zervino said:I admire your commitment to Canada. You need a good reason to go through all that struggle, when it seems that you could have easily found a nice job in California.
But you can see from the questions of most PR applicants, that they assume that they will work in their field as soon as they land. And the reality for many new comers is that it takes them years and lots of effort to retake their careers.
Other countries will value your previous experience. But Canada, in general, requires you to start your career almost from scratch. Get Canadian degrees, certifications, etc. and Canadian work experience.
Well, my wife isn't American -- and when we emigrated, it was when the Canadian economy was good, and the American terrible. We'd been living in Asia, and coming back to the United States would have been very difficult. The green card (for my wife) is far less convenient than the Canadian Permanent Residency. It was more a commitment to my young children than to Canada, the country we were coming from was very unstable.
And finally, I work in public health. In Canada, this is a better-paid and more numerous profession than in the States; that's not true for most careers.