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I am very interested in what Canadians or Canadian lovers have to say about my situation:
The plan is to relocate with my wife to a U.S. city on the border with either Ontario or Québec and apply for Canadian Permanent Residency. We are currently residing in the Chicago area, and we may begin the application process here in Chicago before we relocate to the border. However, at the very least we want to be as close to the border as possible regardless of whether we are approved for Permanent Residency or not.
My background: Dual bachelors degree in economics and urban planning, Masters degree in Finance, 15 years work experience as a consultant in the corporate world and 5 years owning my own small consulting LLC. I am currently in the process of completing my Certified Management Accountant designation - which is recognized in Canada, and also is recognized in the TN Visa requirements.
Her background: HS graduate with some college, currently working as a medical assistant in a major hospital here in Chicago. She has 15 years experience at the hospital in various departments and clinics. She is studying for Medical Assistant and Surgical Tech Certifications.
Canadian Experience: My Canadian experience consists of 2 years living and working in Montréal on the TN Visa back in the 90s right after completing my bachelors. I have also traveled to Canada for vacation once/year for most of the past 15 years to Québec & Ontario. I do speak French, due to spending 10 years living and working professionally in France. I also speak Italian and Spanish due to reasons I won't get into here. My wife is open to learning whatever language, but right now she just speaks English. I know a lot about Canadian history, politics, geography, and population demographics (as well as art & music), and I have never met another U.S. citizen with as much Canadian knowledge as me (other than college professors who teach it). I'm sure another layperson like me exists here in the U.S. whose knowledge of Canada is superior to mine, I just have not met that person yet.
My top choices for border city relocation are:
Detroit
Buffalo
Plattsburgh, NY would be a logical choice as well, due to my ties to Montréal, but it may be too small. Also, since my wife doesn't speak French yet, I was thinking that Ontario would be a better settlement area for us. I am not quite sure about other border cities. Most of them are small like Plattsburgh (Sault Ste-Marie, Port Huron, Ogdensburg/Massena). Burlington, VT - while not exactly on the border, but very close, seems to be a hassle to move to.
I'd like to choose the U.S. city with the clearest connections to Canadian culture and media (English & French) *and* easiest access to cross over by car for weekend trips and further exploration of both urban areas and nature.
It's a big enough city to have lots of jobs but small enough so it's not too difficult to get to the border bridges - plus there are multiple bridges up the Niagara River.
Both Detroit and Buffalo/Niagara are congested crossing zones but Detroit IMO is considerably worse.
Buffalo is also much closer to the Golden Horseshoe and Toronto region so you have access to more services and stuff on the Canadian side.
I have noticed that a lot of people who are in the U.S. but want to use it as a springboard to Canada use Canada so I gather the Canadian consulate there has lots of services and capacity. (Unsure about Detroit.)
Buffalo, and you can get NEXUS and use the Whirlpool Bridge in Niagara Falls (my favorite when crossing almost every weekend 25-30 years ago). It is now NEXUS only.
I'm speaking about the Detroit experience because I'm more familiar with that.
Detroit is larger than Buffalo and we are more linked up with Windsor, (then Toronto) than Quebec. And Windsor has a population of about 210K compared to Niagara Falls' 89K. I've heard really good things about Buffalo, but I've always just driven through to get back to Michigan. So - no specific information to share there.
Drive time from Detroit to Toronto is 4 hours. Apparently, drive time from Buffalo to Toronto is about 2 hours. (Didn't know that!) So, is it worth living in a smaller American city to have closer access to Toronto? Or do you want to live in a larger MSA and drive a bit more to get to Toronto? Only you can really decide what you'd prefer.
We get the CBC as part of our cable package, but I don't think there's any French content. (I gave up cable a few years ago and since I don't speak french, I never paid that much attention.)
That said, there's a consulate in Detroit as well. So, again that's similarity to the Buffalo region. And if you are in pro sports, there are opportunities there as well in both regions.
A lot of Canadians work in the Detroit area, so it wouldn't be particularly weird if you lived in Canada and worked here in Detroit. If you are considering having a family, the Detroit, Windsor universities and colleges offer a lot of cross border enrollment and tuition programs. I don't know the specific details, but the idea is to have an educated population on both sides of the border (Detroit/Windsor) region. So, places like Wayne State, or the University of Windsor....I want to say St. Mary's (not sure if I'm remembering the name right) has these kind of initiatives as well.
I don't know if there are similar arrangements with the universities/colleges in the Buffalo border area. I'm just not familiar enough with what's there.
Detroit probably is worse for border traffic. But a lot of that is because Detroit is the largest commercial/trucking crossing between Canada and the US. There's the bridge/the tunnel. Most people in the area consider Port Huron to be a reasonable alternative if the Windsor/Detroit crossing is going to be messed up. Port Huron is considered the northern edge of the Detroit Metro area and shares our media market. Wait times can vary and are shared on local media a lot. There's a second bridge being built that's supposed to hook up to the 401, but who knows exactly when that will be finished and open for traffic.
