New to all of this

[Codyy 0]

Hello everyone,

I am a Canadian citizen, 19 years old, living in Manitoba, Canada.

I really want to leave Canada and move to a nice souther state such as Arizona. However, I am extremely confused by the visa process and was wondering if anyone could give me some tips about starting out on this journey. I want, of course, to be able to move, live and work in some place in the US, as I said, preferably Arizona.

I attended 1 year of University here in Canada, and was considering taking a year off. I am employed by a large retailer. I don't have a spouse/fiance from the US.

Regards,

Cody

[canadian_wife 1,826]

Your best bet would be a work visa then, which would require you to have a company sponsor you and apply for the work visa for you.

Alternatively you could apply for a student visa

What exactly are you looking to do, you cannot simply up and move to the US

Good luck

[Inky 1,111]

I don't really see a 19 year old getting a work visa generally you need specialized skills to obtain a work visa. It might be easier for you to get a student visa to go to school in the state of your choice, get a job on campus and go that rout until you gain specialized skills to get a work visa.

[Codyy 0]

Thanks for the information.

Eventually I would like to live permanently in the United States.

I suppose outside of a student visa, I have no other option at this point since I don't have a degree that qualifies me for another type of visa.

Perhaps I would be better off living in another part of Canada until I got a degree and could get a proper work visa. Unless, I go the student visa route -> however that may not be possible because I need student loans which I am eligible for here in Canada, and I would assume I couldn't get that kind of assistance outside of Canada.

[canadian_wife 1,826]

Just a question, why AZ?

You can get Canadian student loans to go to school in the US, but it will NOT cover the enitre cost. I had to show $20,000 to be accepted into school down here and Canadian student loans only pay what it would cost to go to school in Canada. For example, if it costs $200 to go to school in the US but only $100 in Canada, Candadian student loans would only pay you $100, leaving you to make up the rest

It is incredibly expensive to go to school in the US

Good luck

[Codyy 0]

Dang, that sounds potentially prohibitively expensive at the moment.

I'm looking at AZ because of the climate and housing market. The weather thing is a real important issue to me. I really dislike where I am currently living.

[canadian_wife 1,826]

You can always move in Canada to get a more desired climate...unless you want sunshine all year round. What about Vancouver, less snow and generally warmer than MTB

And the housing market in AZ is dreadful..or is that why you like it?

Edited May 25, 2011 by canadian_wife

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I'm looking at AZ because of the climate and housing market. The weather thing is a real important issue to me. I really dislike where I am currently living.

Cody,

I so can understand where you are coming from. I lived in a cold climate and at some point decided that I would not want to waste my life putting up with that any longer. Some people don't mind the cold, some even enjoy winter sports; I've always hated that sh*t. I want sunshine, warm weather, the beach . . . the good life.

Unfortunately, an estimated 2,000,000 of the currently 6,800,000 people on this globe we call Earth would like to move to the United States. The US admits about 1,000,000 every year; that's quite a lot of people, yet only a drop in the bucket when viewed from a distance. The majority of these immigrants have been petitioned by a close family member.

See, the US immigration system is a family-based one. Fat, old American marries hot chick from Thailand. After 3 years she becomes a US citizen, divorces the old geezer, then petitions for her old boyfriend and her parents in Thailand. Three years later he petitions for his parents; they then 5 years later petition for their other children, and so the snowball becomes an avalanche.

The people who are able to get an employment-based immigrant are far and between. Basically you'll need to be a top-notch professional, able to do what few others can do. The way this works in real life is that you have a friend in a position who is able to custom-tailor a job application for you. "Nuclear physicist wanted. Need to be fluent in English, French, Russian, and Sanskrit." Try posting that and count the applications that come in. Unfortunately, this is what needs to be done, and only if no qualified American or resident is found, the employer can file that with the Department of Labor and the ball gets rolling.

You may be able to get a work visa though. Understand that the word visa comes from visit, so somebody who is admitted to the US in order to work is not an immigrant. There's no path from non-immigrant visa to permanent residence. That said, once you are allowed to live in the US, you meet other people, go out, have fun, get laid, and chances are that the person you are going home with has a US passport. And so the circle closes.

