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Comment by MattyMc | Hacker News Reader

Canada is benefiting substantially from the recent US immigration policies. My Ai team at Microsoft Canada was stacked with talent, all immigrants, and most expressed to me that they would have “normally gone to the US.”

I don’t have to remind this community of the laundry list of tech giants started by immigrants. However, if anyone outside the US is reading this we’d love to have you in Canada. Come here, please.

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I’ve been thinking about going to Canada for a long while, and this might sound silly but I was wondering, do people on HN who have immigrated to Canada arrange a lot ahead of time like doing interviews with companies via teleconferencing? Or do you go there to meet people in person first and to investigate opportunities? Or something else?

And when you did go, did you get a job at the company you thought you were going to work for, or did you have to interview with other companies instead?

Furthermore, has anyone here had the misfortune of trying to immigrate but ending up not finding work and having to cancel their immigration plans? If so, what were your experiences like and what would you do different this time?

I’ve seen all of the above. Not specifically with Canada, but otherwise. A lot depends on your personal situation and priorities.

Do you like to go there now, knowing nothing and no one and have a bit of an adventure finding a home and a job? Or do you have dependents and want the safety off having sorted out all the essentials?

Some people start from a hostel with a laptop in a backpack. Some people buy a house and sign an employment contract before the move.

Have a way to support yourself before you go. Either comfortably on savings or through remote work freelancing. That way you have way less risk of either having to cancel because of financials or get exploited by a bad employer.

The current approval time for residency applications is 49 months.

I'm sure it's less for straight-up worker visas, though.

EDIT: I was not sufficiently precise. I'm not speaking of Express Entry / skills-based applications here. If you have a high score in the CRS system, you are eligible for other programs which may be much faster.

Er, correction, that's the time to get to review for a residency applications. I'm not sure how long it takes once the application gets into review.

> 49 months

wow. A decade ago Canada specifically targeted H1Bs promising 6 months special fast trek instead of the typical 18 back then. Interesting why such a change since then - too many applicants and/or budget cuts?

Edit in response to the comment below: i'm talking about permanent residency - the points, etc - not just work visa.

This isn't for work visas, which I imagine is probably much easier. This is for unrestricted residency.

This is not true, do not believe OP, Express Entry review is eight months.

Express Entry is about permanent residency, not work visa.

49 months for Canada? Oh no, I guess I'll never be able to settle down, marry, and have kids. Canada was my backup option if NZ doesn't work out.

Again, if you apply for a work visa, it's probably faster. If, instead, you go directly for a permanent residency application, it's slower and more difficult. There are accelerated programs (like the Québec Investor program) that can get you through certain hurdles much faster, but they're not cheap. And even then, that preliminary process can take a couple of years, after which you get thrown into the 49-month Federal queue.

It's nowhere near that. It was like that back in 2008-ish when there was a backlog hundreds of thousands of people long. It has not been like that since Express Entry was fully implemented. Check the processing times here for yourself:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...

https://moving2canada.com/express-entry-report-2019-processi...

It is for non-Express Entry applications. Those of us too old for CRS-score based applications, or who are not looking for jobs evidently get put into a different queue.

The longest queue is still up to 15-19 months long. There may be some expired streams that are taking longer than that, but none of the current immigration streams are supposed to take anywhere near that long.

I can only speak from personal experience. I've been in the process since 2015, and have had confirmation that I can't expect resolution for up to another 30 months.

That is quite strange. If you don't mind me asking, what is the stream under which you have applied?

I'm a bit skittish about posting too many specific details on a public forum until my application has been processed. This may be foolish, but I've put a lot of time and money into it, and significant aspects of my future are riding on being approved. I'd message you details directly if I could figure out how.

This is not true, do not believe OP, Express Entry review is eight months.

Not everyone is eligible for Express Entry.

That's true, but thankfully I planned my life around the Express Entry pre-requisites.

Right after graduating in 2011 (BEng->MEng accelerated Electronic Systems Engineering), I went to Canada on Working Holiday, decided it was nice, and after visiting NZ and a few other places until 2014, went to Taiwan to get the years of continuous relevant work experience. I'm turning 31 next week; my girlfriend is 3 years older. A 6-8 month process is fine, a 49 month process is not.

