American moving to Canada NEED ADVICE!

[lindseyiam]

I'm a 20 year old American from Pennsylvania looking to move to Ontario to live with my boyfriend. For the past year I have been driving up to Canada and spending a few days here just about every week or so. So I'm here very often and feel that it would be much more beneficial to just live here, because the 8 hour drive is very long and costly. Can anyone suggest to me what would be the best and easiest way to go about doing this, through school or work or some other way? Whatever I do, I need to have a work visa so I'm able to afford to live.

My boyfriend's mom has already called immigration and asked, and they basically said I would need to first have my passport stamped for a 6 month stay, and then request to renew it after that. But what comes after that? Am I able to go home to visit my family during the '6 month stay', or will it be void?

 

[scylla]

The school option will be expensive. You'll need to be accepted by a school first and then apply for a study visa. Becase you'll be paying foreign student fees, you'll need to show a bank balance between $25K and $30K to be approved.

To obtain a work visa, you'll first need to find an employer in Canada who is willing to hire you. That employer will then have to obtain approval to hire you (LMO - labour market opinion). As part of this process, the employer will have to prove that the job was advertised in Canada and a Canadian couldn't be found for the role. If the employer receives approval to hire you, you can then apply for a work permit. Note that most employers aren't willing to hire foreign workers because it's difficult to get approval. Regardless, if you want to work in Canada, you'll need to find an employer first.

As for visiting, if you come to Canada and you are allowed in for six months, that six months only applies as long as you stay in Canada. If you leave Canada and go back to the US for a visit, your six months stay is voided and when it comes time to return to Canada again, immigration will re-assess and decide if and how long to let you in for.

 

[scylla]

One last comment... When you're here as a visitor, you won't be covered by Canada's health care system. Make sure you take out private insurance. Emergency care can be very expensive here.