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Indian-origin Canadian recounts citizenship struggles
Keerthy Vinukonda regretted not hearing personal accounts of immigrants and relying on the rosy picture painted by immigration agencies.
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Reuters - Mon, 14, Jul 2025
- 14:41 EDT
- 14
Keerthy Vinukonda / CBC
Indo-Canadian citizen Keerthy Vinukonda revealed the emotional and physical toll her immigration journey took as she navigated life in Canada.
“Despite graduating ‘first class with distinction’ in India, I was unable to pass the Canadian pharmacy equivalency exams,” Vinukonda, who acquired Canadian citizenship in 2024, wrote in CBC’s First Person column.
Also Read: Indo-Canadian journalist quits CBC, alleges toxic work culture
A pharmacy graduate from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Vinukonda arrived in Toronto in 2016 on a study permit, hoping to build a better future. But instead of working in her trained profession, she ended up supervising shifts in multiple restaurants and commuting nearly 20 hours a week in sub-zero temperatures, all while preparing for licensing exams.
“I was emotionally exhausted and physically burned out from commuting long distances to work a job that was unrelated to my studies,” she wrote.
After earning a diploma in healthcare administration from a private college and another certificate from a publicly funded institution, she qualified for a work permit and later applied through Canada’s Express Entry stream for permanent residency — a process that considered her restaurant work as skilled Canadian experience.
In 2021, she was invited to apply for permanent residency, and in 2024, she became a Canadian citizen. But the path was far from smooth. Her citizenship ceremony took place just as Canada was scrutinizing international student admissions and the credibility of some colleges, including Alpha College, where she had once studied.
“I don't have anything bad to say about the students or instructors,” she wrote, “but the courses at Alpha College could have had more substance.”
Vinukonda also pointed to the misinformation that shaped her decision to move abroad. “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,” she said.
Although she eventually found work as a pharmacy assistant, she never qualified to work as a pharmacist in Canada. Still, she expressed a sense of closure and pride in her achievements. “Life doesn't always turn out perfectly, but after a long path to permanent residency and citizenship, I'm proud to call Canada my home.”
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