Thinking about moving to Canada, some questions

[romankasp]

Hi,

I need some advice in order to understand what are my chances (and if it makes sense at all) to move from the U.S. to Canada.

Briefly, the situation is the following: I have been living in Massachusetts for 7 years now. I have one Master's degree in economics&finance obtained from an internationally known academy in my country of birth, and I also have B.S. in IT from UMASS Lowell. I have good English and years ago I also knew French, but now I need to work on it before I can actually use it. I am also a National Guard member. The reason which made me think about Canada was that it has free healthcare and good school system, and having two children I want to find the best opportunity for them. As for work experience, I have 11 years in a large bank (but it was a long time ago, from 2000 to 2011) and I have almost 4 years as a Federal Technician for the National Guard - started as a mechanic, then became a production controller, then was promoted and now I work with the SAP-based production control system at the headquarters. So I'm just trying to understand if I have any chances, so my questions were:

1) Which immigration program could be the best choice for me? There are so many of these, including the provinces' own immigration streams, so I'm not sure at all.

2) What occupation should I claim - I am now working with the above-mentioned SAP-based system, but I also was a production controller for a long time and now I'm essentially supervising and teaching PC's from the whole state. So I was thinking either about management or something computer-related.

3) I also wanted to ask - from somebody who knows both USA and Canada - does this move make sense at all? As I said, my main motivation was that Canada has good healthcare and it's free, and they seem to practice something more like a European way of looking at things and managing the diseases. I am very interested in this aspect as one of my daughters has Type I diabetes, and the local way of looking at it was like "Eat what you want, just keep injecting more and more insulin", while Canadian sites seem to be mentioning such things as diet, exercise etc. At the same time, the local school programs seem to be too simplified, I want my children to attend a good school where they can really learn something, and I heard that in Canada the education level is generally higher.

Thank you

 

[canuck78]

Your child might make you medically inadmissible.

 

[canuck78]

Think you have a rather simplistic view of the situation. Although healthcare is free you will pay a significant amount of taxes and given your daughter's diabetes you will have to pay for all or a portion of her diabetic supplies and insulin. Medication is often not covered unless you have extended benefits through your work. Salaries are often lower and the cost of living is often higher. Moving from the US where it sounds like you have very good insurance would not be a good reason to move. If you live in an area with good public schools the education should be similar to what we have in Canada. If you have good insurance and are US citizens I would not move for healthcare.

 

[megaman]

I grew up and was educated in Canada but have spent the last 20 years in the U.S. So I know both the US and Canada quite well.

Basically I agree with canuck78.

In my view, the school system should not really be a factor (much easier to improve this with a local U.S. move if needed), and the picture with healthcare is not as rosy as you might think either. Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge supporter of Canada's healthcare system - but there are tradeoffs. It can be hard in some areas to find a doctor accepting new patients and waiting times (and sometimes travel) for procedures and diagnostics are much longer as well -- on top of the higher taxation.

It sounds like you have had a successful career so far in the U.S. - but not having more details, I don't know how "in demand" or transferable your skills and success would be in Canada - so if you don't have an offer in hand, also don't underestimate the possibility of a long, frustrating job search and the stress that would put on your family.

At least for me, the only compelling reasons to move to Canada would be (a) to make a significant career move or (b) if the political situation in the US becomes even worse after the November elections. You can't escape the effects of (b) in Canada, but in my case (a) and (b) are closely connected in my current job.

This is not meant to discourage exploring the option - just be sure you do your research and have a realistic perspective.