Canadian transplanting to the US... (Burlington, Fletcher: good credit, job market, university)

[akatara]

I'm a 22 year old from Quebec City, Canada. I'm currently studying law at Laval University, but seeing how things are going, this may not be for very long.

2 years ago, I met a wonderful, beautiful girl on a vacation to New York City. She was sitting on a bench at Coney Island near the restaurants. It was love at first sight on both parts. We traded contact info and shortly after decided we would like to make this work despite not only the distance, but the culture and language. We did, oh boy we did. Our time together was happy, blissful, intense, full of passion and love. At first, as two broke students, we could not see each other so the next time was 6 months in the relationship. 6 months after that, I fell on a small sum of money that allowed me to travel enough to visit her. She moved to Burlington shortly thereafter for college. We saw each other every two weeks and due to the previous distance and now relative ease, we became very very close, very quickly.

She split up with me 2 days ago. We had been talking about it for a few weeks. She could not take the adversity anymore. She still loves me and she wants a future with me but she cannot deal with the border separating us and the long distance involved (it's 6 hours by bus). This is supposed to be temporary but already I can't stand it. I'm not a newcomer to pain and I consider myself to be pretty resilient but I just can't stand it. She checked every item on my (pretty substantial) list, and I hers. I can't let go of the fact that we randomly met when the odds were totally against it and that our relationship was so amazing that it looked ordained by destiny itself. WE did not make each other sad, we did not split because of each other, the fact that we never could get enough of each other and were arbitrarily split apart by big men with guns and uniforms did it. I can't stand that our story be ended because of that.

This summer, I want to relocate to Burlington where she resides. How easy would it be for a Canadian national to transplant entirely and get a full-time job/room, to do it like the days of old and come to the land of opportunities only with my clothes and my savings? I have experience in archiving, data processing and tutoring, I speak French and English fluently as well as good Spanish. I have all the usual qualities of a good employee, punctuality, personal responsibility, dynamism, a high respect of hierarchy and authority. In particular, I make an excellent guide/touristy person due to my ease with languages, good memory and ease of vulgarization. I have very good references from a Canadian federal ministry as well as my university. I have a diploma in modern language from a community college as well, in addition to my ongoing university education. I'm not looking for anything fancy as a job and I live pretty frugally.

Marriage is out of the question for the moment, unfortunately, as neither of us are ready for this commitment (and yet I am totally ready to jump a border for her, go figure). I would be coming with my furniture, around 3k savings, no debt, good credit, my clothes, willingness to work and passport. I would be, um, willing to be paid informally. I'm already ditching my language, culture, nationality perks, family, education and current, high-paying job behind, I may as well add a little hardship and work unregulated (and unprotected) to boot.

Under these circumstances, how hard would it be for me to find work and live in Burlington?

[NaleyRocks]

Anyway you can look for a job from there and wait and move once you get a job?

Burlington has a large hospital, Fletcher-Allen, you might want to look on their website and see if there is anything avaliable. And warn the gf before you make the move, just in case there was more to the break up than you thought.

[akatara]

Originally Posted by NaleyRocks

Anyway you can look for a job from there and wait and move once you get a job?

Burlington has a large hospital, Fletcher-Allen, you might want to look on their website and see if there is anything avaliable. And warn the gf before you make the move, just in case there was more to the break up than you thought.

I can wait to find a job. The biggest issue is finding that job. I doubt many places will want to hire a Canadian undergrad student with a sad sob story over a perfectly qualified American. I don't know how the job market is for somebody of my experience/competence. Loads of undergrad students in Burlington for sure but I have better references than most and my uni is top class in Canada for what it does.

I'm under the impression that Burlington is pretty bordery/touristy so if anything my fluency in French would be the big plus.

If it is absolutely impossible for me to work in America I can always move to Montreal, but since I hate Montreal I don't really want that.

[NaleyRocks]

Ummm I don't know how touristy it is. We live 3 hours away in upstate NY and I've only ever been the Burlington when a relative's been in the hospital for serious issues so I haven't done a lot of traveling. My impression was it was a town whose economy was heavily based on the hospital and university. More of a suburban city than a city. But my view is definitely colored as I've only been there for medical reasons.

I'm trying to think of the Canadian cities it would remind me of. Kind of like the one right across the border from Massena, Cornwall? But once again, its been 4 or 5 years since I've been to Canada so I'm really not the best help here.

[vter]

Ditto the above....you're going to need to find a job that will sponsor you and if you don't have a special skill so to speak I'm not sure that it will be easy. I do know my spouse works with a few Canadians but they are in software development.
While Burlington is a university town it does rely heavily on tourists but many people here speak french so I'm not sure if that will be of an advantage to you.

[Dippylou]

As someone who has been through the immigration process I can tell you now it's not going to be easy unless you have a job willing to sponsor you. Your savings will also not last you very long if you don't find a job in time or get sick. Sounds like you have a lot going for you in your own country. Why can't she make the move up there? Or why can't you become a student here?

The bit about the men with guns? Did border patrol pull you over for something?

[Hopes]

In addition to coming here via an employer sponsor, you could come here on a student visa if you were accepted at a university here.

Before you move, make sure she wants you here. It's possible she got tired of a long distance relationship and fell in love with someone else.

I know it's hard to believe that the end of this relationship isn't the end of your world, but there will be another wonderful woman in your future.

[darky]

I am from Quebec and met my husband here in New Orleans while I was hitch-hiking around the country. I got me an under the table job (I am now manager), we got married 6 months later, then I got pregnant. I applied for the green card and should receive it pretty soon. It's been 2 and a half years. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do.

You say y'all are not ready to get married but eventually, you might. If you do as I say (just enter as a visitor and work under the table), you will not be able to go back to Canada until you get married and get that green card. It can take years. If y'all decide to split up and you do leave, you won't be able to go back to the U.S for 5 yrs.