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How many of you settled for Canada because you couldn't emigrate to the USA?

  • 07-01-2016 4:10pm
    #1
    daviedx
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4 ✭


    If I'm being honest with myself, I did. We all know that the USA is pretty much impossible to emigrate to these days after 9/11. So I reluctantly chose to move to Toronto - the next best thing. Everything about Toronto screams a wannabe New York. Dundas Square is a poor man's Times Sqaure. It has an extremely limited subway line. It has the yellow school buses like America. It has the hot dog carts on every second street corner. The American Major Baseball League even take pity on Toronto and let the Blue Jays compete in their league.

    Don't get me wrong. Toronto is okay but it's not the real deal. If I was offered the chance to move to America tomorrow, I'd ditch Canada like a hot potato. Am I alone in feeling like this?
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    Lucena
    Registered Users Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭Lucena


    Why do you feel Toronto is like a wannabe New York? A lot of places in North America look like other places in North America, I found similarities between Canada and Mexico, for example (never been to the US).


  • #3
    OU812
    Registered Users Posts: 6,034 ✭✭✭OU812


    Canada: all the benefits of America with the advantage of not actually being America.



    (Never been, just seems to be that way)


  • #4
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    The tragedy of Canada :

    They could have had British culture, French cuisine and American technology - Instead they have American culture, British cuisine and French technology !


  • #5
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    daviedx wrote: »
    We all know that the USA is pretty much impossible to emigrate to these days after 9/11.

    That's not true if you have the right qualifications and experience in the right field. I could emigrate to the USA any time I wanted to - I already spend several months per year working for my company in the US.


  • #6
    OU812
    Registered Users Posts: 6,034 ✭✭✭OU812


    Long Gone wrote: »
    That's not true if you have the right qualifications and experience in the right field. I could emigrate to the USA any time I wanted to - I already spend several months per year working for my company in the US.


    What field are you in?


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  • #7
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,222 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    There's a Starbucks in Rathmines. Is Rathmines a wannabe Los Angeles?


  • #8
    daviedx
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4 ✭daviedx


    Long Gone wrote: »
    That's not true if you have the right qualifications and experience in the right field. I could emigrate to the USA any time I wanted to - I already spend several months per year working for my company in the US.

    At present, there are only 3 ways to legally gain residence in the USA:

    1. Marry an American citizen
    2. Win the green card lottery
    3. An American company sponsors you for the H-1B visa. This is expensive and the employer must first prove that no American can do the job they're inviting you over to do.

    With Canada you simply apply for the visa online and fill in a few forms. Much easier, I'm sure you'll agree.
    endacl wrote: »
    There's a Starbucks in Rathmines. Is Rathmines a wannabe Los Angeles?

    You're being facetious. The similarities between Toronto and New York are striking, some of which I've listed above. So much so that Toronto acts as a double for New York in the movie industry as it's cheaper to shoot there. American Psycho, Get Rich or Die Tryin, New York Minute and Xmen were all movies set in NYC but actually shot in Toronto. Anybody trying to deny the massive influence of American culture on Canada is delusional.


  • #9
    Lucena
    Registered Users Posts: 1,304 ✭✭✭Lucena


    Go to Big Smoke Burger. Started in Toronto, damn fine burgers. Oh, they have them in New York now.


  • #10
    circular flexing
    Registered Users Posts: 2,581 ✭✭✭circular flexing


    daviedx wrote: »
    At present, there are only 3 ways to legally gain residence in the USA:

    1. Marry an American citizen
    2. Win the green card lottery
    3. An American company sponsors you for the H-1B visa. This is expensive and the employer must first prove that no American can do the job they're inviting you over to do.

    With Canada you simply apply for the visa online and fill in a few forms. Much easier, I'm sure you'll agree.


    Actually there are more ways than that to immigrate to the US..

    Canada isn't quite as easy to immigrate to these days (IEC visa excepted which is easy to get)


  • #11
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    I have only a passing acquaintance with Canada and USA. I've never been to Toronto or Anglophone Canada, but I've been to Montreal and Quebec City and I can tell you that I far far preferred them to New York in every way.


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  • #12
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    feargale wrote: »
    I have only a passing acquaintance with Canada and USA. I've never been to Toronto or Anglophone Canada, but I've been to Montreal and Quebec City and I can tell you that I far far preferred them to New York in every way.

    There is no meaninful comparison between to be made between Montreal/Quebec and New York. It's like trying to compare a Lada to a Ferrari. If you prefer Ladas that's fine - Each to his own. If you're tired of New York you're tired of life - It's one of the best and most exciting cities in the world.


  • #13
    feargale
    Registered Users Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    Long Gone wrote: »
    There is no meaninful comparison between to be made between Montreal/Quebec and New York. It's like trying to compare a Lada to a Ferrari. If you prefer Ladas that's fine - Each to his own. If you're tired of New York you're tired of life - It's one of the best and most exciting cities in the world.

    It's clear from previous threads that you don't like French Canada. There we differ. Each to his own.
    Ditto NY.


  • #14
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    feargale wrote: »
    It's clear from previous threads that you don't like French Canada. There we differ. Each to his own.
    Ditto NY.

    On what basis exactly do you (incorrectly) state that I don't like French Canada ? Even if I did (which I don't), that is not in any way relevant to the subject currently under discussion. The point I was making is that the cities are so dissimilar that there is no meaningful comparison to be made between the two cities - It's like trying to compare chalk and cheese.....


  • #15
    Long Gone
    Registered Users Posts: 771 ✭✭✭Long Gone


    feargale wrote: »
    I have only a passing acquaintance with Canada and USA.

