Slashdot Mirror

The Conservative government is in a very precarious position. The wrong move and the victory they let the Liberals screw up so badly for is gone.

Here's how I, an American would-be Canadian and regular CBC Radio One listener sees it:

You are right, Harper was in a precarious position to start. The only reason the Tories came to power was the sponsorship scandal. Now, he has made his "settlement" of the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. a confidence issue. If enough MPs realize that Harbush folded a winning hand against the U.S. ("Bushie, you're doin' a heckuva job, and you only hafta give back 1/3 of what you stole, eh?"), his government could very easily fall. Plus, the Canadian involvement in Afganistan is unpopular. For these and other reasons, he's on very thin ice (pun intended) and the Liberals and NDP are looking for the first opportunity to take him down. Anyone who doubts this needs only realize that his campaign-promised revisit of gay marriage is now off the table.

yeah, ok. now which way to canada?

We welcome you to the country where home doors are opened, police officers are polite, and we don't need cameras to check our private parking spot. Click here to sign in!

here

I am already here :-)

Cause, y'know, the immigration officer is so likely to believe that you're a refugee from the US. Even with the amount of civil liberties Americans are losing, they're not even close enough for it to be considered that they would be actively prosecuted upon their return (at least, not without them having broken laws equivalent to Canadian laws, which would then stop them from being able to enter in the first place).

If you want to see how hard it is to immigrate to Canada, check the forums at Road To Canada. It can often take a year or more to obtain Permanent Residency (our equivalent of your Green Card, and people are flat out refused all the time), then another three years before one can sit the Citizenship exam.

My girlfriend lives in the US, and I have carefully examined the different possibilities of Canadian immigration. I'm likely going to sponsor her as a member of the Family Class. Trust me when I say that if it were that easy to move up here, we already would have considered it.

From what I read of the Canadian Government's immigration website, you are basically scored on your worth as a speciallized worker. So basically you need either a lot of work experience, have a graduate degree, or already have a job promised to you if you move there. Knowing French is a plus, but not required.

Here is a link to a test to give you an idea at what you are looking at.

Look into the occupations that are protected by NAFTA. If you are in there, you pretty much just have to show up here (Canada), and get a job. You'll get your work visa automatically.

If you aren't protected by NAFTA, then you'll have to get in under the Skilled Worker class. Look at the CIC website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/ If you qualify, you'll most certainly be accepted.

Note: our economy is booming. There is a skilled worker shortage here in B.C., for example. Unemployment is at a 30 year low.

Canada welcomes smart, skilled Americans who don't mind leaving God at home.

Though I might add the the correct abbreviation for Canadian dollars is CAD not CDN.

Actually, I have. My girlfriend and I have talked about moving to England after my probation is up. She loves the country, and my record would be more obscured than it is here. Not to mention that they have a more liberal view towards what I was charged with. (drug possession)

The reason why I responded to the grandparent was they said Canada bars felons from entering the country. I'd researched Canada's Immigration site, and they seemed to indicate that they would accept felons, provided they had completed their sentences. Cananda was on my short list of countries to move to, and the grandparent's information kinda shook me up. I mean, what if I'm trapped here?

The solution to your problems as a resident of the United States may be at hand.

How much does the immigration process cost again?

$100 Candian [sic] (about $80.52 US)

Nope. It's $100 to become a citizen, but you can only apply to become a citizen after being a legal resident for at least three full years (and meet some other criteria, such as passing the exam). To become a permanent resident costs upward of $1500, depending on the class of application - see the prices at the very same link provided above

Proud Canadian Citizen

>Or being in a country that allows downloading music?
How much does the immigration process cost again?

$100 Candian (about $80.52 US)

-

Actually, legally immigrating to Canada is a very difficult process if you don't already have family to sponsor you, or have some sort of skilled professional status, or have a ton of cash to invest.

(The political situation in the USA at the moment isn't sufficiently dangerous to qualify you for refugee status.)

Look here if you're serious:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/

Here is the website... :)

http://www.cic.gc.ca/

Well, here in the US, we're not terribly pleased about how easily almost anyone from anywhere can, at least temporarily, stay in Canada with no practical restrictions. Maybe saunter across a very open border. I thought we were pals. (See? - These things cut both ways.)

