After finishing my studies, I applied for my PGWP (Post-Graduation Work Permit) and waited. And waited. Normally the process takes one to two months. Mine took five — COVID had created a massive backlog at immigration. I finally received my permit in July 2021.
Five Months of Waiting — And What I Did With Them
I completed my program in the winter of 2020 — the official graduation was late January after a four-week internship component. The moment I submitted the PGWP application, I started preparing for the construction job hunt. I had no Canadian work history at all. Not a single line on my résumé from this country.
While waiting for the permit, I took whatever work I could get — translation and interpretation jobs, mostly. Minimum wage at the time was around $11/hour. It wasn’t much, but it was income, and it kept me moving forward rather than just sitting still.
One unexpected upside from COVID: the government extended PGWP durations for graduates affected by the pandemic. I qualified for a three-year permit. That extra runway turned out to be exactly what I needed to get PR across the line.
Family Reunion — May 2021
In May 2021, my wife and child flew in from Hong Kong. The flight is long on a normal day. During COVID, with all the restrictions and stress involved, it was exhausting. When I saw my child at the airport, they looked completely drained — pale, worn out, barely responsive. That moment was harder than I expected. A little sad, honestly.
The next morning, my child woke up and smiled. One of those big, uncomplicated smiles. I’m not sure I can fully explain what that felt like after nearly two years apart — watching them grow up through a phone screen, missing things I couldn’t get back. That smile settled something.
Before my family arrived, I had already moved out of the university dorm into an apartment. Our first place was a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom unit at $1,250/month. As our child grew, we moved up to a 2-bed, 2-bath at $1,570. By BC standards today, that sounds almost laughably affordable — but at the time, it was a real stretch on a junior salary.
The Job Hunt — Six Months, One Offer
I spent about six months applying before landing my first construction job. I was focused entirely on Project Coordinator roles and used Indeed as my main channel. Some applications heard back in two or three weeks. Others went quiet for three months before a recruiter reached out.
My first employer was a small CM (Construction Management) firm — not a General Contractor. The interview itself wasn’t dramatic. I answered what I knew as clearly as I could, admitted what I didn’t know, and leaned into the construction experience I’d built in Korea and Hong Kong. Apparently that combination of honesty and relevant background worked.
My starting salary was around the average for a PC role in Manitoba at the time — not high by any measure, but compared to the minimum-wage translation work I’d been doing, the first paycheck felt like a genuine turning point.
QSR and Cannabis — Building the Foundation in Winnipeg
The projects I worked on were primarily QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) Tenant Improvement builds and cannabis retail fit-outs. Neither was glamorous, but both were excellent for learning the rhythm of Canadian commercial construction. Short timelines, multiple subtrades to coordinate, real permit processes, actual CCDC contract structures — everything you’d later need on a much larger project, compressed into manageable scale.
Community — Mostly Online
There was both a Korean community and a Hong Kong community in Winnipeg. But honestly, both my wife and I found our most useful information and connections online rather than through in-person networks. I connected with one Korean person through an online community who I’m still in touch with today. For a new immigrant trying to figure things out quickly, targeted online connections often moved faster than anything else.
Permanent Residency
As soon as I received my job offer, I submitted my MPNP (Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program) application. The entire PR process took a little over a year and a half. It’s a long wait — but doing it while actively working and building Canadian experience made it psychologically manageable. The work was the point. The PR was the outcome of doing the work.
Reading the Signs — Time to Move On
Things were stable for the first year or so. Then the signals started appearing. The company’s core business was franchise TI work — new store openings and renovations for franchise operators. As the economy softened, franchisees started pulling back on expansion. New projects dried up. The company began reducing headcount.
I decided it was better to move before being moved. I started looking.
Why BC — And How the Connection Happened
Before committing to BC, I visited. What struck me immediately was how many Asian residents there were — far more than Winnipeg. For my wife, who is from Hong Kong, that mattered practically: she’d have a much better chance of finding work in an environment where Asian communities were well established. And for both of us, it just felt more familiar in a way that’s hard to quantify but easy to feel.
The connection that made the move possible came through family. My wife’s aunt lives in BC. Her son had worked in construction — as a GC — and through his network, I was introduced to someone at the company I eventually joined. Without that introduction, the move to BC would have been a much harder cold start. Sometimes the path forward runs through the people already around you.
Winnipeg was short — but it was where I learned what Canadian construction actually looks like from the inside. That foundation made everything that came next possible.
Previous: Part 1: From Australia and Hong Kong to Winnipeg
Next: Part 3: Moving to BC and the Never-Ending Dilemma of an Immigrant in Canada