I have some comments on the article that was on the top. It disappeared this morning when I try to find it again. Anyway, I would like to share my personal experience about immigration to Canada. This one is a little bit long, but I believe it worth your time. First, my background and experience, second, comments about this article, and third, my suggestions about immigration to Canada.
1. My background and experience.
a. I came to US in the Summer of 1992.
b. I started my immigration process in November, 1994. I got everything I needed toward the MS degree other than thesis at that point.
c. My law firm was one located in Montreal, Canada, not in US.
d. I sent in all of my info either at the end of January, 1995 or early February 1995, can’t remember exactly and I got the notice of health exam in June.
e. I called this firm and asked them about what I should do with my girlfriend and they told me if we get married immediately and sent in her info, they can add her on and we can get the exam together and go to Canada together.
f. We got married and got our health exam in Aug. We finally got our landing paper in September.
g. We left US and landed in Toronto, Canada in January, 2006.
h. I applied the citizenship in February, 1999 and got it in May (it probably will take longer now).
i. I applied my Canadian Passport immediately. It was very heard to get your Canadian passport because you need a Guarantor to sign on your passport application. Now, who can be your guarantor? According to Canadian law, only the following who “personally know you for at least two years” can be your guarantor: lawyer, police officer, judge, librarian, doctors (including dentists), banker”. Now they add on more, detailed see: http://www.pptc.gc.ca/passports/get_guarantors_e.asp.
j. I got my passport almost 3 months after I got my citizenship.
k. I am in California now, and, like most of you, got stuck in the middle of my US green card application.
2. My comments on this disappeared article written by a Cisco engineer.
As some of you pointed out, this one seems to me more like an ad than experience. Some of the points are either not true or suspicious. Here they are:
a. It didn’t tell you the date, such as when he started to apply, etc. very vague.
b. It says “當初，我的OPT快過期了，工作沒著落，我就憑著手上的加拿大綠卡到美國駐溫哥華領事館辦了個十年簽證,幫我順利地度過在美國的身份困難時期，後來我找到工作，H1申請被批準，我又到美國駐溫哥華領事館申請了三年multiple-entry的H1簽證，去年一年，我就回國三次，每次回美國都不須再簽證，爽極了。現在，我的美國綠卡下來之前，如果萬一被公司開掉了，我也不怕，大不了再去美國駐溫哥華領事申請一十年多次往返的簽證。”
i. It implies that you can get US 10-year US visa right after you landed. It is not true. I got my 3-year US visit visa one and half years after I landed. I had a stable job then. My experience is that unless you have 1. been in Canada for at least 6 months, AND 2. you have a good, stable job (not McDonald’s job), you will be refused. I saw many people got refused their visa application right after they landed. You may get a 10-year visit visa if you have been landed for quite a long time and you have evidence that you have material connection in Canada, such as having a house and a well paid, stable job. To US immigration officer, if you are not US citizen, you are foreigner, no matter what passport you hold and not matter if you are Chinese or blond Germany.
ii. If我的OPT快過期了, I assume that you have less than 3 months on your OPT. It will take at least 6 months, even back in 1995, to get your Canadian landing paper. So your OPT expired for sure when you came back to US, assuming you did get 10-year visiting visa. How did you get your job without work authorization before you got your H-1? You are not even Canadian citizen, so you are not qualified for TN-1. Your 10-year visa only permits you to come to US legally, but not authorizes you to work in US. Even you hold Canadian passport, you can stay in US for only up to 6 months without visa, and you are not permitted to work without proper work authorization, such as TN or H visa.
iii. 我又到美國駐溫哥華領事館申請了三年multiple-entry的H1簽證. I have no experience on this. But, if you are holding Chinese passport, will they give you such multiple entry visa? I double it.
c. 轉過年來，我的OPT快用完了，但工作還沒有找到，沒想到這時我拿到的加拿大綠卡能幫我申請到一十年多次往返美國的簽證,我便可再回美國從容地找工作.
i. This one implies you that you can work legally in US if you have 10-year US visit visa. Not true.
d. 大家不防在等美國綠卡的同時試試申請加拿大綠卡，我是真正體驗到它的好處的，並且聽說很多人其實沒有在加拿大居住也申請到加拿大公民身份（因為申請公民不查居住記錄，往返美加邊境也可無記錄，這是一壞招，大家別學），一旦拿到公民身份，來美國就方便了. 在美國就可合法居住工作不用申請H1了，並可進出世界上100多個國家免簽證，更不用說拿到綠卡就可享受免費醫療,小孩的牛奶金,將來加拿大的退休金,投資幾千元,絕對值!
