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Mirjaja, actually I think under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), I just need a TN Visa to work, which takes a whole 5 minutes to get at the border if I have a letter of offer for work. I don't think it would be a problem for me to transfer over the Houston office of the company where I work already. Sponsorship is mainly for countries outside of North America.
I am in the suburbs of Toronto in Mississauga. I personally like the look and feel of a new area which is spread out and yes the main reason I'm considering Houston is the cheaper cost of living as opposed to Toronto. The lower income taxes go a long way and I'd be able to afford a cardboard box here in Toronto for 350-400k and you get a heck of a lot more in Houston for that money. For someone who's ready to settle down and start a family, I think I could probably do it a little more comfortably in Houston as opposed to Toronto.
In my research, it seems Houston is one of the few US cities that haven't had as big of an impact by the economic conditions. If the ugliness is just the billboards etc. on the side of the highways with strip malls and balloons, I really don't care for that. We have plenty of those in Toronto as well. As long as they're not all over residential areas, I really don't mind.
Thanks for all your input.
Please double check with a good immigration attorney before you make your move. It is my understanding that TN visa's only have limited applications and are for short duration. They would not have worked for my profession, I had to go the H1B route, and it still took several YEARS to get my permanent residency. Sponsorship most definately applies to Canadians.
Please double check with a good immigration attorney before you make your move. It is my understanding that TN visa's only have limited applications and are for short duration. They would not have worked for my profession, I had to go the H1B route, and it still took several YEARS to get my permanent residency. Sponsorship most definately applies to Canadians.
When did you move? I've looked at several sites and contacted some cross border workers that live in Windsor and work in Detroit. It's my understanding that a TN Visa can be issued for up to 1 yr and there is no limit to the number issued. Now that you mention it, I will definitely run it by an immigration attorney to be certain. Thank you.
H1B would be when I've tried it out and decided to move permanently.
I think the freeways are the ugliest part of the city. If you get off and drive thru West U, Heights Blvd, Downtown, Rice Univ and little neighborhoods like Briargrove, Garden Oaks,Memorial it is a beautiful city. People just are not used to the no zoning aspect of Houston. While it is different and does make certain aspects "ugly" it is what makes Houston unique.
Mirjaja, actually I think under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), I just need a TN Visa to work, which takes a whole 5 minutes to get at the border if I have a letter of offer for work. I don't think it would be a problem for me to transfer over the Houston office of the company where I work already. Sponsorship is mainly for countries outside of North America.
I am in the suburbs of Toronto in Mississauga. I personally like the look and feel of a new area which is spread out and yes the main reason I'm considering Houston is the cheaper cost of living as opposed to Toronto. The lower income taxes go a long way and I'd be able to afford a cardboard box here in Toronto for 350-400k and you get a heck of a lot more in Houston for that money. For someone who's ready to settle down and start a family, I think I could probably do it a little more comfortably in Houston as opposed to Toronto.
In my research, it seems Houston is one of the few US cities that haven't had as big of an impact by the economic conditions. If the ugliness is just the billboards etc. on the side of the highways with strip malls and balloons, I really don't care for that. We have plenty of those in Toronto as well. As long as they're not all over residential areas, I really don't mind.
Thanks for all your input.
Houston is the quintessential "freeway city." Development feeds on access to the freeways, as this plugs up, eventually the freeway gets re-built and it all becomes something of a viscious circle. Frontage roads are along nearly all freeways, and these are magnets for strip malls, fast food / national chain restaurants, etc. Since you need to take a freeway to get anywhere in this city, visitors have an impression based on those views. As others have said, get off the freeways and you will see a different view of Houston, and it really isn't much different than Toronto (except you will miss that wonderful Lake Ontario view!)
I came here from Canada so understand your concerns about health care. If you are young and healthy, you really shouldn't worry too much. You mention you are looking at a TN visa, so you must have a good education and a professional background. You will most likely then be working for an employer who offers decent health insurance. A visit to a family doctor typically costs you $20 out of pocket for the co-pay. Unlike Canada, there's no rationing of care through waiting lists -- you can get immediate care and treatment.
