If wanted to move from the USA to Canada permanently what would

[doc03]

I have to do?

[Joanie Baloney]

1. Head north?

Just kidding. Many good sites out there. Start with Google.

-JB

[csziggy]

2. First you have to see if you qualify

http://www.cic.gc.ca/ctc-vac/getting-started.asp

[doc03]

3. Gualify? Why do I have to gualify? Why can't

I just buy or rent a house and move in?

[uppityperson]

4. Undocumented alien route?

[HassleCat]

26. You have to prove money, basically.

Before they let you in, they want to see your ability to support yourself. They're fine with retired people, but they don't want Americans moving to Canada and living on "the dole," as they call it.

[Hortensis]

28. Why wouldn't you have to qualify? It's a far smaller

nation than this one, with proportionally fewer good jobs. They have to have limits. They can't have just anyone moving in and signing up for national health insurance, with or without taking a job. I was told by a Canadian here in Florida that at one point you could just post something like $300K as some sort of surety that they wouldn't have to carry you, but I think that's mostly gone. No doubt there are ways to buy in, but much more expensive.

Desired work skills are a good path in for younger people who have them, but as retiree/semiretirees, my husband and I have nothing they would want to offer. We'll just have to stay and

Btw, scientists say hot climates not only have breed more conservative cultures but personalities with stronger conservative traits. The deep south where we live has always been far more conservative than up north, and global warming is real. I haven't read about a theory linking the rise in conservative extremism around the world and rising temperatures, but I'm certainly wondering.

[mchill]

27. I don't qualify and I have

Aunts, Uncles, cousins there (my only family), my great great grandparents original settlers of Vancouver (high school named after one), my great grandfather owned the largest ranch in BC and pioneered the Caribou trail, a whole town (pop 100,000) was settled on land given by my great grandmother. My parents left Canada during WWII. Maybe my Aunt and two uncles can adopt me?

[Yo_Mama]

5. It's very difficult, esp. if you are older.

The best way is to move there on a temp visa and get a job offer, but then you will still have to take a test to demonstrate proficiency in either English or French, pay a fee, and wait forever. I think employers sometimes go through some of it to get temporary permits for their workers.

To get permanent residence you must pass a medical exam by one of their panel doctors. But the doctor doesn't say whether you pass or fail - the doctor sends the results to the bureau, and they decide. In many cases they make your spouse/close family members take the exam also, even if they are not coming with you. That's because once you are approved it is easy to bring in family and they don't want to get stuck with an expensive bill.

If you are older, you can just about forget about it unless you are rich. Then you are allowed in if you invest a certain amount of money, but even that program is backlogged.

People who have applied for Express Entry and some of the other programs have waited for years, and after five years or so sometimes you can get the fees back (but not for medical).

It is very hard to emigrate to Canada or Australia if you are older or have a medical problem - they flat out don't want you.

[sarcasmo]

9. Near impossible if you're older. My friends mother waited a couple years and gave up.

Wanted to be closer to the grandchildren, over 60 hang it up.

[EllieBC]

6. You have to be sponsored by a spouse, an employer, be a refugee, or

make a rather large investment. You have to be in decent health and AFAIK, you can't have a Criminal record.

It's a long process. My husband was my sponsor and it took 19 months to get my permanent residency (there a couple of stages called - AIP and DM). During that time I was unable to work and had no health care here in BC.

No you can't just move and voila you are a resident. That's not how the world works. There's a process most countries have.

[Hekate]

7. Go to their immigration website. It will give you all the info on how to do it...

...and of course all the requirements. Among other things they want immigrants to be self- supporting -- that's just common sense for any nation.

Some resumes are more valuable than others. When my husband and I explored the idea during the BushCheney era, we were in our early 50s, which is a bit too close to retirement to be optimal. However my husband speaks both French (he was born in Belgium) and English, which is a plus. He has an MBA. He had a long career as a computer programmar/analyst, and at that time was teaching in that field at the community college/vocational level -- a big plus all around.

I, on the other hand, was only fit to come in as someone's dependent. I had a newly minted PhD -- in Mythological studies. I was dabbling in teaching, but no career in the offing and no credential for anything like K-12. My actual job skills are secretarial/administrative assistant, but no matter how good I was at that, secretaries are a dime a dozen. I can write well and do research, but didn't have a career in it. I also speak only one language.

We are now almost 70. He's still not retired, but I am. We're not going anyplace as immigrants.

[neverforget]

8. My wife's dad is/was Canadian. She had the chance to have dual citizenship

before she was 18. She and I both wish she had gotten it when she could. He passed away in November.

[Mariana]

13. She is most likely a citizen, if her father was born in Canada

or if he was naturalized there before she was born. Citizenship by descent isn't something you "have a chance to get", either you're a citizen when you're born or you aren't. As I understand it, if one parent was born in Canada, you're a Canadian citizen regardless of where you were born, and it doesn't matter how old you are. If it were me in your wife's place, I'd consider it worth the effort to gather the documentation and submit the form for a citizenship certificate.

[Nay]

22. Your wife should re-investigate getting dual citizenship. My mother was Canadian and

my brother and I applied for citizenship when we were in our 50's -- some laws had changed and older folks like us are now OKed for citizenship. The problem you may have is that Canada prefers that your Canadian relative be the mother -- not because they hate fathers, but because when the baby is born, it's obvious who the mother is. Not so much the father. If you get what I mean . . .

