Canadians Moving to the Magic

[lulubell.f]

Thank you, everyone, for your input and for taking the time to reply to the thread. I should maybe explain more about myself and my situation to provide clarity.

I absolutely hate where I live (I'm in London, Ontario. I hate the climate where I am and always have wanted to live somewhere hot and humid with cooler winters. Our real estate availability is at an all-time low (1.8% according to a London Free Press article from this week) and rental properties are also impossible to get (I've been on several waitlists for 16-18 months now). I have very few family members here and could count on one hand the number of times I have made use of our healthcare system (of course, I know that there are always accidents though). There are no job prospects for myself here and I've been unemployed since graduation from Travel school in April of last year (it's even a struggle to find part-time work in London right now). Even if I did find a job here in my field, I would be making less money than I would be living in a tourism-heavy city.

My boyfriend's line of work is currently booming in Orlando and there are several high paying positions he is overqualified for and which love to sponsor Canadians (I have sources and research if y'all want them). I know Orlando has a high rate of low-income families (in the last fiscal year, Orlando had over 20,000 new minimum wage jobs versus 6,000 IT jobs.

We're waiting to speak with an immigration lawyer about making concrete plans and to get advice, it's just hard because most immigration lawyers in my area are refugee specialized. We are also looking into immigrating to other places that have good job prospects for both of us, but it's my dream to be located in central Florida.

 

[dish rag]

You will most likely need a US based immigration lawyer. It’s not cheap. I paid around $14,000 for the one in Ontario.

I know what you mean about housing. I’m not far from you, in Waterloo. My house in Canada is worth three times what my Orlando house is. My Orlando house would be extremely expensive in Ontario. You need to know that there are a lot of poor area and high crime in Orlando. To live in a safe area can be costly compared to wages. It took my wife awhile to really get a grip on the crime in-the area. She learned the hard way. Now she is aware.

 

[lulubell.f]

You will most likely need a US based immigration lawyer. It’s not cheap. I paid around $14,000 for the one in Ontario.

I know what you mean about housing. I’m not far from you, in Waterloo. My house in Canada is worth three times what my Orlando house is. My Orlando house would be extremely expensive in Ontario. You need to know that there are a lot of poor area and high crime in Orlando. To live in a safe area can be costly compared to wages. It took my wife awhile to really get a grip on the crime in-the area. She learned the hard way. Now she is aware.

We're kinda waiting on diving into things with an immigration lawyer because a lot of tech companies that hand out H1B and TN visas like candy will also pay immigration and lawyer fees. How did you find the whole house buying process in the Orlando area? Also, we're hoping to move to the greater Orlando area (I don't really know what else to call it but it reminds me of the GTA lol) but I'd like to live in one of the smaller towns near Orlando; especially one with a farmers market!

 

[isabellea]

We almost moved to FL twice as we both can get a TN visa (I'm a biologist and DH is an Engineer). First time was to Miami when DH was asked to transfer there and the second time we looked into moving to Oviedo where we had really good friends living there (Oviedo is east of Orlando and apparently they have very good schools). Both times we decided not to because of the crime-rate and gun laws. Too many school shootings for my sanity. Now DH is employed by Hydro-QC and the pension plan is too good to quit so we'll see if we consider moving south again when we retire in 20 years.

Have you looked into moving to Australia instead of FL? For young Canadians (younger than 30 or 35) it's apparently very easy to get a Visa to work there.

 

[dish rag]

We're kinda waiting on diving into things with an immigration lawyer because a lot of tech companies that hand out H1B and TN visas like candy will also pay immigration and lawyer fees. How did you find the whole house buying process in the Orlando area? Also, we're hoping to move to the greater Orlando area (I don't really know what else to call it but it reminds me of the GTA lol) but I'd like to live in one of the smaller towns near Orlando; especially one with a farmers market!

Well I’ve been a home owner a very long time in Orlando. It’s just like any where else buying a house. If you are financing your credit will be checked amount the usual other things. There are plenty of places with farmers markets.

 

[dish rag]

We almost moved to FL twice as we both can get a TN visa (I'm a biologist and DH is an Engineer). First time was to Miami when DH was asked to transfer there and the second time we looked into moving to Oviedo where we had really good friends living there (Oviedo is east of Orlando and apparently they have very good schools). Both times we decided not to because of the crime-rate and gun laws. Too many school shootings for my sanity. Now DH is employed by Hydro-QC and the pension plan is too good to quit so we'll see if we consider moving south again when we retire in 20 years.