On the visas, a TN visa is only good for a year at a time and you can't renew inside the U.S. (unless this has changed in recent years). If your current employer has a U.S. affiliated company, you can likely qualify for an L-1A or L-1B visa, either of which are quite easy to process as a Canadian. The advantage of the L visas is that you can change status to a permanent resident (green card) while in the U.S., whereas the TN visa DOES NOT allow immigration intent. The L visa is also easier to get than an H-1B (no quotas, processing for Canadians starts right at the port of entry, no labor certification needed if you want to go for a green card later, etc.)
Houston is the quintessential "freeway city." Development feeds on access to the freeways, as this plugs up, eventually the freeway gets re-built and it all becomes something of a viscious circle. Frontage roads are along nearly all freeways, and these are magnets for strip malls, fast food / national chain restaurants, etc. Since you need to take a freeway to get anywhere in this city, visitors have an impression based on those views. As others have said, get off the freeways and you will see a different view of Houston, and it really isn't much different than Toronto (except you will miss that wonderful Lake Ontario view!)
I came here from Canada so understand your concerns about health care. If you are young and healthy, you really shouldn't worry too much. You mention you are looking at a TN visa, so you must have a good education and a professional background. You will most likely then be working for an employer who offers decent health insurance. A visit to a family doctor typically costs you $20 out of pocket for the co-pay. Unlike Canada, there's no rationing of care through waiting lists -- you can get immediate care and treatment.
On the visas, a TN visa is only good for a year at a time and you can't renew inside the U.S. (unless this has changed in recent years). If your current employer has a U.S. affiliated company, you can likely qualify for an L-1A or L-1B visa, either of which are quite easy to process as a Canadian. The advantage of the L visas is that you can change status to a permanent resident (green card) while in the U.S., whereas the TN visa DOES NOT allow immigration intent. The L visa is also easier to get than an H-1B (no quotas, processing for Canadians starts right at the port of entry, no labor certification needed if you want to go for a green card later, etc.)
I agree with all this. TN is not dual intent, renewable annually, infinitely. L1 is renewable twice. Original three years, additional three years, and then one year, but is dual intent, as in you can apply to be a resident while holding a L1
I think it totally depends on your perspective. If you are looking for anything like the "city," urban feeling of Toronto I would basically forget what legfixr is saying; you will HATE the suburbs here and, honestly, you probably won't like the city in general. It's a VERY sprawling place. I know Calgary gets a bad rap in Canada for being this sprawling mess of a city. Well, take Calgary, drop the decent public transit, mountains and beautiful scenery and multiple the sprawl by at least three-fold and you have Houston.
As far as the general ugliness of the place...I personally think generally Houston is an ugly city but it is really about personal choice. The areas in and around the highway are absolutely obnoxiously ugly (giant billboards, strip malls, parking lots, giant inflatable things on top of buildings, etc). Unlike many cities, Houston doesn't seem to do anything to damper the visuals of the highway. If anything, they seem to make it worse.
Once you get off the highways, it is hit or miss. Personally I find the burbs here pretty bland but I guess you could say that about all suburbs in the US. Parts in and around River Oaks and around Rice University are pretty nice but after visiting friends over the holidays in other cities you start to figure out that they are just typical of nice, upper-end neighborhoods. I suspect part of the reason they seem so nice in Houston is because so many parts of the rest of the city are so ugly.
The economy is fairly strong here (comparable to Alberta) but what with oil prices in a nosedive, I suspect the pain is going to hit Houston this coming year. But, for now, it is in better shape than other cities in the US.
Keep in mind that one of the big reasons people move to Houston is so they can buy a big house and have children. Culture, walkable neighborhoods, transit, entertainment, unique neighborhoods, etc. all fall behind the search for the big house and the big yard for the kids. The city has historically catered almost exclusively to this demographic which is part of the reason, for example, the city lacks things like transit, unique neighborhoods, etc. By all means visit the city. There are positives here, especially if you have decent job prospects. But keep in mind that if you are not of the mind for the big house in the burbs for the family, this might not be the city for you.
And ps...Houston's Chinatown is really nothing like your traditional Chinatowns in other cities. It is basically a bunch of strip malls. Again...ugliness.