i. It was almost impossible back in 1995 for someone to get citizen ship without proofing of your taying in Canada for at least 3 years. If you do not land and stay there, it is very hard 3 years later for you to get into Canada. Even you get into, when you apply, the application form ask you to prove that you have been in Canada for 3 years. I showed my bank and credit card statement, rental receipt, etc. to cover 3 years with no gap. Same thing applied to my wife. I felt when I applied for the citizenship that I would become even more difficult to get your citizenship.
ii. Yes, 因為申請公民不查居住記錄, but you have to prove that you have stayed there. How will you prove yourself?
iii. 往返美加邊境也可無記錄 ? Yes and no. Yes, if you drive. No if you take flight.
iv. 一旦拿到公民身份，來美國就方便了. 在美國就可合法居住工作不用申請H1了. No true. As I mentioned above, Canadian citizen can stay in US for 6 months, but can not work unless you have TN, which is a. temporary, i.e. you can not use it year after year, b. you can not apply for green card based on TN. If you need to apply for green card, you still need to get your H-1. When taking about immigration, US treat everybody else equally, i.e. you are foreigner, no matter you are Chinese or Canadian. Even you are British with blond hair, you are still foreigner, and will be treated equally.
e. For the rest, I am not interested to comment on it.
3. My suggestions about immigration to Canada.
a. Do not apply for immigration to Canada unless you decide to stay in Canada and will not come back to US, which is difficult for me after I realized the difference of these two countries.
i. It took me 4 years before I came back to US. You have probably got your green card by then.
ii. True, you can travel to over 100 countries without visa if you hold Canadian passport. But is this privilege very important to you? Not to me although I hold the Canadian passport now.
iii. The situation in 1994 was even worse than now. Tones of rumors out there, such as H-1 will be cut back from 3+3 to 3 only. As long as US is still an immigration country, i.e. it doesn’t shuttle its immigration door, we all have chance to get green card, sooner or later. Hold on and stick to it, you will get the green card.
iv. A few things that surprised me when I was in Toronto, all my personal experience, not just some heard story:
1. You pay tax on stamps. Not in US.
2. You pay $30 Canadian to have your mail address changed for 3 months. Not in US.
3. Almost everything sold in Canada is levied for 15% tax.
4. In 1997, me and my wife were eating in McDonald’s in Eaton Center, we saw the girl who was apply for a job there was asked for 3 personal reference. Toronto’s jobless rate was the lowest one in Canada back then.
5. When you apply for a job, they asked for Canadian experience, your experience in China doesn’t count. Yes they do recognize your experience in US. Almost each employer calls to verify your reference in Canada or US.
6. The gas price was 40-60% higher then that in US back in 1996. It would be even more expensive I think.
7. The auto insurance is very expensive in Toronto. It was so expensive that it looks more like install payment toward the indemnification rather than insurance premium although I had over 3 years of good driving record and no gap on my insurance record.
8. Your credit history doesn’t count when you apply for credit card in Canada. I though, for example, Equifax shares data with Equifax Canada. No. Not at all. So you have to start all over again.
9. If you opened your bank account with BOA at San Francisco, you can close it at San Jose. Not in Canada. You close at where ever you opened, or they called Main Branch.
10. You don’t start to enjoy the benefit of free health care till 3 months after you landed, not immediately.
11. Be prepared that it can easily take you 6 months to get a job.
b. Yes, Canada is a good country, which is only second to US to my knowledge. When I was in Toronto, I had several co-workers from UK, Germany, Sweden, etc. and they told me that they like Canada a lot: everything is cheap, even gas. You can afford a car and buy a decent house if you have a decent job. You might want to move to Canada should you decided not to come back after you landed, especially if the health of your parents are not good. A fried of mine’s mother went through a series of open heart operation and didn’t pay even one cent. The Canadian government does take care of the senior citizens but at the cost of high tax on you. I doubted if I would be able to enjoy this kind of benefits after I retired. You all have read many good stories about Canada’s health care system.
You MUST verify everything about immigration by yourself. Any thing from the web can only be treated as reference and you still need to verify whatever you heard about. You can not make your decision based on some street stories. Spend some time, do your homework, and your decision will be sold.
