want to move back home with American husband (sales, house)

[gina_rogers]

Hi. I was just wondering, my husband has travelled Canada and he would love to move there with me as I am getting so homesick. I haven't been back to Vancouver in 10 years. My mother says that it has changed so much that I won't even recognize it anymore. I met my husband in Canada and stayed down here when we got married(Illinois, now Rochester,NY)
Ok now the question, how hard is it for an american to get his permanent residency card if he is married to a Canadian? I remember the hassle it was for me to get mine down here and expensive too!!

[szeyamo]

We currently live in Memphis. I am Canadian and my husband is American. Last year, we started applying for his visa to move to Toronto. We had everything submitted by July 2006 and we are STILL WAITING for our visa. On the CIC website (Welcome Page | Page d'acceuil) it states that the average waiting time is between 8 - 12 months. I think I also read somewhere that there is a backlog at the Buffalo office, where our application is being reviewed. So we are hoping that it will come any day now ... we received a notice in the mail that said that my husband would not have to travel to have a "personal interview" - hopefully that's an indication that our application is on the right track!

We submitted our fee of about $1800 CDN and were returned approximately $400 of that because they reduced the amount of the "Right of Permanent Residence" fee. There were other miscellaneous fees that added up such as passport photos/passport applications/citizenship applications, for my children that is. Also a nuisance was a medical evaluation from a doctor approved by the Canadian Government. We had to travel to St. Louis for that.

Hope this helps. It did take some organization but the paperwork was not too bad. For me, the pain was getting the passports and photos for my 3 children! If it's just you and your husband it should be much easier. The hardest part is waiting for the visa to come.

I actually have a question for you. Since we have been waiting so long, we have formulated "Plan B" in case the visa does not turn up soon. We may move to Buffalo (possibly Rochester) instead. Have you enjoyed living there? What are the pros and cons? Why are you homesick?

[gina_rogers]

I'm homesick because I haven't set foot in Canada for over 10 years!! I love Vancouver and it holds alot of memories for me. Plus my Mom is still there, lol.
As for the plan to move to Toronto, why Toronto? I guess maybe you are from there. I find NY to be very expensive and alot of the people to be me, me, me but I guess that can be anywhere. The DMV is a pain in the rearend. I never had such a problem as getting my cars registered in this State(we were in Illinois before) taxes are high and only seem to be getting higher. One good thing about moving to Buffalo/Rochester is that it is only a hop, skip and a jump into Canada, which makes me wonder why the heck I haven't gone over for a visit, lol.
May I ask why you are leaving Tennessee? My husband may be getting a job down there in Lewis County. What are the pros and cons of living there?
Thanks for answering my post, and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
Gina

[szeyamo]

Originally Posted by gina_rogers

As for the plan to move to Toronto, why Toronto?

I was born and raised in Toronto and want to be closer to my aging parents. It's the only set of grandparents my children have so I want to make sure they get to spend some time with them. We moved to TN because my husband is from Memphis. I am sure that in contrast to Memphis, Toronto will seem to be very much a "me, me, me" place too. I think Vancouver is similar to Toronto in that it has changed a lot in the past 10 years.

Originally Posted by gina_rogers

May I ask why you are leaving Tennessee? My husband may be getting a job down there in Lewis County. What are the pros and cons of living there?

We are leaving TN to be closer to friends and family in Toronto. It's just time for a change, to shake things up a little. You might want to read some of threads in the Tennessee forum or start one about Lewis County. I think that Lewis County is in middle TN - sorry, I don't know much about it and I hate to generalize about TN so I will try not to.

I will however comment on my experience here in the south as a Canadian from a big city. When I first moved here I really was unhappy and had tremendous culture shock. It took me a while to get used to living in the U.S. (you will already be acclimated in this respect). After 5 years, we bought a house and decided to start a family here and it was then that I started to appreciate the slower pace of life and the friendliness of people living in a smaller city. Pros: more affordable housing, less traffic congestion, more reasonable property taxes and other taxes (e.g., Toronto has a sales tax AND a goods and service tax), less hectic pace of life, being able to stay at home and raise my children instead of needing a 2nd income ... much of this is financial as you can see. Cons: less cultural diversity, not as much "progressive-thinking", less concern for the environment, feeling pressure to belong to a church, having to send my children to a private school instead of the local public school ... these are just a few things that I can think of off the top of my head. This is just ME though - everyone has different preferences and backgrounds and you could argue any one of my observations.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to live here though. It has enhanced my appreciation of what Toronto has to offer my family. And it's made me aware of the superficialities of living in a big city. I'm terrified of moving back there on some level, but it's going to be a big adventure, full of challenges and change and growth-producing opportunities!

Whew! Maybe this was more information than you needed to know. How do you feel about moving to the south? And do you really mean you never visitied Vancouver in all these years? I love Vancouver but it's also really expensive now and lacks the jobs Toronto has.

Christina