On the site mentioned in a previous post, there is a checklist to use to find out if she is eligible. Use that first. Obviously, you will need her father's birth certificate and her birth certificate, plus other ID to even start an application. It took us a year to get our citizenships, but that was because of the new law, which created a backlog of applications.

Go for it!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I have given some thought to just moving there.

Rent an apartment and settle in. I keep on wondering if I'd be outed. If I pay my rent on time, the landlord shouldn't care.

I'm 68, and so I wouldn't be looking for a job, and I have sufficient income that I shouldn't become a burden to the government. The sticking point would be health care. I do not have any chronic illnesses or conditions at this point. I'm very healthy, but (like everyone else) I'm getting older every day. I suspect that if I became seriously ill, or were in an accident requiring hospital treatment, the jig would be up.

The other issue would be eventually renewing my passport, which I could probably do with the help of someone in the states who would be willing to let me use their address as if I still lived there.

At my age I'm probably not even remotely eligible to move there and stay legally. But again, I wonder what would happen if I just went there and didn't leave?

[Ilsa]

19. Wouldn't your ID be US state issued,

which you would provide when leasing an apartment? If so, when you show your ID, they might request your school/work/visitor's visa. They might be required by law to check these things, and don't want to risk getting caught in legal problems.

I read ages ago that they have a point system, but I'm not sure. I imagine being older, moving without a career, deducts points. I don't think you'd get away with this for too long without being deported.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Depending on who I rent an apartment from.

If it's just from someone who owns a couple of rental units, I doubt they'd be sticklers for ID. The last time I rented an apartment was in 2008 -- and that was the first time for renting since 1988 -- I don't recall my landlord caring about ID. They wanted the first month and the security deposit in the form of a money order, not an out-of-state check. It was a small hassle, as I had to get cash, then buy the money orders. At that point I didn't yet have a local checking account, which I acquired as soon as I had the apartment.

And I just don't recall ever needing to show ID any of the earlier times in my life I rented. Of course, I could simply be forgetting.

Certainly in this country there are no laws requiring landlords ascertain a renter's immigration or visa status.

I'm not very likely to test the good will of our wonderful neighbors to the north, but I suspect just going and staying could be relatively easy. After all, most of the undocumented here have simply overstayed a visa.

I did go to the link posted above and filled out the first part to see if I qualified for a fast track entry, and was told no. I suspect my age was the factor. I should go back and see how young I'd have to be to qualify. One question is what you plan to do when you move there and it didn't include being retired or just staying. You needed to be planning to work, go to school, or one of a couple of other things. I can lie about my age on a checklist, but of course in reality my true age will matter.

On edit: I went back and tweaked a few of my answers, shaving 20 years of my age and claiming I'd be self-employed as an artist (I write a bit of science fiction, although I don't currently earn a living from it) and the computer decided I might be eligible to come as a self-employed person. Interesting.

[Ilsa]

30. I've shown Id every time I've signed a rental agreement.

I'm not saying that a landlord is responsible for checking immigration status. I'm saying we may not know what is expected of landlords after checking ID. A legal lease may present different problems, and I wouldn't let anyone just rent my property without a lease to protect me, and I would want to see their IDv to see if they are who they say they are. In some states, it can be difficult to evict.

[Nay]

23. You don't have to live in the US to have your US passport renewed, AFAIK. nt

[EllieBC]

25. You don't.

My passport went through the washer by accident. It was about to expire too. So I made an appointment at the consulate in Vancouver and brought it in and they replaced it.

[roamer65]

11. Who knows...depending on what state you live in...

Canada may come to you!

[Dallasdem1988]

12. Way too difficult

From the stories I have heard and research I have done it's super hard.

Why not just go undocumented? Canadians are much more friendly then us people I doubt they would care and it's not like it's doing anything wrong. Not to mention you could claim you are legit in fear after this scary regime took over.

[Inkfreak]

14. Open a Tim Hortons.

[doc03]

15. Maybe play hockey ay nt

[doc03]

16. The point of this thread was to point out other countries also

have laws that you have to follow in order to move there. I don't have any idea what Canada does
about people that don't follow the laws, there must be some kind of punishment or maybe deportation.

[Recursion]

21. Canada is *significantly* harder on illegal immigrants than the US

There was a Canadian activist on CSPAN the other day talking about it.

[Vinca]

17. Marry a Canadian like I did nearly 44 years ago.

I remember we considered moving to Canada way back then, but stayed in the U.S. The more things change the more they stay the same. Now we're talking about it again.

[jmg257]

18. Claim asylum...

“"We patrol the border between ports of entry and whenever someone crosses without reporting themselves they’ve committed an offense under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act,” she said. “We arrest them under that law.”

The asylum seekers are then detained for questioning and given access to medical treatment if it is required.

“Basically we want to see if all they did is cross the border, we need to make sure there were no criminal code offenses.”

According to Habel, if no red flags are raised, the Canadian Border Services Agency takes over and the immigration process starts."

http://globalnews.ca/news/3243314/syrian-family-enters-quebec-through-us-canada-border/

[TeddyBear 1]

29. I

married a Canadian and moved to Canada 43 years ago.. Also am a dual U.S. / Canadian citizen.. My U.S. passport expires this year and not even going to bother to renew..

As for moving to Canada.. you will need a sponsor and read up on the Canada web sites at posted in this thread.. AND if you do decide to apply.. prepare for a long wait..