Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can apply for citizenship after you have permanent residency. Can't remember how many years you have to wait. The work permit comes before all else.
I used to think that the US gave Canadians a harder time going into the US on business trips rather than vice versa. But, in the last two years my colleagues in the US have had a harder time going up to Canada on business. It got so bad they all carried letters from the company stating they were permanently living in the US. Contractors had to get working visas.
I don't really know. At the time of the complaints, about 1 1/2 ago, I know the customs agents were in a labor dispute with the government, so that may have be "working to rule" which means they do everything by the book.
There also was a lot of talk about how Canadian business travellers got grilled when going to the US. So maybe the Canadian Government had decided to tighten things up. Since a lot of Canadian companies had US parents, when they hired consultants for extended projects, they tended to hire in the US and send them up to Canada to work. The Canadian government would rather see the contractor use their own Canadian office to source Canadian staff for the Canadian side of the project. So they gave the US based contractors and consultants a hard time. A few got told they needed a Canadian work permit of they would be barred on the next trip. These guys were coming up for week long visits every week for 3 - 6 months.
They are also on the look for regular US based employees that seem to spend a lot of time in Canada. Customs agents don't seem to get global economies or company organization. Even as a Canada based Canadian doing a lot of travel to the US, at one point I was grilled more on my return than by the US agents on my way in.
If you have all paperwork in order, you will be fine. But if you look like your moving, or coming for an extended stay, they will definitely be checking that you have a valid work permit. I cannot give any kind of feedback on ow to get one.
Canada's economy is doing better than most of the US, but it is still not great. People are hurting. I do not see them rushing to bring in extra workers, especially in Real Estate.
Holy Toledo...decades ago moved from Hamilton to Arcadia Calif and a couple months later we had snow on the ground.
Cannot fathom going from Santa Monica and the beaches to the cold wind from Lake Ontario.
Lets see in the next 6 months if the story changes.
I was born there and hated shoveling the snow on the front sidewalk and driveway so my dad could drive in when coming home.
I'm in Baja and the temp has been in the high 70's and low 80's this past week.
Who wants to trade this for 20F and 30F above zero?
I'll take it anytime rather than have to put up with weeks of over 100F. My wife and I were in LA last month and it 2was over a hundred every day we were there. Our dogs had to be dragged out of the truck. They looked at us like "what kind of an oven is this?" So I guess it all boils down to personal preference. I think my perfect weather environment would be in the Mountains of North Carolina.
Thank you for the positivity! So many people on these different website forums just seem so anti! Yeah weather's a big deal but so is culture and government
I spend about half my life in the USA traveling around so I think I know it quite well. I really like America but I hate the undercurrent of racism and intolerance. Even with the incredible progress that has been made in the last 50 years I still would not like to be a visible minority living in the states. The culture of Canada is just soooo different than that of the USA that it's hard to conpare them. A fairly conservative Canadian would be considered a communist by a lot of the right wing Americans. I didn,t mean to bring politics into this but it plays a very big part of why I feel so much better in Canada. I have a grandson that is half black and half white. In Canada almost everyone just looks at him as a little boy. Not so in the USA in fact it's so bad there that I inherited a place in Florida that is 100% white and I don't think my grandson would even be welcomed there. Who needs that garbage? If your a Muslim here in Canada, so what? You'r a person just like anyone else to the vast majority of Canadians. It's a kinder gentler culture,very accepting of the differences in people.
You talk about the climate and it is an issue of a sort so let me tell you a little story. My wife and I met a few people from Winnipeg. Now you may not know this but until I knew better I thought that Winnipeg was the coldest place in the universe. I've since learned that it's actually somewhere out by Pluto. Anyway these people we met were originally from warmer places but they all agreed that they would never move away from Winnipeg because they loved the people and the friendliness and the acceptance they felt there.
LA in the 100 degrees would be the San Fernando Valley...not in LA proper.
12 months in the yr and there will be a few days of extreme heat during the summer. NOT bad when compared with the many days/months of freezing cold...ice and snow on the ground.
Southern Calif has two seasons compared to Ontarios four....big difference as one would have to like the cold and the sports that go with the climate.