By the way, Arizona is so hot in the summer, that when you open the door of your car and touch the black steering wheel, you'll have blisters. Florida is nice but so humid in the summer, that when you hang up your wet clothes on a line, they are still wet a month later. California is the place to be, and parts of Nevada.

Best of luck to you!

Edited May 25, 2011 by Just Bob

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Cody,

I so can understand where you are coming from. I lived in a cold climate and at some point decided that I would not want to waste my life putting up with that any longer. Some people don't mind the cold, some even enjoy winter sports; I've always hated that sh*t. I want sunshine, warm weather, the beach . . . the good life.

Unfortunately, an estimated 2,000,000 of the currently 6,800,000 people on this globe we call Earth would like to move to the United States. The US admits about 1,000,000 every year; that's quite a lot of people, yet only a drop in the bucket when viewed from a distance. The majority of these immigrants have been petitioned by a close family member.

See, the US immigration system is a family-based one. Fat, old American marries hot chick from Thailand. After 3 years she becomes a US citizen, divorces the old geezer, then petitions for her old boyfriend and her parents in Thailand. Three years later he petitions for his parents; they then 5 years later petition for their other children, and so the snowball becomes an avalanche.

The people who are able to get an employment-based immigrant are far and between. Basically you'll need to be a top-notch professional, able to do what few others can do. The way this works in real life is that you have a friend in a position who is able to custom-tailor a job application for you. "Nuclear physicist wanted. Need to be fluent in English, French, Russian, and Sanskrit." Try posting that and count the applications that come in. Unfortunately, this is what needs to be done, and only if no qualified American or resident is found, the employer can file that with the Department of Labor and the ball gets rolling.

You may be able to get a work visa though. Understand that the word visa comes from visit, so somebody who is admitted to the US in order to work is not an immigrant. There's no path from non-immigrant visa to permanent residence. That said, once you are allowed to live in the US, you meet other people, go out, have fun, get laid, and chances are that the person you are going home with has a US passport. And so the circle closes.

By the way, Arizona is so hot in the summer, that when you open the door of your car and touch the black steering wheel, you'll have blisters. Florida is nice but so humid in the summer, that when you hang up your wet clothes on a line, they are still wet a month later. California is the place to be, and parts of Nevada.

Best of luck to you!

The paragraph about the Thai avalanche was a little depressing, but the rest was pure gold!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Unfortunately, an estimated 2,000,000 of the currently 6,800,000 people on this globe we call Earth would like to move to the United States. The US admits about 1,000,000 every year; that's quite a lot of people, yet only a drop in the bucket when viewed from a distance. The majority of these immigrants have been petitioned by a close family member.

Is there at typo in these figures? There's only 6.8 million people on earth? There's 28 million in Australia so.... And if 2 million want to immigrate to the US and 1 million are admitted a year then in 2 years that's it, all the people that want to be in the US are here...

[TBoneTX 45,889]

Is there at typo in these figures?

Five out of four people are bad at math, and Bob was at least one of them.

[HeatDeath 430]

The US is kind of like an exclusive country club - the only way to get in is to have an existing member sponsor you. [Yes, I know technically, the Diversity Visa lottery is an option too, but sadly not for Canadians.]

As a Canadian wanting to live in the US, you have two main options:

A ) talk an American into marrying you, and come down on a Fiance or Spousal visa, or

B ) talk an American company into hiring you, and come down on an Employment Immigrant visa or (FAR more likely, at least at first) a TN visa.

Option B is probably the best one for you, right now. Since you're young, and have only 1 year of University, it's not too late by any means to make sure you enter a field of study that will end in you having a post-graduate degree in one of the fields that will qualify you for TN status.

My brother, to give a personal example, just got his Ph.d in microbiology. He finished a one-year postdoc in Canada and then, as is normal for newly-minted Ph.ds, started looking around for a real job. Jobs for newly minted Ph.ds in the US outnumber those in Canada by about 20-1, he told me. Landing a nice laboratory supervisory position in the southern US was as easy as falling off a log, apparently. Their offer letter for a 3-year term position, plus his diploma and transcript, got him and his wife admitted into the US for 3 years, and the company will very likely sponsor him for an immigrant employment visa once his probationary period is done.