This is not true, Express Entry is eight months.

According to IRCC, 80% of Express Entry applications for permanent residency are approved on less than 6 months [1].

There are many different residency programs, some of which take longer than others, but the Express Entry program is probably the default option for most HN readers.

[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se... economic immigration > skilled worker (federal) > I haven't applied yet

I can confirm it was about 6 month - before Covid. Since then some parts of the government slowed down, and processing might take much longer. For a step that should typically have taken up to 6 weeks I had to wait 4 month.

But since things normalize it might now be getting better again.

I know PRs can enter Canada right now but you don't get your PR until you land, so is it possible for new immigrants to come at the moment with the restrictions on entry?

Sorry, I don't know. I guess your best bet is trying to contact the immigration offices - but it might be hard to reach anyone since things are so overloaded.

USA-ian in Canada. I do IT (network engineering) remotely for a US/global F500.

It is pretty straight-up for worker visas, honestly.

Permanent Residency (PR) only matters if you want to stay. There are short term (2) year work permits available, Express Entry permits if you're young-ish and have skills and degrees.

There is also the NAFTA "TN visa" which is just for US/CAN/MEX which is basically one you apply for at the border if you have a valid job offer. It's good for 3 years, can be renewed an unlimited number of times, but it's not a path to PR. As in, you'll have to move to another visa and then follow the steps to get PR that way... but it's quick and easy, and is a decent idea if you don't want to live here forever but do want to do something different for a while.

You could also go to school or marry a local.

There are also a few other more obscure work permits, like Provincial Nomination -- the province needs jobs filled, often in rural areas, so they'll sponsor for somethings. Often these are surprising, as in I knew someone who got sponsored to be a barber in rural AB.

There are also "investor" visas -- aka buying your way in at around 400k -- and a start-up visa, though that requires funding from a handful of approved start-up/VC related groups in Canada. I know tons of folks with a PR, all of whom came in different ways, but I don't know any who did the start-up visa :/

Also keep in mind that the CAD is tied heavily to oil prices, and that salaries in STEM are just, all around, not as high as the US. I'm in AB, and compared to the 2 states that I used to live in the most (VA and WA) the taxes are crazy high -- but they're the lowest in Canada. Investing rules (the dreaded PFIC) and cross-border taxes are also a PITA, and are ones that never really came up when I lived other places overseas.

I could go back to NoVA or Greater Seattle and get a 30-50k USD pay raise... and if the US wasn't under the thumb of Trump, I'd seriously consider it.

Are other countries even allowing US citizens in right now? It was my understanding that we’re pretty much banned from the rest of the world due to our batshit insane Covid response.

How about immigrants from the US, say in the November timeframe?

Montreal in particular is blowing up as a tech hub

I run a startup in Montreal

can attest to that

level of talent is insane

Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal are all blowing up

thank you US for sending all the best techies to Canada

If Trump wins in November this will continue for the rest of the decade.

I’m definitely considering it (Vancouver), but 50% capital gains tax is brutal and will make it hard to move.

I am inside the US, and would love to be in Canada instead. How is it getting work visas for USA-ians?

Depending on your specific situation, you may be eligible to apply for permanent residency directly from the US. The process could take as little as 6 months and you would enter Canada as a permanent resident. You would not need a job offer or employer sponsorship for this.

If you are not eligible for that, you could be eligible to apply for and receive a work permit at the border provided that you have secured professional work in Canada beforehand.

https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/co... (section 3)

When I've looked into that, it doesn't seem like I have enough points to apply for permanent residency. And it seems like it's really hard to have enough points if you don't have a Canadian spouse, although being young and speaking French (neither of which I am) helps.

But the person I was replying to seemed to be implying it was straightforward to get qualified foreign people legally hired at Microsoft Canada. They said "if anyone outside the US...", but I guess it wouldn't be any harder for someone inside the US? But I don't know what process is involved there either way.

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