How hard is it to move to Canada?
 

My landlord is selling the place and I'm picking where I want to move to next. I figure that if I moved to Canada then the rent is 35% cheaper because of the exchange rate, plus Canada is a nice place.

Has anyone here moved from the US to Canada?

Yeah canada is really nice, ive lived in texas my whole life and have been thinking about moving to BC for awhile.

Please dont move to Canada, it is the best kept secret.. Move to detroit or something, I hear its nice and clean.

hahahahahaa:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

"How hard is it to move to Canada?"

Pack the car, start the engine and move the transmission to "D".

:)

I mean legally, lol. how much has to change.

in thinking about it more I'll never be able to afford to buy a house in the states, but might be able to in canada.

If you want to live cheap, just move to a less populated area of Florida. No state income tax, great year round weather.

Canada is cold, has ridiculous taxes, and they don't even let you drink red bull and mountain dew.

Just wrap your head in towel and head on over.

I been to Florida twice and my impression is that its a great place if you have money. But if you dont then you have to deal with living in crappy places overrun by huge cochroaches, ridiculously high crime rates. And plus hurricanes in the summer.
But nice beaches.

Its not easy, I tried a few years back.

dont forget about snow in Canada... and all around hockey

For $150k US you can get yourself a nice home around here.

Don't forget that the Turks and Caicos Islands may become Canada's 11th province :)

did they tell you why they rejected you?
I just want to know for myself. I heard you need a high level college degree and to speak French to get in and I dont have either.

doesn't bother me. I have 2 portable heaters. When it's -20 outside my place inside is warm.

start here

http://www.mls.ca

then go here http://www.canada.gc.ca and click on either

"immigrant" or "refugee"

good luck

for starters canada's weather would surprise most of you since only 4 months really its around zero - but we do get temps hotter than california.

Toronto is great and many celebs enjoy the atmosphere up here as well. It is multicultural but we live in harmony. The beer is better and despite what others say - we dont have hockey all year round - we do have a baseball team - (world series champs back to back)

Film festival awards are held here - the list goes on.

I dont expect its too difficult to move here - though I am unsure of recent border rules - but its worth the effort

I was in my last year of school, when I moved up there... had to leave 6 months later, because they denied my work visa, and I didnt want to pay $20k US just to finish my schooling.

I imagine, if I went up there now, with my current income and degree, they'd be ok with it...

BC atleast.

We sat on the deck drinking beer and BBQ'd our Easter dinner this weekend. Not so cold :winkwink:

I do think it's quite difficult to move here if you're not a poor refugee who's going to live on welfare while building your fortune with Marajuana Grow Ops though.....

I lived in Florida and hated it- only took me a year to high tail it back to Canada.

And yes we do have the Dew up here.

I think preety much for non-usa people...

huh? :eek7

friend just relocated to vancouver, he sent me pics of his house and its fucking AMAZING for what he paid (over 2 mil but here in ny it would be 15 mil.

he says its great hes just a bit too rude for the people there so hes gonna have to get rid of that attitude

the real answer is not yet answered
i find the topic quite interesting especially because i wanted to look closer at the real estate market down there
worth a bump :)

Ye speaketh the truth!

Yep, if you're poor and want to suck the life out of welfare while sponsoring 20 of your relatives your chances are pretty good. You know anyone in Canada that would marry you? LOL

yeah thats what I think too about the home prices!
Not only are the prices less but you get a 35% reduction because of the exchange rate. I'd never get that in the states.

That's funny about the attitude adjustment :1orglaugh

Its not easy really.. you need to show that you wont be a drain on the economy usually, which means having a fat bank account.. which doesnt sound like it is the case.

Easy way - Meet a nice Canadian girl and get her to marry you. Women start to get pretty desperate in their late 30s. ;)

haha

Vancouver is quite nice, I would definetely recommend you check it out. I had a blast while I was there! :)

DH

I agree. If I was going to move to Canada, it would be either Vancouver or Victoria.

I have also been looking into moving to Canada, eh. :) Have been to Toronto and really liked it. Anyone else have legal or cultural info about US to Canada move ?

It would be the biggest mistake of your life.

I have lived in Canada for over 2 years now after spending my entire life in the U.S. and I can't wait to finally be able to go back home.

1st - You live here long enough you will find this goverment has a VERY Anit-American stance and they make it very clear they do not want us here at all.

2nd - The cost of housing is WAY higher than in the U.S. In Canada even with the exchange rate you will pay a lot more for a lot less.

3rd - With taxes being 15% the exchange rate is not all its cracked up to be, especially the past few years with the declining economy.

4th - Canadian immigration is the worst to deal with in the world. Good luck ever trying to live here legally. If your ever lucky enough to speak to an English speaking person not Chinese, they will still nto help you work things out.

I have even been told, "Fuck you go back home." by a Canadian immirgration worker over the phone. We were not in a fight, we had no issues, I called and simply said, "I am an American currently visiting my fiance who is a Canadian citizen, what steps do we have to take to make our marriage legal so I can live in Canada with her when we are married?"

You want an immigration attorney to help you? Great! its only $200 for a 30 minute phone conversation.

There are also tons of legal problems this country has to deal with and straighten itself out.

Basically if your not a Terrorist from the Middle East, Indian, or Chinese you are not welcome to come to Canada. Most white Canadian born citizens I know feel this way too and want to move to American so they can actually have a life and feel like they belong to their country.

Canada may be a great place to visit, I was absolutly in love with this country before I moved here. But living here is a totally different experience than visiting here.

BTW: If you do move here, dont let anyone know your American because all you will ever here is "America sucks because, America sucks because, America sucks because, The States this, The States that, You runin our lives bla bla bla bla bl ablabla bla bla....."

Believe me YOU LIVE IN THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!!!! Maybe you want to keep it that way.

I am happy as hell that in 2 months I will finally be back home and I will kiss the ground every single day for the rest of my life.

Sorry you had such a shitty time in Canada. I love it here :)

DH

With that attitude, I cant say we'll miss you

What they should not welcome in Canada is people from other countries saying that if they go back to their country they'll have troubles and blah blah... those persons only come here to get a free check from the gov each month and do nothing. We gotta pay for them it's disgusting.

most "new canadians" cant speak french or english...

'

What's wrong with hockey? and it's not cold every where in Canada. :)

I don't get it.

Why move to fucking cold Canada ?

If you can afford it, come over here.

If not, try Costa Rica, Malta or Vanuatu.

Canada is a good choice its a very nice place

I've lived in Canada (Quebec) for five years and my experiences have been almost competely positive. As an anglophone in Quebec I feel slightly looked down upon but never enough to be a problem.


I've had immigration workers look at me like I'm crazy for coming to Canada from the US but never experienced any hostility. Amusingly one of them even told me she wished she could move to the US.


Depends on where you are. Rents have sky-rocketed in Montreal recently but they're still much cheaper than in Boston. Also, I recently closed on a house on Ile Perrot (just off the island of Montreal) for atleast half of what I would have paid for a similar house in one of the far out Boston suburbs.


The exchange rate still makes it much cheaper to do business in Canada than in the US.

Odd. I've found the Canadian bureaucracy very easy to deal with. There have been a few times when I've gotten people who's first language was French and who spoke little English but they've always made an effort.


I don't go around advertising that I'm American but the worst hostility I've experienced is along the lines of "The Habs are going to kick the Bruins asses!".

We have a load of Canadians moving here to get out of the cold = look around before you decide!

The other bit is... some places are much "easier" to live and no taxes which may help :-)