It's all relative. New York City is ugly to me compared to lush and green Houston. The litter of all those billboards and garish strip centers...makes me feel I'm in a well-endowed and vibrant city. I love the look of it all particularly at night! Hillcroft is so awesome, getting an alfresco Persian meal...the nightlights from Bijan patio. So beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And as far as "traditional" Chinatowns? Shoot, it's quite far more accessible to park in Houston's Sin Chao or Diho, Dynasty or Hong Kong Plazas than to try and find parking in Chinatown NY or SF. That old stuff is FOR TOURISTS. Day to day, I'll take Houston's New Chinatown any time of the week, just about. The buzz factor is just about as good as that of an old Chinatown but just more spaced out. Go get a snow ice at Star Snow after eating at Bodard's in the Sin Chao Plaza and you'll see quite a few people walking about. It's quite a buzz there especially on weekends.
Many major cities in the US don't even have "Chinatowns" that Houston has. So don't let criticism of Houston's formats fool you.
Hello - I just moved to houston from a much smaller midwestern city (Cincinnati) than Toronto. I hopefully though can give you a good perspective on Houston from a very recent newcomer to the city. We've been here since August, and moved due to a job promotion.
Your 1st Question: I'm not overly impressed so far with the look/feel of the city. Everyone is right, the city feeds off it's highway system, and it's so UNIMPRESSIVE when people are visiting us for the first time. Lower your expectations when driving from the airport to downtown or other areas - it's not a great selling point for the city. However, once you get into the neighborhoods it's a bit nicer, but depending on where you choose to live, expect commuting nightmares and other driving nightmares in general. You can't get anywhere quickly, and the roads are poorly maintained so your car gets mangled trying to get anywhere.
Your #2 Question: We were here 5 weeks when Hurricane Ike hit. It was our first hurricane, and it was definitley scary and it was organized chaos before the hurricane hit. Luckily, we were some of the first to get power back, but i know that it was a nightmare for others in our neighborhood. I think we had a cat. 2 hurricane, and anything larger, I think we would have left Houston.
Your #3 Question: Again, we arrived in the dead of summer, and it was very hot. But luckily we did get some breaks in the heat where I could walk our dog in the early morning or late in the evening and only have a moderate sweat! As everyone has told us - sweating is socially acceptable! It does get warm, but being from the midwest, you can't beat the mild winters. January and February are especially nice and mild.
I live in Toronto but I have relatives in Houston and have been there a number of times. To be frank, I can't understand why anyone would ever want to live in Houston - it is the worst example of urban sprawl I've ever seen. Houston's downtown core is basically a wasteland - as previous people have stated no one would ever want to live there because it is too dangerous and full of undesirable people. Instead, everyone lives in cookie cutter houses spread out across the suburbs.
There are no real city streets to go shopping or walking - all there are are shopping malls and big box stores / franchises. If you want to eat at McDonald's or shop at Wal-mart, you can do that anywhere else in North America. All of these things can be found in any other city / town in United States, so I don't know why one would move to Houston.
The city is so dependant on automobiles that there are no side walks. In fact, when we were walking around people driving by us stopped to ask if everything was OK since they never see anyone walking.
Another thing I noticed was there is a lot more racial segregation - black people / hispanics / whites all go to their own private schools. When you go shopping you also notice all the lower class jobs employ minorities. I'm not saying that problem is unique to Houston, but it is definitely more pronounced over there than in Toronto. Toronto, unlike Houston, doesn't have any neighbourhoods where if you are white and walking in a black area of town, you are in danger. There are also a lot more religious freaks in Houston - just turn on the radio and half the stations are Christian Evangelists... then you realize why they call that area the Bible belt and consider George Bush to be their hero.
Sure, you might be able to buy a slightly larger house for your dollar in Houston. But you will also be living in a suburban wasteland, where you have to pay for your own health care, where tuition fees are double or triple the cost, where everyone in your family will need a car because public transit is inadequate (what other modern city of 5+ million doesn't have a subway or light rail?), and the population has the highest rate of obesity because they never walk and eat fast-food all the time. To me, there just isn't any favourable comparison for Houston.
Last edited by Hubert69; 05-02-2009 at 07:46 PM..
Reason: Formatting
Hubert69 managed to get every false, negative sterotype in there, from his great expertise of having vacationed here. We're fat, lazy, we've got too many undesirbales, but since we're Jesus freak bigots we trap them into certain areas. Even still it's dangerous for the respectable people. We only eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart because we're trashy. Oh yeah, no sidewalks anywhere. Let me rep this guy for the insight.
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