Why move to Canada when I am a US Citizen?

[ttrajan]

In the future Canada and USA open the borders to work and live like European countries?

 

[kwyatt75]

In the future Canada and USA open the borders to work and live like European countries?

Well, that's what some conspiracy theorists believe. I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[newtone]

Well that explains it. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. What brings you to this forum?

We are sick of our taxes here too. What's worse though is that they don't come back to us in any benefits like healthcare or infrastructure improvements. Instead they are pumped into endless wars that do nothing but make the rich richer and the poor dead. Our education system is horrid and then our politicians cut education funding to make it worse. We have a ton of stupid laws here too. Here they work us until we die. You are just an expendable person...there is no work-life balance here. They keep raising the age for retirement and stealing money out of social security (pension) that they will never put back...then they want to cut funding to it saying there is no money but turn around and spend trillions on wars. You may think that you are giving away money as charity to the government but you actually benefit from that tax money. Here they just take the money and you get nothing. Then if you are lucky enough to have a job that actually provides for private health insurance that money taken out of your paychecks monthly for the health insurance premium doesn't even cover it. Then you have a deductible to meet, and coinsurance that you have to pay each time you use it. You can have insurance and still get a bill for thousands of dollars. You can literally get sick and lose your job because you can't work...end up losing your health insurance and then what...you get to die because our system wants to make rich people richer instead of helping its people. You won't really have more money in the end. Just hope you don't get sick. That said...I hope things work out for you and you do find a happier life that you are looking for here in the US...but having been here my whole life I'm very skeptical of that possibility.

As I mentioned earlier I am here because my family is still waiting for Canadian citizenship. Wanted to see what times lines are for other people. I hope things work out for you too. After all Canada and USA is almost the same atleast in US things are pretty blatant. Not like Canada where they tell you one thing and do something else. I rather someone tell me up front in my face than stabbing me at the back at the pretense of being a welcoming friend.

 

[craiglem]

As a US citizen going through the PR process, I have to say that I agree with you on almost everything kwyatt75 has to say.

One point that I have not seen in this thread is small business. For an Ontario company with profits under $500,000, profit is only taxed at 15%. In the US, that would be taxed at around 35%. Also, overall corporate taxes in Canada are less than the US.

I also like that taxes, in general, are much simpler in Canada. Yes I will miss the mortgage interest deduction, but at least the government is not meddling in housing prices. With simpler tax structures and less loopholes, everyone in Canada pays their fair share.

 

[kwyatt75]

As a US citizen going through the PR process, I have to say that I agree with you on almost everything kwyatt75 has to say.

Thanks, craiglem. I do realize though that through it all there are definitely positives and negatives in both places. I am not naïve enough to believe Canada is a utopia without its own problems. I do believe things in general are better there though.

One point that I have not seen in this thread is small business. For an Ontario company with profits under $500,000, profit is only taxed at 15%. In the US, that would be taxed at around 35%. Also, overall corporate taxes in Canada are less than the US.

That make sense. That's probably why there are many more small businesses in Canada than in the US. I remember growing up in the US and we had a lot of mom and pop stores. Those are virtually all gone and all we have now is huge chains. I have noticed on my trips that though there are some big chains there also does appear to be a lot more small businesses in Canada. I liked seeing that. This is probably at least part of why that may be the case.

I also like that taxes, in general, are much simpler in Canada. Yes I will miss the mortgage interest deduction, but at least the government is not meddling in housing prices. With simpler tax structures and less loopholes, everyone in Canada pays their fair share.

Yeah...the loss of deduction is definitely bad. Housing in general seems to be considerably higher throughout Canada. On the other hand, they didn't have the crisis issues we had here in the US mainly because of deregulation here in the US vs. continued regulation of the banks in Canada by the government keeping them in check. Here is some discussion on the issue...

http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/11/canada-banking-crisis-oped-cx_re_1211elliott.html

 

[kwyatt75]

As I mentioned earlier I am here because my family is still waiting for Canadian citizenship. Wanted to see what times lines are for other people.

Ah I see. Where are they from? They don't want to go to the USA too?

