H1B life vs. Moving to Canada - Experience sharing

[august_leo]

Hello All, I have been contemplating this decision for over a year now. Not to beat a dead horse, but for people who moved to Canada from the US in the last 3-4 years, could you share your experience of settling in Canada.

Living in the US offers very tangible benefits(financial, job opportunities and so forth) while Canada offers more qualitative benefits that are harder, if not impossible to quantify. After all, it is impossible to put a price tag on one's peace of mind. Therefore some inputs folks who took the plunge would be invaluable

Just commented above. I moved from USA last year. My priority date is in Feb-2018 but most importantly, there are a lot of other factors that made our decision to move to Canada easy. You clearly summarized this very well - "it is impossible to put a price tag on one's peace of mind"

Just be clear with the reality though - salaries a bit lower but if you can negotiate well, you would be living a much better life here. In USA, you have to save for your retirement healthcare. Here, health care is covered. But do expect huge delay in finding a family doctor. Houses are smaller and costlier than USA. If you have ailing parent back in your home country, you can get your parents to stay with you for 5 years per entry on a super visa (no kidding!) and can even sponsor them for PR after 3 years of filing taxes here. You need not worry about your kids getting shot at school. Racism is far lesser here than in USA. People aren't so polarized politically or anti-immigrant. Once you become citizen, you can travel visa-free to many countries, incl. USA.

I have many friends who moved from USA to Canada and not even one of them is contemplating about moving back to USA, even for short term. It is not a rosy future here but the peace of mind it offers is sufficient enough. We are actually happy and content here.

Even if you choose to work in USA, you can easily do so after becoming a citizen here. TN visa for Canadians (compared to Mexicans) is far easier to get. Clear off your costly home mortgage and move back again for content life (if you chose to).

 

[Kan2020]

Thank you for sharing your insights @august_leo, these are very helpful! Recalibrating one’s financial expectations and balancing those against intangible benefits is the hardest bit!

 

[august_leo]

I know everyone's situation is different. In my case, my wife struggled to get a job in USA on H4 EAD. Here, she got a job within 1 month of landing. She didn't have any prior Canadian experience (something many here on this forum say they struggled with after moving here; but that wasn't our experience). So, even with me taking a pay cut, considering that both of us work here, we didn't really take a financial hit.

Houses are very costly though. But when we looked at all other benefits Canada offers, decision became far easier. Our main goal was to "settle" for good and spend the next decade with our kids growing up before they leave the house for university and beyond. Time seemed to be short and there was no point in us living in USA under visa uncertainty. That's how we left the rat-race.

 

[missedTheGCBus]

I know everyone's situation is different. In my case, my wife struggled to get a job in USA on H4 EAD. Here, she got a job within 1 month of landing. She didn't have any prior Canadian experience (something many here on this forum say they struggled with after moving here; but that wasn't our experience). So, even with me taking a pay cut, considering that both of us work here, we didn't really take a financial hit.

House are very costly though. But when we looked at all other benefits Canada offers, decision became far easier. Our main goal was to "settle" for good and spend the next decade with our kids growing up before they leave the house for university and beyond. Time seemed to be short and there was no point in us living in USA under visa uncertainty. That's how we left the rat-race.

This is a very nice perspective. Thank you for sharing and congrats on leaving the rat-race and making a clear decision

 

[Kan2020]

Anybody who moved to the Ottawa area? Would love to connect.

 

[fr72]

Hello All, I have been contemplating this decision for over a year now. Not to beat a dead horse, but for people who moved to Canada from the US in the last 3-4 years, could you share your experience of settling in Canada.

Living in the US offers very tangible benefits(financial, job opportunities and so forth) while Canada offers more qualitative benefits that are harder, if not impossible to quantify. After all, it is impossible to put a price tag on one's peace of mind. Therefore some inputs folks who took the plunge would be invaluable

I moved to Canada from US in 2017 and moved back to US this year (2022) as a Canadian citizen. Honestly speaking, I loved my time in Canada and it was totally worth it. Since 2017, I have had complete peace of mind wrt visa issues. No more visa stamping tensions, travel anytime I want and now visa free travel to most countries.

I am in US now, enjoying the good weather and knowing that even if I lose my visa, I can take a short flight up north and get a remote job for a US company in weeks. With the coming recession, I might need to....but i dont care! This is the confidence you get with Canadian citizenship. I will simply take a sabbatical and go on a Euro trip.

Money wise, US and Canada are a lot closer than in 2017. At least I feel so because I am in expensive California, lol.

 

[SecularFirst]

I moved to Canada from US in 2017 and moved back to US this year (2022) as a Canadian citizen. Honestly speaking, I loved my time in Canada and it was totally worth it. Since 2017, I have had complete peace of mind wrt visa issues. No more visa stamping tensions, travel anytime I want and now visa free travel to most countries.

I am in US now, enjoying the good weather and knowing that even if I lose my visa, I can take a short flight up north and get a remote job for a US company in weeks. With the coming recession, I might need to....but i dont care! This is the confidence you get with Canadian citizenship. I will simply take a sabbatical and go on a Euro trip.

Money wise, US and Canada are a lot closer than in 2017. At least I feel so because I am in expensive California, lol.

