Laying the ground work... North America

[WindyMiller1020]

I was looking for help on living and working in North America, either the USA or Canada.

Me and my DH know that we eventually want to leave the UK, no rush to move immediately but we want to start laying the groundwork to open up the option to go.

My DH works in a niche area of IT and I work in marketing. In your experience would the best way to get the visas needed be to get a job at a company that has offices there so that we could then look at transferring?

We'd be happy to look at going on either a shorter secondment or on longer contracts but I'm not really sure how it all works, I've looked quite deeply into Canada and have come across IEC visas but it seems we'd have to apply independently from each other which wouldn't be ideal.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I have no idea in Canada but for the US then you would need to find a job in the U.K., work for the company for a year then take an internal transfer to get the L visa. Preferably as a manager so you get the L1A which can covert to green card (permanent residency) more easily. The alternative where you’d just get a job and they’d sponsor you for a visa- H1B visa is a much tougher route, the quota is exceed every year, they’re like gold dust and don’t allow the trailing spouse to work.

See if you have enough points to qualify for express entry for canada. This will depend on qualifications, if your occupations are skilled, age etc. You get more points if you have a job offer but don't need one. If you get a high enough score you can go in the pool to get a permanent residency visa.

@expressed that's great thanks, I'm pleasantly surprised that I/we would only need to work at a company for a year before transferring.

I've been researching companies to work for in the past few weeks, and been wishing I was london based as the big companies are all down there, not where i am! Luckily I'm commutable to 2 cities so there must be some opportunities that will come up eventually!

Do you both speak French?

www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html. if one of you has enough points the other gets in as a spouse (that's what we did - I had a job offer though so that counted for a lot of points).

@Taytotots do you know if companies are particularly likely to give job offers before you sort visas in canada? I dont think we could look to move without jobs I think we'd need it lined up before we went!

That's definitely something I'll look into though, thank you!

Canada I found impossible to get a visa. (I was married to a Canadian and had a job offer and owned a flat with my DH there) Spoke fluent French. I am English.

Told 3 year wait minimum (10 years ago) so we moved to Europe.

@Taytotots sorry cross post there! That is brilliant thank you.

@BillieEilish we dont, no - kicking myself now that I was so lazy with languages at school and didnt carry them on

No, you will need the visa first. I worked in London and has the job offer but it was made clear I had to have my visa sorted.

I actually got married in Montreal. It is incredibly hard to get a visa. I was not even eligible to volunteer.

You will absolutely need to speak French to get a visa for Canada. Sorry.
It is an official language and to work there you will HAVE to speak it.

Billie that might be true for Quebec but not elsewhere. New Brunswick is a bilingual province and not needed even here. You get point for either official language (english or french) and slightly more if you speak both.

Points....

I thought

1. My DH is Canadian and works there
2. He had plenty of funds to prove he could support me
3. I had a job offer
4. I spoke perfect French, my job was with a French company
5. I got married there
6. DH and I owned a flat there
7. I was from London, it is part of the commonwealth

But no, absolutely not.

I went through all the horrible medicals, (pray you have no blood diseases) filled out 50 pages of forms, had a sponser. Honestly, nope, IMO you don't stand a chance

I got a job offer then my company supported us through the express entry process. I am a fairly niche field though. It really depends on your area of work.

Quebec sounds much harder Billie. Glad we didn't try to move there!

Well, if you are narrowing down... to New Brunswick I have no idea.

But the main cities, Montreal, Toronto etc. No. No idea about New Brunswick or the procedures there or job opportunities there for OP

But I presume she would need to just get a Canadian working visa and would definitely need to speak French.

As I said, just my experience but it was 10 years ago.

All my IL's live in Vancouver, absolutely the same I'm afraid.

Taytotots the key thing here is you had a job and they supported you through the process.

Different kettle of fish.

Wow I'll go through the link above in more detail but if you have to be fluent in french then we have no chance, although we wouldn't be trying to go for any kind of permanent move straight away, probably an open work Visa if that makes any difference to the criteria. I just did the "are you eligible" questionnaire on the links above and it didnt ask about what languages we speak but obviously thats just a top line overview.

Food for thought! I have to say I thought canada would be easier to get a Visa for than the usa but maybe not.

Things must have changed then. My DH was offered a job 9 years ago. The employer had to jump through a few hoops to prove there were no Canadians to do the job. He was offered the job mid January and started in March. I followed in May. My visa enabled me to work in most things, except agriculture and education. Their legal team helped us with PR but I did the citizenship application myself when we were eligible.

You absolutely do not have to be fluent in french. The job offer got me more points but i was in the same express entry process as anyone skilled would be. You just have to add up your point. Try the calculator op. As moose says a job offer helps but they have to proove a canadian can't do job (hence niche area helpful). You can do express entry with no offer though too.

Yes a job offer and 'sponsoring your visa' and proving absolutely that no Canadians can do said job is crucial.

For Toronto and all of Quebec (huge) you will not get a job offer without French.

I amm aware I am coming across doom and gloom but I was so horrified that after 2 years I could hardly even begin the process and I HAD a job offer!

Quebec is an odd place though. DH commuted to Toronto but spoke French all day every day.

I was told at Montreal airport when visiting my then fiancée

'Madame vous pousez les portes' and that basically I could no longer keep coming back and forth to Canada.

Taytotots you had a niche job and employment sponser. If OP is looking for a job and her DH is too, they would instantly have to rule out half the country if they can't speak French! Including the capital city,

If you have DC's OP I hope they are all fit, well and with no additional needs, that is another question you will be asked.

(I had no DD then!)

But best of luck and I hope you get what you want.

@Taytotots just looked at the calculator - the first time I clicked your link I didnt scroll down far enough so did the eligibility questionnaire rather than the calculator. Although now I'm at the part of the calculator questions where it says you have to speak english or french (which is fine as I'm english so it is obviously my 1st language) but then it asks about which test I've taken to prove it... but I obviously havent taken a test as it's my first language so dont know how to proceed with the questions. Will have to do more googling!

@billie I havent looked into it fully yet as I said above but my first instinct was to look at BC. I obviously know that eg Quebec is french speaking so wouldn't have thought about moving there, so i dont mind that it would "rule out" half the country