 

[newtone]

They are from India, and they want to go to US too. But since its easier for Canadian to settle in US than an Indian and since they've already spent so much time, money and energy it makes it all the worth getting the citizenship

 

[kerryannbailey]

When I first moved to the US I had the exact frame of mind as Newtone. I thought the exact same things. I lived there for a very long time. I was a young 21 year old with all my dreams and an ironclad life plan. Fresh from college. I worked hard. Very hard... like 18 hour days hard because my thought process was in that 'American Dream' bubble. When it hit me that i was jaded and my frame of mind changed to that of kwwatt was one day in 2006 when I fell down at work from exhaustion and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. I paid a hefty $94 every 2 weeks for medical insurance from my paycheck so I thought if I paid almost $200 per month all would be well. I stayed in the hospital triage for about 6 hours getting morphine and stuff for dehydration etc. I couldn't go to work for about a week after that. A lovely set of letters started coming in the mail.... $ 500 for ambulance ride to hospital (i lived about 7 mins from work. The hospital was in between work and home. So about 3/4 mins). The hospital bill was $3600. The actual doctor who who popped in twice to look at me to see if I was dead billed me $500. All this after deducting what my health insurance through my job covered. Where was I going to get this money I needed all of a sudden? No idea. I had to pay rent, phone bill etc. I saved what little I could but I don't just have $5000 laying around. I was a manager at a bank so I got paid enough. But when something like this happens there is hardly any room for contingency. In order to pay this off (and the late fees because I'm going to pay my rent before I pay the hospital) I had to park my car and cut out the car insurance payments. I walked or took the bus everywhere. I was so stressed and unhappy. I realized I was regressing and I kept having to readjust and reasses my ironclad life plan. All of a sudden my life derailed because I was tired and couldn't work anymore for just a week. When you fall down in the US you have to work 3 times as hard to get back on your feet if you are even able to. And people do kick you when you're down. Yes a car may be marginally cheaper. Yes there may be more to do in terms of entertainment. Yes there may be more opportunities in a particular field of work. I used to think America was just the best place to live period. Turns out it's not. I did not become a mover and shaker. I did not make millions. I did not have a corner office with a view of any downtown city. I am not anybody more than who I went there in the first place. I have no idea where my tax money goes because the schooling system in general is terrible. (I did pre-cal in the 9th grade in high school in the 3rd world country I came from. I graduated high school at 15. When I went to US for college I tried to tell me I had to get a GED and I couldn't get in til i was 17. They were just now doing pre-cal in university. I was bored out of my mind.) There is no centralized healthcare (even the third world country I came from I've never had to pay a dime at hospitals). Oh and what infrastructure?? What work / lifel balance?? Also I was black in the farthest south you can go so that's like 3 strikes against me. The racial profiling was out of control sometimes.

I couldn't see myself raising children there. In all my years of living there all I've ever done was worked. Someone else's pockets were lined. I started to feel like it was a place for big Corporations and people who are already rich/old money.

When I came to Canada it was like I woke up from a really bad dream. The time that I spend with my family is invaluable. Not one of them are bums. They are living out much of thier dreams. We do a lot of things together. More than I could ever afford to do with anyone in the US because we all worked so much. I've never had so much fun or felt so fulfilled. I can go for a walk and leave my door open (no i didn't live in the ghetto in the states). I haven't been sick not once and a lot of my health issues seemed to just vanish. The level of stress I had at home from everyday life was severe, not so here. In my opinion the quality of life in Canada is 100 times better. No country is perfect and everywhere will have thier troubles. My peace of mind is worth more than any dollar could buy. My family is more important than the price of a car or the tax I have to pay to afford me healthcare or my children good education. No money or wanting to go someplace exciting on a Friday night is worth my life. I have Indian friends who moved from Canada to California and Florida. They work like slaves to make sure their business places are in order. They have no life. Their work is thier life because they're trying to 'make something of themselves'. They still come here when they need a break from it all - whenever they can find the time. I wonder why...

Even though I'm a US citizen I'll probably never live there again. I'll vacation there because there are some lovely places there. But living there and going there are two vastly different things. When I used to visit I loved it. When I moved there it was just..... Anyway Canada has places that are just as lovely I vote Canada for the people who want to maintain thier sanity!

 

[kwyatt75]