    I have more than a passing acquaintance with both countries.


  • #16
    RichFTW
    Registered Users Posts: 552 ✭✭✭RichFTW


    OU812 wrote: »
    Canada: all the benefits of America with the advantage of not actually being America.

    That's pretty much it in a nutshell! It's like a nicer US with nicer people and less of the craziness and bullsh*t politics.
    daviedx wrote: »
    You're being facetious. The similarities between Toronto and New York are striking, some of which I've listed above. So much so that Toronto acts as a double for New York in the movie industry as it's cheaper to shoot there.

    Obviously Toronto is going to be similar given the past origins and close proximity and relationship between the countries. Same way Ireland is very similar to the UK. You seem to be using that fact as a stick to beat Canada with which I don't understand. Funny thing with the filming is that Toronto is too clean to act as a true double for NY so they have to add rubbish as a prop to make it look more "American"!

    Honestly if I had been offered the same type visa as I got in Canada in the US before I moved, I probably would have taken the US one but now that I have moved to Toronto, there is no way I would switch. A lot of long term settled Irish I have talked to have said the same and it's easy to see why when you get the majority of the advantages of the US along with miles better healthcare and avoid most of the big problems that the US has.


  • #17
    montreal2011
    Registered Users Posts: 295 ✭✭montreal2011


    The ease of (legal) entry into employment in Canada versus the USA certainly made the difference for me. I had never been to Canada before but had visited the USA often and did one summer of work on a J1 visa. I would probably have chosen the USA over Canada if there had been a similar WHV available.

    I am very happy with how things worked out and would no longer choose the USA over Canada.

    Both places are too vast and varied to be compared so simply; states like California and Texas have bigger populations than the whole of Canada.

    There is not a single city in the USA that I would choose over Montreal. I have lived in or visited many of the great cities in the USA such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Portland, Las Vegas, San Diego.

    Firstly I was attracted to Montreal before leaving Ireland when I saw how cheap it was to rent there. I figured that I`d afford a very long holiday at the very least if I didn`t get a job! A downtown 1 bed apartment in NY will be at least $2500 per month, about $1500 in Toronto and $750 in Montreal.

    Once I arrived it immediately attracted me. I find that it`s large enough that there`s always something interesting to see or do, but small enough that you can walk to most places if you want. Maybe Montreal is a poor man`s New York, but it certainly feels rich, culturally and socially.

    I don`t think that either country can be assessed or compared based on one city alone; there is a vast difference between Vancouver and Halifax, just like there is a vast difference between Boston and Los Angeles, and contrarily, there are many similarities between Halifax and Boston, or Vancouver and Seattle; I figure that proximity plays a part in this.


  • #18
    daviedx
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4 ✭daviedx


    montreal2011 wrote: »
    The ease of (legal) entry into employment in Canada versus the USA certainly made the difference for me. I had never been to Canada before but had visited the USA often and did one summer of work on a J1 visa. I would probably have chosen the USA over Canada if there had been a similar WHV available.

    Finally an honest answer. Canada wasn't even on most Irish people's radar until around 2010 when the IEC WHV was popularized in the media during the worst of the recession. Up until then Australia was the destination of choice.


  • #19
    RichFTW
    Registered Users Posts: 552 ✭✭✭RichFTW


    daviedx wrote: »
    Finally an honest answer. Canada wasn't even on most Irish people's radar until around 2010 when the IEC WHV was popularized in the media during the worst of the recession. Up until then Australia was the destination of choice.

    What difference does that make? People are realising what Canada has to offer now compared to when it was a bit of an unknown. Saying you reluctantly moved to Toronto was your first mistake as you came here with the wrong mindset. It's pretty tough to get settled here in your chosen career in the first place without thinking you would be better off in the US to mess with the transition. Also the MLB in no way takes pity on the Blue Jays, if anything they have an agenda against them as they don't want a Canadian team in the finals.


  • #20
    astonaidan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,456 ✭✭✭astonaidan


    daviedx wrote: »
    Finally an honest answer. Canada wasn't even on most Irish people's radar until around 2010 when the IEC WHV was popularized in the media during the worst of the recession. Up until then Australia was the destination of choice.

    Ive done both and well it could be cause Im a little older, but I did enjoy my time in Toronto a bit more than Australia, I found it was much easier to move in employment and well the easy access to American sports which I love.
    But saying that, if I had to choose a place to live longterm, I would pick Sydney due to year long sun rather than the winters of Canada


  • #21
    Enigma365
    Registered Users Posts: 245 ✭✭Enigma365


    daviedx wrote: »
    At present, there are only 3 ways to legally gain residence in the USA:

    1. Marry an American citizen
    2. Win the green card lottery
    3. An American company sponsors you for the H-1B visa. This is expensive and the employer must first prove that no American can do the job they're inviting you over to do.

    Well it is true that America is much tough to emigrate to legally than Canada or Australia but there are many, many more ways than those 3 above. For example there is an O-1 visa for people of exceptional talent, the L-1 visa which allows you to transfer to a US company's US office if you work for the company for a year outside the US, various investor visas, student visas etc.

    H1B is the most obvious route to get into the US if L-1 is not an option but unfortunately even if you convince a company to sponsor you for a H1B, it is a lottery now and the odds of getting picked in the lottery last year were about 1 in 3. Universities, University affiliated Hospitals and certain non-profit research institutions are exempt from the H1-B lottery and getting a job working for them can be the easiest way into the US.

    BTW what is little known is that US companys can also sponsor potential employees for a greencard even if they do not reside in the US. Almost no company would ever do this though as it is far too much hassle and takes up to 2 years.


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