Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!xios!dont From: dont@xios.XIOS.UUCP (Don Taylor) Newsgroups: ont.jobs Subject: Re: Job Hunting in Ontario: looking for advice Message-ID: <484@xios.XIOS.UUCP> Date: 2 Mar 88 16:38:01 GMT Article-I.D.: xios.484 Posted: Wed Mar 2 11:38:01 1988 References: <8701@sunybcs.UUCP> <5285@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <1988Feb22.121808.11474@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu> <17045@watmath.waterloo.edu> 2 Mar 88 16:38:01 GMT Reply-To: dont@sdn.UUCP (Don Taylor) Organization: XIOS Systems Corporation, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Lines: 57 I missed quite a few of the follow ups to this article, so I may be repeating what has already been said, sorry. I have been through this process myself (from the UK 10 years ago), I know many others who have also immigrated to Canada, and on one occasion I helped someone here already to get landed immigrant status. Just a few points: 1. Do not go the work permit route unless you absolutely have to and you are quite prepared to leave the country at the end of the permit period. It is NOT always easy for an employer to renew a visa; I know, I had to do it and I NEVERwant to do it again. The other problem is that you will place yourself totally in the hands of your employer; if you have a falling out then you either take what he dishes out to you, or you leave the country. 2. You have to apply for landed immigrant status from outside the country, thisis not to bad if you can hide in Boston for a few weeks, but I was trying to help a guy from Hong Kong and it was tricky. 3. By far the best route to go is to line yourself up with a job with a large organization with an HR department and insist upon them helping you to get landed immigrant status for you BEFORE you come to Canada. It can be done in about 6-8 weeks if all of the right paper-work and strings are pulled first. Don't accept the offer of a work permit first to get you in, and then help with the landed immigrant papers after you start working. At least for most of the period of the work permit, your employer has no real incentive to make you a landed immigrant. I would seriously doubt how capable a very small company could be in getting you in unless they employ a professional immigration lawyer. 4. You can become a Canadian citizen after 3 years of being in the country, but you have to spend that 3 years in Canada, any substantial time spent outside of Canada is added to the 3 year waiting period. There is some advantage to being a Canadian citizen when you are abroad, if you get into trouble then the Canadian embassy will help you a lot more than they will a landed immigrant. I believe that they will refer landed immigrants back to the embassy of their country of nationality. That does not make a lot of difference for US citizens in most parts of the world, but I think there are one or two places where it is safer to be Canadian. As far as cost of living is concerned, I did not see anybody mention the income tax differnce between the US and Canada; it is a lot, but that is part of the cost of being Canadian. It is worth EVERY penny. Emigrating to Canada was the best thing that I ever did, I should have done it earlier. Best of luck, Don. -- Don Taylor, XIOS Systems Corporation, ...!uunet!mnetor!dciem!nrcaer!xios!dont 1600 Carling Avenue, Suite 150, Ottawa, Ontario. K1Z 8R8 613-725-5411 Canada.