When I first moved to the US I had the exact frame of mind as Newtone. I thought the exact same things. I lived there for a very long time. I was a young 21 year old with all my dreams and an ironclad life plan. Fresh from college. I worked hard. Very hard... like 18 hour days hard because my thought process was in that 'American Dream' bubble. When it hit me that i was jaded and my frame of mind changed to that of kwwatt was one day in 2006 when I fell down at work from exhaustion and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. I paid a hefty $94 every 2 weeks for medical insurance from my paycheck so I thought if I paid almost $200 per month all would be well. I stayed in the hospital triage for about 6 hours getting morphine and stuff for dehydration etc. I couldn't go to work for about a week after that. A lovely set of letters started coming in the mail.... $ 500 for ambulance ride to hospital (i lived about 7 mins from work. The hospital was in between work and home. So about 3/4 mins). The hospital bill was $3600. The actual doctor who who popped in twice to look at me to see if I was dead billed me $500. All this after deducting what my health insurance through my job covered. Where was I going to get this money I needed all of a sudden? No idea. I had to pay rent, phone bill etc. I saved what little I could but I don't just have $5000 laying around. I was a manager at a bank so I got paid enough. But when something like this happens there is hardly any room for contingency. In order to pay this off (and the late fees because I'm going to pay my rent before I pay the hospital) I had to park my car and cut out the car insurance payments. I walked or took the bus everywhere. I was so stressed and unhappy. I realized I was regressing and I kept having to readjust and reasses my ironclad life plan. All of a sudden my life derailed because I was tired and couldn't work anymore for just a week. When you fall down in the US you have to work 3 times as hard to get back on your feet if you are even able to. And people do kick you when you're down. Yes a car may be marginally cheaper. Yes there may be more to do in terms of entertainment. Yes there may be more opportunities in a particular field of work. I used to think America was just the best place to live period. Turns out it's not. I did not become a mover and shaker. I did not make millions. I did not have a corner office with a view of any downtown city. I am not anybody more than who I went there in the first place. I have no idea where my tax money goes because the schooling system in general is terrible. (I did pre-cal in the 9th grade in high school in the 3rd world country I came from. I graduated high school at 15. When I went to US for college I tried to tell me I had to get a GED and I couldn't get in til i was 17. They were just now doing pre-cal in university. I was bored out of my mind.) There is no centralized healthcare (even the third world country I came from I've never had to pay a dime at hospitals). Oh and what infrastructure?? What work / lifel balance?? Also I was black in the farthest south you can go so that's like 3 strikes against me. The racial profiling was out of control sometimes.

I couldn't see myself raising children there. In all my years of living there all I've ever done was worked. Someone else's pockets were lined. I started to feel like it was a place for big Corporations and people who are already rich/old money.

When I came to Canada it was like I woke up from a really bad dream. The time that I spend with my family is invaluable. Not one of them are bums. They are living out much of thier dreams. We do a lot of things together. More than I could ever afford to do with anyone in the US because we all worked so much. I've never had so much fun or felt so fulfilled. I can go for a walk and leave my door open (no i didn't live in the ghetto in the states). I haven't been sick not once and a lot of my health issues seemed to just vanish. The level of stress I had at home from everyday life was severe, not so here. In my opinion the quality of life in Canada is 100 times better. No country is perfect and everywhere will have thier troubles. My peace of mind is worth more than any dollar could buy. My family is more important than the price of a car or the tax I have to pay to afford me healthcare or my children good education. No money or wanting to go someplace exciting on a Friday night is worth my life. I have Indian friends who moved from Canada to California and Florida. They work like slaves to make sure their business places are in order. They have no life. Their work is thier life because they're trying to 'make something of themselves'. They still come here when they need a break from it all - whenever they can find the time. I wonder why...

Even though I'm a US citizen I'll probably never live there again. I'll vacation there because there are some lovely places there. But living there and going there are two vastly different things. When I used to visit I loved it. When I moved there it was just..... Anyway Canada has places that are just as lovely I vote Canada for the people who want to maintain thier sanity!

Wow. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm sorry to hear that you had such hard times in the past. Your story about medical issues is all too common here in the US. I am very pleased and am glad to hear that things are going well for you now. Congratulations on finding a place where you can live and maintain your sanity. ;D

 

[suniljoseph12061977]

Both countries have their pluses and minuses....Unless you are a highly skilled technocrat/academic it is difficult to get permanent residence status in the USA. So the next best option is Canada.

 

[kwyatt75]

Both countries have their pluses and minuses....Unless you are a highly skilled technocrat/academic it is difficult to get permanent residence status in the USA. So the next best option is Canada.

Both do have pluses and minuses. However, I have to disagree on the issue of US-PR. My mother-in-law immigrated to the US from Mexico and was neither highly skilled or academic. She was an orphan, had no connections, had about a 2nd grade education, and has worked hard labor jobs her entire life (and still does) and did achieve not only PR but became a US Citizen. It seems to me that unless you fall into one of the highly skilled categories, it is just as hard to immigrate to Canada. It might take less time than immigrating to the US though, from what I have heard.

 

[Grace1978]

Both do have pluses and minuses. However, I have to disagree on the issue of US-PR. My mother-in-law immigrated to the US from Mexico and was neither highly skilled or academic. She was an orphan, had no connections, had about a 2nd grade education, and has worked hard labor jobs her entire life (and still does) and did achieve not only PR but became a US Citizen. It seems to me that unless you fall into one of the highly skilled categories, it is just as hard to immigrate to Canada. It might take less time than immigrating to the US though, from what I have heard.

I agree with you, many of my people I know without higher education, making low skilled jobs (cleaning houses & child care) they become US Citizens so easily. Many high skilled & educated workers are still struggling with visas... or sometimes even they lost their visa status

I am glad Canada is taking into consideration your education & your work experience.