Have you looked into moving to Australia instead of FL? For young Canadians (younger than 30 or 35) it's apparently very easy to get a Visa to work there.

Oviedo is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. I can remember when there was hardly anything there. Not even roads or highways where there is now. I mean it was empty. UCF is there and it’s the second largest university in the USA. It’s very built up now. 2 hospitals. Brand new. A mall. One of our places is there, that’s where my wife is now. Traffic now in that area is horrific. I have a good idea of where your husband could have worked.
These work visa are not as easy and simple to get as some might think. Being afraid of a school shooting isn’t a real reason to not move to the US. I would be more concerned with being bit by a shark swimming at NSB.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We tried for several years to try and move to the USA. We wanted to do it after my DH went to a training weekend and he discovered that his American counter parts made the same amount of money (but in USD) and had less responsibility. We looked at GA and FL. There were numerous job postings that were interesting to him and we could have a much larger home than we have now with no mortgage and still have a TON of money left over from the sale of our current home. Also, I would not need to work. So knowing all that we thought that it was a very smart decision for our family. Turns out that it's VERY difficult to get a work permit unless you work in selected industries and those are rather unusual.....think Nuclear Physicist type stuff. Otherwise you need a company to hire you and then go through the process of getting your permit. It costs them time and money and under certain circumstances they would have to prove that they can't hire an American for that job. With what my DH does no company is ever going to go through the hoops to bring him to the US. They can hire locally with ease.

 

[Starwind]

We tried for several years to try and move to the USA. We wanted to do it after my DH went to a training weekend and he discovered that his American counter parts made the same amount of money (but in USD) and had less responsibility. We looked at GA and FL. There were numerous job postings that were interesting to him and we could have a much larger home than we have now with no mortgage and still have a TON of money left over from the sale of our current home. Also, I would not need to work. So knowing all that we thought that it was a very smart decision for our family. Turns out that it's VERY difficult to get a work permit unless you work in selected industries and those are rather unusual.....think Nuclear Physicist type stuff. Otherwise you need a company to hire you and then go through the process of getting your permit. It costs them time and money and under certain circumstances they would have to prove that they can't hire an American for that job. With what my DH does no company is ever going to go through the hoops to bring him to the US. They can hire locally with ease.

This. Unlike Canada, where a person can decide they want to immigrate to Canada and just apply themselves and if they meet the criteria/have enough points there is actually a chance of being granted a visa [yes it is a little more complicated than that, but you get the idea], the US has nothing similar. The closest the US has is the " Diversity Immigrant Visa Program", aka the "Green Card Lottery". For 2021, there are 55,000 Diversity Visas being issued. Canadians are NOT eligible to apply. Therefore, the legal routes for Canadians to immigrate to the US are few: basically marriage to a US citizen, sponsorship by a US citizen family member, and sponsorship for a work-related green card by a US employer (see https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/employment-based and note the very limited criteria). There are some additional options that would allow one to temporarily work or study in the US, such as a TN ("NAFTA") visa or student visa, but all of those require you to leave the US at the end of the visa period.

 

[lulubell.f]

Thanks so much again for everyone's input on this, you guys are the best!

I was thinking the TN visa would be a simple way into the country but it makes much more sense for my family unit to try for the H1B visa instead. We've researched companies that have records of handing out H1B visas in the recent past and have applied to jobs in those companies. With any luck, one of them will take us and we can be moved to Orlando in 2021!

Now I'm just anxiously waiting to see if I can get a travel agent job with Dreams Unlimited Travel! I've just graduated from a 2 year travel and tourism program in London Ontario which I took because it's been my dream to work for @WebmasterJohn and @WebmasterPete since high school!

 

[Starwind]

Thanks so much again for everyone's input on this, you guys are the best!

I was thinking the TN visa would be a simple way into the country but it makes much more sense for my family unit to try for the H1B visa instead. We've researched companies that have records of handing out H1B visas in the recent past and have applied to jobs in those companies. With any luck, one of them will take us and we can be moved to Orlando in 2021!

Now I'm just anxiously waiting to see if I can get a travel agent job with Dreams Unlimited Travel! I've just graduated from a 2 year travel and tourism program in London Ontario which I took because it's been my dream to work for @WebmasterJohn and @WebmasterPete since high school!

If H1B is your intended path, you may find articles like this insightful: https://insights.dice.com/2019/12/03/h-1b-2020-immigration-visa-restrictions/