Shahid Chaudhry is an immigration consultant whose main objective is to help people arrive and live in Canada.
Chaudhry lives with his wife and two children in Whitby and is CEO and Original Founder of Canadian Dreams Alliance Inc. (CD Alliance). The company has a corporate office in Toronto and has regional offices in London (U.K.), Bahrain, Pakistan and Hong Kong.
The company does everything it can do to help people desiring immigration and/or student recruitment, handling prerequisites and applications, helping children with education and several other requirements for proper immigration.
Chaudhry was inspired to have a job helping people move and live in Canada because a dream of his was to help make other dreams a reality for people.
“I like working with real people…and in my profession in immigration, it’s all about real people, real life.”
Chaudhry is originally from Pakistan and came to Canada almost 20 years ago and enjoys assisting others.
“[I don’t] serve based on where my clients are born. I treat them all with equal respect,” he said.
Immigration is also serious business. It deals directly with the ability to work, study and live a desired life, and Chaudhry said in order to do it right, it’s important to stay updated with all changes happening in with laws affecting his business.
Immigration is not Chaudhry’s only area of expertise. He first got an engineering degree, then a degree in business, and then another degree in immigration. He worked in engineering for over a decade, and then received a certificate in Advanced Business Management from York University, then graduated from Humber College’s Immigration Consultant Program with honours.
“Each career, each field I studied has its own charm and I enjoy all three,” said Chaudhry.
He was able to create CD Alliance with the help of his prior education and experience. He created the model of how his business would run and led his whole team to execute his setup plan. To start up and become successful, he and the company had to plan and focus on specific target markets and how to gain trust and build a long-term rapport with clients, as well as systems to gauge business success. He did the planning for the company between 2009 and 2010 and eventually CD Alliance opened in 2011.
Chaudhry’s biggest challenge in the field is the travel requirements.
“It’s challenging when you travel. You stay away from your family, from the comfort of your house,” he said. “But at the same time the challenge is very positive. You meet with new people and you get to know their different backgrounds and culture, and when you travel from country to country, it’s a great opportunity of learning different things while you’re travelling.”
He gets inner satisfaction out of his work, he said.
“Sometimes people come to me with their immigration issues and I feel like as if they’ve lost their hopes, and they feel it’s the end of the end of the line,” he explained. “But I dealt with their problems, I represented them, and the result was I was able to resolve the issues and they got a new life.”
His advice to others who also want to make a difference in the community is to stay positive.
“Business is only one part of life, and after that, it’s your families, your neighbourhood, your friends, and the place where you live, and the place where your children grow. For each component of life, it’s very important, so I stay connected with my community with some social work, with my business, with my other friends who are in politics or charity, I keep in touch with all of them.”
Chaudhry enjoys both his immigration and work and giving his time to help others within Durham Region.
“I will continue doing my volunteer work for my community, youth and ethnic organizations,” he said.
William McGinn 
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