, rental payments, utility payments, etc. Having such a service provider by your side resolves a lot of potential issues and conflicts in India.

Also, Check - Handy packing and in-flight tips for an international relocation

These 3 things should be at the top of your ‘to do list’ if you are moving to India. Execute these processes, plan your move, hire professional relocation services from Canada to India, and your move to India would become much less of a challenge.