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Henna you're correct it's hard to get a work visa to the U.S. But, on a case-by-case basis, there are other possibilities that might apply:
H-1B visas for highly skilled workers
J-1 visas for people with medical training
E-B5 visas for people able to invest money in the United States.
Plus, although it's not a work visa and only lasts for some years, a student visa can carry someone into graduate school.
None of the above are easy visas, that's for sure.
Read something awhile ago about several French families that used the E-B5 visa program. Some were living here in NYC, others in Florida and other parts of the USA.
Well actually there is a difference between Canadian and Metropolitan French (the version spoke in Paris and most of France). Those who have been educated/taught and are familiar with "France" French can tell the difference and vice versa.
Canadian French especially as spoken by those from Quebec is closer to the version of ancien regime French spoken before the Revolution than the modern Metropolitan French. It actually wasn't until well after the Revolution under Bonaparte that serious attempts were made to make formal education of a standard French language a priority. Prior to this much depended up on where one was born/spent one's life. This would explain partially why Canadian French is different. The first immigrants arrived prior to the revolution and more came during the immediate aftermath. Thus cut off from Bonaparte's "reforms".
In 1763 napoleon was not in power and nothing than a little Italian kid born on the island of corsica. French speaking Canada was won over by the British during the French Indian war. The French Canadians were cut off from France during the British occupation of French Canada. That is true that French authorities did make changes to their language. Most recent was after ww2 with usage of radio and TV to eliminate regional dialects im favor of standard French spoken in the north of France.
Are you saying you spend time in NYC and also that you can tell the difference between Canadian French and French from France?
Not difficult to do. And you don't have to speak French to be able to tell. Canadians sound totally different; at times it doesn't even sound like the same Language. They also don't have a similar accent when they speak English; it's very distinctive.
All of the "Quebecois" people I've come across are also just tourists.
I'm sure some people other than myself have picked up on this, but there has sure been an increase in the number of French in the city the last 10 years or so, no? I'm not only referring to tourists but areas such as Williamsburg and Boerum Hill have significant French populations which partially stems from the gentrification wave in those areas. Walking around Manhattan it's not uncommon to hear at least one person speaking in French either. It's no secret that western Europeans (especially ones from large cities such as Paris) love New York (or the media image of it) but what has sparked such an increase in the presence of French?
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Originally Posted by G-Dale
French dude recently opened up a bakery in Bushwick/Ridgewood. That's gotta say something about the opportunities available in France.
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Originally Posted by BugsyPal
Read something awhile ago about several French families that used the E-B5 visa program. Some were living here in NYC, others in Florida and other parts of the USA.
Tax refugees.
Plenty of French, Italians, Spaniards also in Miami, and probably also in other major coastal US cities.
Since 2011, already high effective tax rates were increased even further, upwards of 60% in Italy based on some measures. I am talking about the effective tax rate, not some mostly meaningless marginal rate that makes headline in certain press.
I know an Italian guy in Miami whose business is to help such Europeans, as well as Latin Americans, write business plans for an investors visa (E-B5 visas, but also many variants of it) in the US, and since 2011 his business is booming, enabling him to buy a house in one of Miami's poshest neighborhoods.
To be sure, there may be other reasons, but tax refugee is certainly one of them. Obviously we are talking about people who have at least $500,000 to invest in a business that employs a minimum number of people (maybe four or five?), so their total assets must be a multiple of that.
Humans complain as a matter of species, but the US is still a comparative tax haven, even NYC.
Yes. I know. I can tell in an instant -- I speak French. My question to her is can she tell, and does she spend time in NYC. Her comment made me think she was grasping at straws. She's entitled to her opinion, but I wondered what it was based on. Maybe she does spend time in NY and can tell where someone's French is from. But maybe not! It was a question directed at her.
I was going to say that I would think more would be from Quebec than from France because Quebec is just a few hours up the Thruway/Northway. My guess is that more than a few are likely to be "illegals" as it's really easy to cross into the US from Canada as a visitor and just stay.
There aren't very many ''illegals'' from Quebec in NYC or from Canada anywhere in the U.S., I can assure you.
There is no shortage of low-skilled jobs in Canada itself and with the social programs like healthcare, daycare, etc. in Canada (especially Quebec) it's not advantageous for someone to move to the U.S. for that type of work.
Yes, there are a lot of white collar people from Canada in the U.S. who moved there for better career opportunities. But these people get visas from their employers and aren't ''illegals''.
Not difficult to do. And you don't have to speak French to be able to tell. Canadians sound totally different; at times it doesn't even sound like the same Language. They also don't have a similar accent when they speak English; it's very distinctive.
All of the "Quebecois" people I've come across are also just tourists.
I broadly agree but there are still a lot of people out there who don't have a good ear for languages and might confuse the two. They pick up on the French words they know and that they overhear (merci, oui, etc.) and automatically assume ''French''.
I travel the world with my young family including in the U.S. and we speak French with Quebec accents between us and we get asked if we are from France fairly regularly. Some people pick up where we are from it is true (especially in places like New England where most of the francophones they meet are from Quebec), but others haven't a clue. And of course some don't even know it's French we are speaking. We've sometimes been mistaken for Hispanics because they thought our French was Spanish.
In non-francophone European countries my kids have often gotten into museums and attractions for free because ticket agents have overheard us speaking French and they assumed we were French (and therefore from the EU - so free admission for kids!)
I'm sure some people other than myself have picked up on this, but there has sure been an increase in the number of French in the city the last 10 years or so, no? I'm not only referring to tourists but areas such as Williamsburg and Boerum Hill have significant French populations which partially stems from the gentrification wave in those areas. Walking around Manhattan it's not uncommon to hear at least one person speaking in French either. It's no secret that western Europeans (especially ones from large cities such as Paris) love New York (or the media image of it) but what has sparked such an increase in the presence of French?
I've noticed this myself, French (and not the Haitian Creole French I'm accustomed to); is becoming more and more common in NY. In almost every popular neighborhood from the Village to Williamsburg, Bed Stuy and Park Slope I'm constantly hearing French and seeing them with speaking it to their children. I thought they were just pretentious Americans at first just showing off.
Are you saying you spend time in NYC and also that you can tell the difference between Canadian French and French from France? Because otherwise, how could you possibly have enough information to form an opinion like the one above?
I was simply speculating that since Quebec is a few hours away from NYC via car that it would be more likely to run into French speakers from Quebec than from France in NYC.
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