Canada Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
?'s on moving to Canada
Hi Canada Nesties! DH has always wanted to move to Canada. We recently watched the movie "Sicko" and it shows Canada's health care system and maternity leave and just an overall better way of life & now we really want to move! That movie made me embarrassed of our healthcare system. DH's been looking up jobs and the costs of renting anywhere from Windsor to Toronto. We heard that you need to be sponsored, that you can have dual citizenship, not sure how difficult it is to get a work visa. Tons of questions.
Has anyone moved to Canada recently and can give me the low down? This wouldn't be a temp thing, if we move, we are staying.
Re: ?'s on moving to Canada
I can't help you on the details of relocation to Canada, but can tell you it's great here (most of the time). I really love it here.
If you have any questions about cities in particular there are lots of ladies here from all over Ontario who can help you there.
Good Luck!
Hi there! I'm an American married to a Canadian and went through the immigration process in 2005-2006. We're actually living abroad for a few years now but hopefully I can give you a little bit of useful info.
I'm gathering that you and your DH are both Americans. I had a different immigration experience because I came in on under a family sponsorship and got my visa and permanent residency from there.
I'm not going to lie, the immigration process, especially for the both of you would be long, expensive, and have no guarantees. If you are seriously considering the move, your best bet would be to have an offer of employment from a company who could assist you in the immigration process. If you don't have an offer of employment, you will be required to be in a "needed" industry and then will be assessed by Immigration Canada based on a points eligibility system. Regardless, you would apply for permanent residency under the "Skilled Worker Class."
The official government site is here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp
The other two options that I can think of are if your husband or you are in one of the NAFTA provisional professions or in IT. A few of these business and IT jobs have a specialized immigration process due to treaties or a critical employee shortage in Canada. There is also the live-in-caregiver sector, which one of you could apply for but this requires you to live in the house of the person you are caring for and is also obviously not a job or decision to undertake lightly. There is more information about the general worker's visa, along with the special exemptions here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/apply-who.asp
I hope this information is useful to you
Kat gave some great advice!
We dealt with immigration issues to get my husband here. It's a really arduous process. But it was, of course, worth it.
Best of luck! It can happen. Not over night, but it's definitely possible.
It is harder if you're both Americans looking to move here. A coworker said it wouldn't have been feasible for him and his wife if he hadn't been able to find a company willing to support his various visa/immigration applications. Being employed by a Canadian firm sped things up - and it's been a VERY long process.
He loves it here though, says it has been worth it so far.
I live in Windsor.
The benefits of being in Windsor are that you live in Canada, in a smaller city, but with all the perks of being near a huge city (Detroit), with concerts, sporting events (DH has season tickets to Michigan and Detroit Lions football), malls, etc.
The downside of Windsor is the economy here is terrible right now. Depending on what you and your DH do, it may or may not be difficult to find a job here.
As far as dual citizenship goes, it is my understanding that what happens is that Canada doesn't make you give up US citizenship when you get Canadian citizenship - that is where the dual status thing comes in. I believe that the US doesn't really recognize dual citizenship, but it wouldn't matter because in their view, you are a US citizen.
The other thing is that you will ALWAYS be required to file a US tax return, even if you live in Canada. The US taxes based on citizenship. You would get credit for the tax that you pay in Canada, so you probably wouldn't OWE money in the US, but you would be required to file a tax return in the US.
I don't know how much help I can be, but I will try. DH and I are here on a temp. assignment with his company. He got a work visa through his company because they operate a mine up here. We (and DS) are Americans and can only stay for 2 years without renewing the visas.
Since I wasn't sponsored by a company my visa doesn't allow me to work here. I was planning on being a SAHM anyway, but that might make it a little more difficult for you.