Just so you know, even those here in the US who support the Patriot Act on balance, object to some provision or another of it.

Oh, but I've just crashed a US bash-fest and I'm not in style.

You have a point but what worth is a school that refuses video games such as HL2 deeming them violent, where the actual goal is to raise funds?

What does that teaches to the kids? Better be censored and/or politically correct rather than be generous and donate?

If it the "stellar" coming of Bush that produces such nonsense, I suggest you jump out the mothership and land in Canada.

It is not because you are not paranoid that Aliens are not out to get you.

The trouble with Ontario is it's lack of photo ID.

Hope this helps.

If your destination of choice is Canada, you can start by taking the test to see if you can immigrate as a skilled worker

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

ALL HAIL CANADA!

Of course if you don't qualify as a Skilled Worker, you can always try the political assylum route :)

Of course if you don't qualify as a Skilled Worker, you can always try the political assylum route :)

It's all here: Welcome to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

All I need now is the link to the Draft-Dodging HOWTO.

The Canadian Refugee System.

Newcomers Guide To Canada

Two words :

Welcome, friend!

Lots of education will apparantly get you in, but it looks like just having a bachelor's degree won't quite do it.

Not that I've tried or plan to try -- I'm only basing this on what's in the web site. Perhaps the web site isn't a very good indication?

Check out Customs and Immigration Canada for their Skilled Worker immigration category. There's a little test on the site, and if you score enough points on the test you probably qualify for immigration.

Immigration Canada

I am An american that lives and Works In Toronto. Is it Cheaper not really its similar. I actually get paid teh same as I was getting paid in San Diego dollar for dollar. The lifestyle is not that different. My taxes are only slightly higher then what I paid in California. However In Toronto they seem to not like Americans very much Dunno about other cities but those I meet from elsewhere seem to be a little nicer.

You can actually come to Canada and work if you get a job Offer in a few different areas which are covered by the NAFTA Agreement information concerning requirements and the actual occupations can be found here and here

Considering everythign I must say North America is more different Eat to west then it is From Canada to the US. Somethign to Consider.

"Looks like I'll be moving up north" or

"Where do I sign up?"

Well, you can Sign up here

Thats the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website, with all the forms and whatnot for admission to the country. Enjoy!

And the US is worried about extraditing draft dodgers. They should really worry about sending all their thinking people out of the country.

A resource to avoid this stupidity (at least for a little while):Available Here/a

You haven't looked into this then. I would be in Canada right now if the work permits were $50.

The application fee is $550.

IF you are approved, you have to pay a "Right of Permanent Resident Fee" - that's another $975.

But to even get a job, your prospective employer has to get your job approved by the Canadian Government before they can even offer it to you.

It's all here.

I moved here from Russia and had a choice between Canada, States, Germany, Ireland, South Africa (yeah yeah I know), Australia and New Zeland, which comprise the list of countries where I could move for under 10K of fees and 1-2 years of time. Canada had by far the most stream-lined immigration process (not that it was a decisive factor). Have a look here for details.

Current turn around time is ~2 1/2 months.....

2 Weeks for HRDC
6 Weeks for CIC
2 Weeks for CPC

M.

In case you're tired of living in a freedom-loving dictatorship, here's how to apply as a skilled worker immigrant to Canada:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/skilled/how-1.html
It seemed relavant :) (Wouldn't I be surprized if someone actually takes it...)

You'd get modded as informative (even helpful), if you provided a link. Anyone want to help slashdot Immigration Canada?

Americans are free to leave

Americans are free to leave

Canada requires more than US$30,000 in cash and you must be highly qualified in a professional field to move.

This has either changed, or you've been misinformed - since there are several different ways to immigrate to Canada, and they're all quite complex (fucking bureaucrats), I thought I'd give a breakdown of the easiest way - Permanant Resident status. You wouldn't be a Canadian citizen, but you'd be well on your way to becoming one. Permanant Resident status grants you priviliges to live, work, and study in Canada as any Canadian would, and is the easiest way to go about doing it.