I too can only tell you about Detroit. We live on an island downriver from Detroit. Half of our island looks at Canada. In the summer, a lot of boaters go over to Amhurstberg for something fun to do although it is a bit of a PIA now with the tighter border policies. Roughly 10% of the people in our office (60 of 600 ish) live in Canada and work in Detroit. Our local school also has a teacher who lives in Canada. I know a few people who live in Detroit and work in Windsor, but it seems a lot less common. We go over to Canada maybe 5-10 times a year. (our boat is too small and too old to cross too Amhurstberg, so we only drive over). Crossing time varies. There is a bridge and a tunnel and another bridge up in Port Huron. The bridge rarely backs up the way it used to. A new huge bridge is being built with a much bigger and high tech POE (point of entry) so customs should go faster. It is supposed to be open in may 2024. It is not known what will happen to the existing bridge. It will not longer be the cash cow it is for the owner today. Possibility it may get removed eventually because the cost maintenance may exceed the revenue once the new bridge opens.
We do not cross more often than we do mostly because there are so many better places to go in Michigan, not because of inconvenience. Sometimes we go to St. Mary's for crew competitions and sometimes we visit Niagara falls or Toronto, but all three are a long drive. The nearby places (Windsor, Amhurstberg, London) are pleasant but not very exciting. They are different enough from our US cities to be a neat experience, especially London's Shakespeare festival.
Many of our local radio stations are Canadian owned and broadcast out of Canada. Our cell phones have to be restricted so they do not pick up Canadian towers and result in a $600 bill. I assume we can get Canadian TV, but I do not know since we do not watch TV.
From Detroit, you are literally close enough to Windsor to wave at people if you make giant big wave motions while jumping up and down to get their attention. Sometimes people swim across (sometimes by accident). When you get a bit north, The St.Clair river is narrow people cross over by mistake with some frequency. During a recent float down party, hundreds of really drunk people on inner tubes got blown over to Canada by high winds. The Canadians rounded up some buses and drove them home (Canadians have a reputation for being unusually nice, polite, and saying sorry constantly). .
There is a distinct Canadian influence in our area and it gets stronger as you go north. We even have restaurants that serve Poutine. Some people say OOOt for out and aboot for about, and nearly everyone has at least a tinge of that accent.
Detroit and Windsor share a fireworks celebration over the river the last weekend of June. It is one of the biggest fireworks displays in the world and is attended by as many as a million people.
Windsor is heavily dependent on automobile manufacturing in Support of Metro Detroit's automobile industry.
A lot of people run over to Canada for cheaper pharmaceuticals or for alcohol at duty free stores. Youngsters over for the lower drinking age and bachelor parties go over for less restrictive adult entertainment rules.
In an interesting role reversal, Canadians are now the major cause of problematic pollution of our local waters. At least so some people claim. They still have homes and other places dumping untreated sewage into the water as well as less controlled industrial pollution. However Zebra muscles (an invasive species that cause other problems) have done a marvelous job cleaning up the water for us.
Canadians come to Detroit for theater, jazz or other cultural activities, and sometimes for medical procedures (either because of a long waiting list, long drive to Toronto, or complete unavailability of some procedures). It is often impossible to identify the Canadians unless they are in their car, or you have a long time to listen to them and they have a strong accent.
After a lot of thought, I have decided to target Buffalo over Detroit.
I appreciate the replies and insight. I do like the Detroit area a lot, and I am also quite fond of Windsor. I was in both cities a couple of weeks ago visiting friends. But Buffalo seems to be the better fit for me.
I had thought that relocating near the border and making it a two step process would be a better solution than to apply for Permanent Residency from Chicago. Instead of a two step process, I will target directly from Chicago the cities of Toronto, Montréal, Québec City & Moncton. I was able to get a TN Visa this way the last time, so I can try again, nothing to lose. Once I have a TN, I could apply for Permanent Residency within the country. Buffalo will be the Plan B in case I am unable to get a job offer in the aforementioned cities within a reasonable time frame.
After a lot of thought, I have decided to target Buffalo over Detroit.
I appreciate the replies and insight. I do like the Detroit area a lot, and I am also quite fond of Windsor. I was in both cities a couple of weeks ago visiting friends. But Buffalo seems to be the better fit for me.
I had thought that relocating near the border and making it a two step process would be a better solution than to apply for Permanent Residency from Chicago. Instead of a two step process, I will target directly from Chicago the cities of Toronto, Montréal, Québec City & Moncton. I was able to get a TN Visa this way the last time, so I can try again, nothing to lose. Once I have a TN, I could apply for Permanent Residency within the country. Buffalo will be the Plan B in case I am unable to get a job offer in the aforementioned cities within a reasonable time frame.
There’s a lot to like about the Buffalo metro. Plus you have 4 potential bridges to use to cross, and you’re closer to Toronto.
Once I have a TN, I could apply for Permanent Residency within the country. Buffalo will be the Plan B in case I am unable to get a job offer in the aforementioned cities within a reasonable time frame.
TN status isn't dual intent, so unless you're getting your PR by marriage to an American, then you might be SOL.
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