My wife and I are Canadian. We were born in Canada, and we’ve lived in Canada all our lives. But suddenly we’ve decided that we want to live and work in the USA, specifically in California (let’s say, San Diego county).
How easy or difficult is this to do?
Difficult (basically impossible), unless you have a job lined up and an employer willing to sponsor you or you have a relative who can sponsor you.
Could I interview for a job in the US? Let’s say I want to interview for a job with ABC Insurance Company. Would they be allowed to hire me, assuming that I’m the best qualified applicant?
Yes you can interview. Yes, they would be allowed to hire you. No, the federal government may not give them a work permit for you unless you are highly skilled or do something in the sciences. No, they won’t go through the time and expense of getting you a work permit unless you are worth it to them. So, in practice, the job opportunities to immigrate to the US come from the employer (i.e. they are the ones engaged in active recruitment) more so than selling yourself to the employer (i.e. you are the one replying to a job posting)
For Canadians, however, you should look up the TN visa. It is a work permit that you can get at the border, basically (it still requires an employer’s offer though - no comment on the greater willingness of an employer to deal with the hassle, though, especially considering that there is currently 10-11% unemployment here). If you are a professional, you can usually fit into one of the categories of eligibility. TN Recognized Professions It isn’t the easiest thing to convert over to permanent residency, though.
Yeah, sure you can. But then the company has to sponsor you for a visa, which can be a pain in the ass. Unless you’re fantastically well-qualified, there’s a good chance they’ll just prefer to hire an American.
If you’ve graduated from an American university, you can stay in the US for a year while you look for work. Two of my friends - each of whom have two masters degrees - recently had to return to their home countries after their year ended and they still didn’t have a job.
Here, you want to buy half my dual citizenship? I’m not using the US part right now.
Nope, just a regular ol’ insurance broker. Dime a dozen.
You’ll just ask for it back right when I’m about a buy a house or something…
It’s probably even worse for you - you probably need state licensure to sell insurance. So, you’d need to do that before you could even get a job offer (I doubt they’d be willing to hire someone who isn’t licensed).
What about your wife? If she works in healthcare (especially nursing) moving to the States would be alot easier.
Oh, I assumed that. But if it’s anything like getting my RIBO license, that would be the least of my problems. It isn’t exactly brain surgery.
Oh well, guess I’ll just have to stay up here in the Great White North.
She works for Children’s Aid. I don’t think that qualifies her.
I actually know several people who have moved from Canada to the U.S. over the years. But there were special circumstances for each of them.
My wife’s cousin moved from Calgary to San Francisco when her husband got a job in a tech company in the Bay Area.
Quite a few years ago my cousin, a born and raised Canadian, moved to the New York City area after he got married because his wife was from Queens. He’s a medical doctor, by the way.
If you can set up your own business and fund it with $100k+, you may be able to get an E-2 Investor Visa.
Another married-in poster here. Zyada and I just had yet another INS interview today. She, I and our lawyer had been saying “Why did they schedule another interview?” We got more affidavits, copied tax returns, bank statements, joint car registrations, and more. So we all got there and waited over an hour past our time, and went in to see the INS officer. She pulled out the massive file, flipped through half a dozen pages, looking more and more puzzled, tapped away on her computer, and said “Why did they schedule another interview?”
So I’m in for the next ten years!
Personally, I’d just as soon have stayed in Vancouver. Except that Zyada is here!