Do you need a lawyer for immigration to Canada? My understanding back in 1994 was yes if you cannot afford the failure and no, if you don’t care whether you get it or not.
God Bless you!
1. My background and experience.
a. I came to US in the Summer of 1992.
b. I started my immigration process in November, 1994. I got everything I needed toward the MS degree other than thesis at that point.
c. My law firm was one located in Montreal, Canada, not in US.
d. I sent in all of my info either at the end of January, 1995 or early February 1995, can’t remember exactly and I got the notice of health exam in June.
e. I called this firm and asked them about what I should do with my girlfriend and they told me if we get married immediately and sent in her info, they can add her on and we can get the exam together and go to Canada together.
f. We got married and got our health exam in Aug. We finally got our landing paper in September.
g. We left US and landed in Toronto, Canada in January, 2006.
h. I applied the citizenship in February, 1999 and got it in May (it probably will take longer now).
i. I applied my Canadian Passport immediately. It was very heard to get your Canadian passport because you need a Guarantor to sign on your passport application. Now, who can be your guarantor? According to Canadian law, only the following who “personally know you for at least two years” can be your guarantor: lawyer, police officer, judge, librarian, doctors (including dentists), banker”. Now they add on more, detailed see: http://www.pptc.gc.ca/passports/get_guarantors_e.asp.
j. I got my passport almost 3 months after I got my citizenship.
k. I am in California now, and, like most of you, got stuck in the middle of my US green card application.
2. My comments on this disappeared article written by a Cisco engineer.
As some of you pointed out, this one seems to me more like an ad than experience. Some of the points are either not true or suspicious. Here they are:
a. It didn’t tell you the date, such as when he started to apply, etc. very vague.
b. It says “當初，我的OPT快過期了，工作沒著落，我就憑著手上的加拿大綠卡到美國駐溫哥華領事館辦了個十年簽證,幫我順利地度過在美國的身份困難時期，後來我找到工作，H1申請被批準，我又到美國駐溫哥華領事館申請了三年multiple-entry的H1簽證，去年一年，我就回國三次，每次回美國都不須再簽證，爽極了。現在，我的美國綠卡下來之前，如果萬一被公司開掉了，我也不怕，大不了再去美國駐溫哥華領事申請一十年多次往返的簽證。”
i. It implies that you can get US 10-year US visa right after you landed. It is not true. I got my 3-year US visit visa one and half years after I landed. I had a stable job then. My experience is that unless you have 1. been in Canada for at least 6 months, AND 2. you have a good, stable job (not McDonald’s job), you will be refused. I saw many people got refused their visa application right after they landed. You may get a 10-year visit visa if you have been landed for quite a long time and you have evidence that you have material connection in Canada, such as having a house and a well paid, stable job. To US immigration officer, if you are not US citizen, you are foreigner, no matter what passport you hold and not matter if you are Chinese or blond Germany.
ii. If我的OPT快過期了, I assume that you have less than 3 months on your OPT. It will take at least 6 months, even back in 1995, to get your Canadian landing paper. So your OPT expired for sure when you came back to US, assuming you did get 10-year visiting visa. How did you get your job without work authorization before you got your H-1? You are not even Canadian citizen, so you are not qualified for TN-1. Your 10-year visa only permits you to come to US legally, but not authorizes you to work in US. Even you hold Canadian passport, you can stay in US for only up to 6 months without visa, and you are not permitted to work without proper work authorization, such as TN or H visa.
iii. 我又到美國駐溫哥華領事館申請了三年multiple-entry的H1簽證. I have no experience on this. But, if you are holding Chinese passport, will they give you such multiple entry visa? I double it.
c. 轉過年來，我的OPT快用完了，但工作還沒有找到，沒想到這時我拿到的加拿大綠卡能幫我申請到一十年多次往返美國的簽證,我便可再回美國從容地找工作.
i. This one implies you that you can work legally in US if you have 10-year US visit visa. Not true.
d. 大家不防在等美國綠卡的同時試試申請加拿大綠卡，我是真正體驗到它的好處的，並且聽說很多人其實沒有在加拿大居住也申請到加拿大公民身份（因為申請公民不查居住記錄，往返美加邊境也可無記錄，這是一壞招，大家別學），一旦拿到公民身份，來美國就方便了. 在美國就可合法居住工作不用申請H1了，並可進出世界上100多個國家免簽證，更不用說拿到綠卡就可享受免費醫療,小孩的牛奶金,將來加拿大的退休金,投資幾千元,絕對值!