Thanks for sharing,
I intend to do the same. I moved to Canada in 2020 and still have to finish 7 more months of physical presence for citizenship. I did however take a paycut after moving here and found that taxes and expenses are way higher, leaving me with less than what I was saving in the US. I did buy a house here though which I intend to rent out when I move back to US and live in lower cost of living area. I feel GTA is even expensive then California.
Did you move after getting citizenship or just after application? Is there any issue moving 3-4 months after submitting citizenship application, given that I wont be having any absences from Canada since last 3 years. Will it affect citizenship process in any way? Thanks.

 

[Kan2020]

I moved to Canada from US in 2017 and moved back to US this year (2022) as a Canadian citizen. Honestly speaking, I loved my time in Canada and it was totally worth it. Since 2017, I have had complete peace of mind wrt visa issues. No more visa stamping tensions, travel anytime I want and now visa free travel to most countries.

I am in US now, enjoying the good weather and knowing that even if I lose my visa, I can take a short flight up north and get a remote job for a US company in weeks. With the coming recession, I might need to....but i dont care! This is the confidence you get with Canadian citizenship. I will simply take a sabbatical and go on a Euro trip.

Money wise, US and Canada are a lot closer than in 2017. At least I feel so because I am in expensive California, lol.

Thank you so much for this perspective. If you don't mind sharing, do you work in the computer science (or related fields)? I ask because for non-CS (and allied domains) there are very few job options in Canada. So a 4-5 year stint in Canada poses a very real risk of turning into a long unwanted/unplanned sabbatical.

 

[fr72]

Thanks for sharing,
I intend to do the same. I moved to Canada in 2020 and still have to finish 7 more months of physical presence for citizenship. I did however take a paycut after moving here and found that taxes and expenses are way higher, leaving me with less than what I was saving in the US. I did buy a house here though which I intend to rent out when I move back to US and live in lower cost of living area. I feel GTA is even expensive then California.
Did you move after getting citizenship or just after application? Is there any issue moving 3-4 months after submitting citizenship application, given that I wont be having any absences from Canada since last 3 years. Will it affect citizenship process in any way? Thanks.

I moved after getting citizenship, but you could move before too.

Having lived in GTA and now Bay Area, lol - California is way more expensive. That is my experience at least. And here, I am a nobody even with the pay increase from GTA. In GTA, we felt rich compared to most people. Here, the average vehicle is a Tesla lol. Lot of tech money here, means that everything is expensive.

If you want savings, go to WA or TX.

Personally, I am not saving much more here. But, I like the weather, which makes it all worth it for me.

 

[fr72]

Thank you so much for this perspective. If you don't mind sharing, do you work in the computer science (or related fields)? I ask because for non-CS (and allied domains) there are very few job options in Canada. So a 4-5 year stint in Canada poses a very real risk of turning into a long unwanted/unplanned sabbatical.

Yes, I am in IT. Non IT sucks everywhere, even more in Canada I imagine.

 

[fr72]

But do expect huge delay in finding a family doctor.

Depends on where you live. I lived in downtown Toronto and got a family doctor within weeks. There is a huge difference in levels of service between the core city and surrounding suburbs. When I listened to the troubles of my friends in Sauga and Brampton, I felt like they were living in a different country.

 

[SecularFirst]

I moved after getting citizenship, but you could move before too.

Having lived in GTA and now Bay Area, lol - California is way more expensive. That is my experience at least. And here, I am a nobody even with the pay increase from GTA. In GTA, we felt rich compared to most people. Here, the average vehicle is a Tesla lol. Lot of tech money here, means that everything is expensive.

If you want savings, go to WA or TX.

Personally, I am not saving much more here. But, I like the weather, which makes it all worth it for me.

Me and my spouse combine make 440k CAD here and taxes are almost criminal at that amount. We were making almost same in USD in Southern California but still were able to save more. We bought a small house half an hour outside GTA and the price was even more than some LA neighborhood like santa clarita etc. And Canada doesn’t let you deduct mortgage interest from your income. We incorporated this year to save on tax but we needed money last year to pay for downpayment and taxes were almost criminal, which left a lot of bad taste in our mouth regarding long term stay in Canada. We are pondering since last year about this and dont want to pay more than California prices to live in cold weather.

 

[fr72]

Me and my spouse combine make 440k CAD here and taxes are almost criminal at that amount. We were making almost same in USD in Southern California but still were able to save more. We bought a small house half an hour outside GTA and the price was even more than some LA neighborhood like santa clarita etc. And Canada doesn’t let you deduct mortgage interest from your income. We incorporated this year to save on tax but we needed money last year to pay for downpayment and taxes were almost criminal, which left a lot of bad taste in our mouth regarding long term stay in Canada. We are pondering since last year about this and dont want to pay more than California prices to live in cold weather.

Yeah, Southern California is definitely much better than the Bay Area and GTA in terms of COL. And I totally get your point about not wanting to pay 7 figures for a yard which you can only use for 4 months a year. Which is why we restricted ourselves to buying a mid rise condo on a subway line when in Toronto.

Your salary is pretty good for Canada, we were in the same ballpark when we left. Not sure why you need to live out so far from the core. I guess things may have changed with the rising interest rates. But folks making ~450k can afford decently big semi-detached or townhouses in the downtown core.