Let's assume you're a 'skilled worker' (the category most slashdotters are likely to fall under). You need several things before you can be given a work permit.

Number one, you need to have at least one year of paid work experience in your field. Sorry guys, kernel programming doesn't hack it (hahaha) unless you were on someone's payroll. If, as a programmer (let's assume you were a programmer), your job description matches what the government has on file for a 'computer programmer', then bravo, you're a skilled worker for a qualifying profession. If you had a different job description, you may find it at the bottom of that website. If you're not a programmer at all, then check the NOC list (now I feel like a secret agent) for your profession and put the four digit code for your profession into the search box on the programmer description page.

That's a lot of typing for something that's pretty simple.

Now, we have to make sure you can support yourself in Canada, on your own, for six months. The government says you'll need about $9400 Canadian dollars to support yourself for six months. If you have a family, it may be more. In comparison, the student loan fuckers gave me $7400 to last me an entire year (minus my $4000 tuition). I hope they all die.

If you have secured work in Canada before coming, you do not have to have this money. However, you'd be stupid not to have a few grand in cash in the bank, or it'll be a bitch to rent an apartment without first/last month's rent.

Oh, and if you're bringing more than $10,000 in negotiables (cash, stocks, bonds, treasury bills, traveller's cheques, cashier's cheques, money orders, etc), for the love of god declare them at customs. You do not want to spend your first few weeks in prison or have to pay a chunk of change in fines. Just don't.

Also, while we're on the subject, don't bring marijuana. Seriously, people do this, as if we don't grow our own. You can get it here, and it's cheaper than what you paid, trust me.

Now, you have to be able to speak the language. If you've gotten this far, you probably qualify for moerate or high English lanuguage proficiency, but you may, at your option, choose to use French as your primary official language instead. Keep in mind, however, that unless you move to Quebec, you will more than likely need functioning English to get around. Whichever you choose, you will have to prove it, either by taking a test of your (e.g.) English, or by providing proof from another qualified organization. If English or French is your first language, just take the test. It'll be trivial. Some people who immigrate to Canada are pretty much functionally incompetant in English and still get in (and that's fine), so if you can understand what I'm saying, you'll be fine.

Exceptions are in the larger cities, for e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Israeli, Arabic, Sihk, etc. immigrants, as there are already large communities of these persons in the larger areas, and they will be able to help you get acclimated to your new home, and still give you a comfortable anchor, if you desire one.

For an idea of how easy or hard it is to really get into Canada, take a look at

Canada requires more than US$30,000 in cash and you must be highly qualified in a professional field to move.

This has either changed, or you've been misinformed - since there are several different ways to immigrate to Canada, and they're all quite complex (fucking bureaucrats), I thought I'd give a breakdown of the easiest way - Permanant Resident status. You wouldn't be a Canadian citizen, but you'd be well on your way to becoming one. Permanant Resident status grants you priviliges to live, work, and study in Canada as any Canadian would, and is the easiest way to go about doing it.

Let's assume you're a 'skilled worker' (the category most slashdotters are likely to fall under). You need several things before you can be given a work permit.

Number one, you need to have at least one year of paid work experience in your field. Sorry guys, kernel programming doesn't hack it (hahaha) unless you were on someone's payroll. If, as a programmer (let's assume you were a programmer), your job description matches what the government has on file for a 'computer programmer', then bravo, you're a skilled worker for a qualifying profession. If you had a different job description, you may find it at the bottom of that website. If you're not a programmer at all, then check the NOC list (now I feel like a secret agent) for your profession and put the four digit code for your profession into the search box on the programmer description page.

That's a lot of typing for something that's pretty simple.

Now, we have to make sure you can support yourself in Canada, on your own, for six months. The government says you'll need about $9400 Canadian dollars to support yourself for six months. If you have a family, it may be more. In comparison, the student loan fuckers gave me $7400 to last me an entire year (minus my $4000 tuition). I hope they all die.

If you have secured work in Canada before coming, you do not have to have this money. However, you'd be stupid not to have a few grand in cash in the bank, or it'll be a bitch to rent an apartment without first/last month's rent.