As for me I'll take the beaches and the Bikinis....that is why I'm here with the weather being in the high 70's and low 80's the last couple of weeks and this is the last week of October.
The one thing that many from up north in the cold country forget is that the blood is thicker and will thin out after being exposed to the warmer climate. I felt the same way as you for the first 6 months I was in LA but then slowly became accustomed to the warm climate and never left.
I was born in the OLD hospital on Barton St...went to school at HTI and lived on Kenilworth Ave in Hamilton in the early 40's which I understand is now a bad section of town. Things do change over decades I suppose. You might remember RHLI on James St (I'm a Veteran)...the old Army camp just south of the CNR tracks on Kenilworth Ave...you know where I'm coming from.
Just reminising a little...please feel free to return for a visit during the winter months and you will understand where we get the term "snow birds" who come down south for the winter (6 months).
Thank you, Wingfoot. Couldn't have said it better myself!
It's so aggravating to constantly hear people harping on the weather as a being the sole basis of how to pick where you live and then tout, "I'm in 80 degree weather all year round". I mean...really?! Why don't we all just move to Mexico City then? ha! So in the end, yes weather is a factor. But you would would *think* people would have more intelligence to take all things into consideration. And come on...it's Toronto, not the freakin' North Pole!! To the person from Anaheim...sorry, couldn't pay me to live there. But your criteria of what makes a place great is very different from mine.
For me personally, culture and diversity are VERY important, good government is VERY important, healthcare is VERY important, low crime is VERY important. But hey, that's just me
You have to watch the Canadians because they use a European measuring scale which is impossible to figure out unless you are a math whiz. 40 degrees is considered to be hot in Canada while 0 degrees is like 32 degrees here. You will notice their temperatures read like "30 C" which I guess means 30 degrees Canadian. Same with their posted speed limits. You will see signs that say "100 MPH" but if you go that fast you will get a friendly reminder from the OPP that 100 mph in Canada is like 65 mph in the USA. And when you fill up at a Petro Canada station, they really cream you because the gas is sold in Canadian dollars and liters. So to find out how much you are paying: Liters x 0.26417= gallons + dollar c -/+ dollar USA= cost per gallon in USA dollars.
OMG hahaha!! It's called the METRIC system. You know, the one the rest of world (outside of the US) uses.
Thank you, Wingfoot. Couldn't have said it better myself!
It's so aggravating to constantly hear people harping on the weather as a being the sole basis of how to pick where you live and then tout, "I'm in 80 degree weather all year round". I mean...really?! Why don't we all just move to Mexico City then? ha! So in the end, yes weather is a factor. But you would would *think* people would have more intelligence to take all things into consideration. And come on...it's Toronto, not the freakin' North Pole!! To the person from Anaheim...sorry, couldn't pay me to live there. But your criteria of what makes a place great is very different from mine.
For me personally, culture and diversity are VERY important, good government is VERY important, healthcare is VERY important, low crime is VERY important. But hey, that's just me
Amen! lol
I am completely over 80 degree weather year around.. After living in this kind of heat for 22 years.. Cold sounds incredible! There is more to life than sweating through every single activity you do and seeing trashy people dressing "comfortably" for the heat.
The last statement you made is the exact reason we're looking at Toronto.. Bigotry and BS can only be sustained for so long.. Also all this hate/crime!
Amen! lol
I am completely over 80 degree weather year around.. After living in this kind of heat for 22 years.. Cold sounds incredible! There is more to life than sweating through every single activity you do and seeing trashy people dressing "comfortably" for the heat.
The last statement you made is the exact reason we're looking at Toronto.. Bigotry and BS can only be sustained for so long.. Also all this hate/crime!
Canada isn't immune to bigotry and racism. I doubt there is any country that is free of bigotry. There are quite a few immigrants who have a tough time in Canada finding work that meet their qualifications and take more menial jobs. There was an incident where a muslim Canadian coming back to Canada via the US was detained by US immigration and he ended up tortured in the middle east; the Canadian government did little and may have been complicit. In Toronto I remember several commercials promoting the hiring of immigrants. If you want to see an eyeful of unhappy immigrants there is a website, notcanada DOT com; though you have to tkae what is posted with a grain of salt.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