i. It was almost impossible back in 1995 for someone to get citizen ship without proofing of your taying in Canada for at least 3 years. If you do not land and stay there, it is very hard 3 years later for you to get into Canada. Even you get into, when you apply, the application form ask you to prove that you have been in Canada for 3 years. I showed my bank and credit card statement, rental receipt, etc. to cover 3 years with no gap. Same thing applied to my wife. I felt when I applied for the citizenship that I would become even more difficult to get your citizenship.
ii. Yes, 因為申請公民不查居住記錄, but you have to prove that you have stayed there. How will you prove yourself?
iii. 往返美加邊境也可無記錄 ? Yes and no. Yes, if you drive. No if you take flight.
iv. 一旦拿到公民身份，來美國就方便了. 在美國就可合法居住工作不用申請H1了. No true. As I mentioned above, Canadian citizen can stay in US for 6 months, but can not work unless you have TN, which is a. temporary, i.e. you can not use it year after year, b. you can not apply for green card based on TN. If you need to apply for green card, you still need to get your H-1. When taking about immigration, US treat everybody else equally, i.e. you are foreigner, no matter you are Chinese or Canadian. Even you are British with blond hair, you are still foreigner, and will be treated equally.
e. For the rest, I am not interested to comment on it.
3. My suggestions about immigration to Canada.
a. Do not apply for immigration to Canada unless you decide to stay in Canada and will not come back to US, which is difficult for me after I realized the difference of these two countries.
i. It took me 4 years before I came back to US. You have probably got your green card by then.
ii. True, you can travel to over 100 countries without visa if you hold Canadian passport. But is this privilege very important to you? Not to me although I hold the Canadian passport now.
iii. The situation in 1994 was even worse than now. Tones of rumors out there, such as H-1 will be cut back from 3+3 to 3 only. As long as US is still an immigration country, i.e. it doesn’t shuttle its immigration door, we all have chance to get green card, sooner or later. Hold on and stick to it, you will get the green card.
iv. A few things that surprised me when I was in Toronto, all my personal experience, not just some heard story:
1. You pay tax on stamps. Not in US.
2. You pay $30 Canadian to have your mail address changed for 3 months. Not in US.
3. Almost everything sold in Canada is levied for 15% tax.
4. In 1997, me and my wife were eating in McDonald’s in Eaton Center, we saw the girl who was apply for a job there was asked for 3 personal reference. Toronto’s jobless rate was the lowest one in Canada back then.
5. When you apply for a job, they asked for Canadian experience, your experience in China doesn’t count. Yes they do recognize your experience in US. Almost each employer calls to verify your reference in Canada or US.
6. The gas price was 40-60% higher then that in US back in 1996. It would be even more expensive I think.
7. The auto insurance is very expensive in Toronto. It was so expensive that it looks more like install payment toward the indemnification rather than insurance premium although I had over 3 years of good driving record and no gap on my insurance record.
8. Your credit history doesn’t count when you apply for credit card in Canada. I though, for example, Equifax shares data with Equifax Canada. No. Not at all. So you have to start all over again.
9. If you opened your bank account with BOA at San Francisco, you can close it at San Jose. Not in Canada. You close at where ever you opened, or they called Main Branch.
10. You don’t start to enjoy the benefit of free health care till 3 months after you landed, not immediately.
11. Be prepared that it can easily take you 6 months to get a job.
b. Yes, Canada is a good country, which is only second to US to my knowledge. When I was in Toronto, I had several co-workers from UK, Germany, Sweden, etc. and they told me that they like Canada a lot: everything is cheap, even gas. You can afford a car and buy a decent house if you have a decent job. You might want to move to Canada should you decided not to come back after you landed, especially if the health of your parents are not good. A fried of mine’s mother went through a series of open heart operation and didn’t pay even one cent. The Canadian government does take care of the senior citizens but at the cost of high tax on you. I doubted if I would be able to enjoy this kind of benefits after I retired. You all have read many good stories about Canada’s health care system.
You MUST verify everything about immigration by yourself. Any thing from the web can only be treated as reference and you still need to verify whatever you heard about. You can not make your decision based on some street stories. Spend some time, do your homework, and your decision will be sold.
Do you need a lawyer for immigration to Canada? My understanding back in 1994 was yes if you cannot afford the failure and no, if you don’t care whether you get it or not.
God Bless you!
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