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 “当初，我的OPT快过期了，工作没着落，我就凭着手上的加拿大绿卡到美国驻温哥华领事馆办了个十年签证,帮我顺利地度过在美国的身份困难时期，后来我找到工作，H1申请被批准，我又到美国驻温哥华领事馆申请了三年multiple-entry的H1签证，去年一年，我就回国三次，每次回美国都不须再签证，爽极了。现在，我的美国绿卡下来之前，如果万一被公司开掉了，我也不怕，大不了再去美国驻温哥华领事申请一十年多次往返的签证。”
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快过期了, 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. 我又到美国驻温哥华领事馆申请了三年multiple-entry的H1签证. 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. 转过年来，我的OPT快用完了，但工作还没有找到，没想到这时我拿到的加拿大绿卡能帮我申请到一十年多次往返美国的签证,我便可再回美国从容地找工作.
i. This one implies you that you can work legally in US if you have 10-year US visit visa. Not true.
d. 大家不防在等美国绿卡的同时试试申请加拿大绿卡，我是真正体验到它的好处的，并且听说很多人其实没有在加拿大居住也申请到加拿大公民身份（因为申请公民不查居住记录，往返美加边境也可无记录，这是一坏招，大家别学），一旦拿到公民身份，来美国就方便了. 在美国就可合法居住工作不用申请H1了，并可进出世界上100多个国家免签证，更不用说拿到绿卡就可享受免费医疗,小孩的牛奶金,将来加拿大的退休金,投资几千元,绝对值!
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, 因为申请公民不查居住记录, but you have to prove that you have stayed there. How will you prove yourself?
iii. 往返美加边境也可无记录 ? Yes and no. Yes, if you drive. No if you take flight.
iv. 一旦拿到公民身份，来美国就方便了. 在美国就可合法居住工作不用申请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!