Oh, and if you're bringing more than $10,000 in negotiables (cash, stocks, bonds, treasury bills, traveller's cheques, cashier's cheques, money orders, etc), for the love of god declare them at customs. You do not want to spend your first few weeks in prison or have to pay a chunk of change in fines. Just don't.

Also, while we're on the subject, don't bring marijuana. Seriously, people do this, as if we don't grow our own. You can get it here, and it's cheaper than what you paid, trust me.

Now, you have to be able to speak the language. If you've gotten this far, you probably qualify for moerate or high English lanuguage proficiency, but you may, at your option, choose to use French as your primary official language instead. Keep in mind, however, that unless you move to Quebec, you will more than likely need functioning English to get around. Whichever you choose, you will have to prove it, either by taking a test of your (e.g.) English, or by providing proof from another qualified organization. If English or French is your first language, just take the test. It'll be trivial. Some people who immigrate to Canada are pretty much functionally incompetant in English and still get in (and that's fine), so if you can understand what I'm saying, you'll be fine.

Exceptions are in the larger cities, for e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Israeli, Arabic, Sihk, etc. immigrants, as there are already large communities of these persons in the larger areas, and they will be able to help you get acclimated to your new home, and still give you a comfortable anchor, if you desire one.

For an idea of how easy or hard it is to really get into Canada, take a look at

And in that same period, 1,830,680 people emigrated into Canada. Now in 2001, we had 31 million to your 281 million, so we had nearly 50% more immigration per capita. Not that it's a race and anybody's counting or anything.

Ah, but according to here, over 50% of those immigrants are from the United States (23%) Australia (6.44%) or Europe (20.5%). And most of them come with money.

Most people that come to the United States have very little to begin with. That makes a difference.

> > Canada requires more than US$30,000 in cash and you must be highly qualified in a professional field to move.

> Generally perhaps, but American's can use the NAFTA free ...

To get Canadian immigration visa one need to have
(a) a degree in something useful
(b) a work experience
(c) be able to speak English or French
(d) and not be unreasonably old.

Also you need to prove you around 5k (not 30k) on an account in a recognized bank. Application processing times vary by the country, but AFAIK it's under 6 months for States.

For computer professionals there is (or at least was) a fast track called Pilot Project, which allows getting work visa in under 2 weeks with minimal bureaucracy and 0 (zero) money requirements. It does require a valid job offer though.

Check Citizenship and Immigration Canada site for details. 2c.

I think you'd want to reverse the order, wouldn't you? Canada has a nasty immigration bureaucracy, though it's a pale imitation of ours. I wouldn't count on getting in, especially if you don't have a graduate degree in a field they are desperate for this week.

Found this neat little calculator to tell you if you have enough points: self-assessment test.

Canada Immigration figures from the United States

United States immigration figures from Canada

So.... From the U.S. into Canada we have 5,815(2000), 5,902(2001) and 5,288(2002), However from Canada to the United States we have 19,519(2000), 21,933(2001) and 16,210(2002).

As with any true liberal, socialistic drone - rhetoric is preferable to actual facts because a real basis for discussion is absent and when presented with conclusive, contraindicative evidence they resort to the only defense in which they have a slight skill, namely, name calling and unstantiated accusations. I would be more than happy to bring up more statistical errata to show that your pathetic third world country FAILS IT!!!

It offers you a method to bypass bureaucracy and human limits: On sunday night / monday morning at 1 AM I got a fresh copy of the forms for the "Application for a Permanent Resident Card" for a friend who got into a jam whole visiting China who desperately needed it without having to go to Canada Customs and Immigration during business hours.

Are they accepting applications??

Yes.
Immigrating to Canada as a Skilled Worker
I don't know how diffiacult it is or about their acceptaince ratios, but if you got an education it should not be that hard.

Kind of strange that there are so few from US that emmigrate to Canada given that Canada is objectively a better place to live.

Ironically, it would have been easier to make that a link than it was to add your apology (24 keystrokes vs. 36, more or less).

The Convention Refugee Abroad class includes people who are outside their country of citizenship or habitual residence. Refugees in this class have a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of:

* race;
* religion;
* political opinion;
* nationality; or
* membership in a particular social group.