I'm moving to Canada from the US. Please tell me how to apply for a work Visa and other details I might need.

Question

I would appreciate any details for obtaining a work visa for working in Canada as a US citizen. Website references would be awesome, as would instructions or testimonials from people who have done it or know how to do it. Also, any job, apartment, cell phone, insurance websites particular to the Vancouver/Langley British Colombia area would be very useful. Basically, any information for what it will take to live in Langley as far as cost of living and resources for finding those things. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

First of all--why? Economic opportunity up here sucks. If you like being taxed heavily and have a job lined up, go for it. Don't expect universal health care to be anything but cheap. It sucks even worse. We have the best shitty health care system in the world.

Anyhoo, search on the Web for details. It's not that difficult but here ya go: www.cic.gc.ca

Apartment--forget Langley unless you like the boondocks and driving everywhere. Vancouver is the place to be. Live in the West End, Kits, anywhere west of Main...Commercial Drive is OK if you can dealk with the hippies and druggies. Burnaby and New West along the Skytrain are good too. North Van is fine esp, if you are close to the Seabus to get into the city. Richmond--well, OK, but until the rail line gets built in 2010, it sucks..plus you;re stuck with the "new" Chinese (sorry, but you'll understand when you move here...and before I get mail I grew up here, lived in Tokyo for 20 years and my wife's Japanese...so yeah we're both racist, blah, blah, blah, when it comes to zipperheads but that's due to experience in dealing with the idiots. Older Chinese immigranst are GREAT! The new ones from HK, Taiwan and New Econ Zones with money suck big time!).

We have a HUGE car theft (#1 or #2 crime rate in North America) and break-in problem due to the drug culture here. Guns...well, not as bad as Compton but there have been more incidents than I ever heard of growing up in Bby.

Cell phones--Telus, Fido or Rogers are the three basic co.'s to choose from. You can figure that out and what plan works for you here. I'd say London Drugs is the best bet for buying a phone even a cell phone. I got mine dirt cheap there and they did the Telus contract in the store. Future Shop too but I HATE their pushy customer service.

Insurance--Cars can only be insured thru the govt, and ICBC. Property and life insurance you can search for yourself. Medical--you MUST get as it's the law. There is a three month waiting period so sign up right away as soon as you get your visa. Medical does not cover dental so get all that done before you arrive, if you are covered in the US. But like I said, god forbid you need joint surgery or some such here, the wait times are insane.

Langley sucks though if you want a life. It's not even suburban. It's way the hell out there. Put it this way, if you get a job in Vancouver, you'll be commuting two hours a day into the city if you have 9-5 type hours.

Cost of living--13% sales tax all tolled on most things. You'll pay between 25 to 35% incoem tax all tolled but if you;re smart you'll fidn a way to cut that when doing your return.
No idea on Langley but on TV they said avg. one-bedrooom is $837 in vacnouver. We pay close to $1,000 right downtown in the West End. I'm sure in Langley you can pay maybe half that but you'll waste as much on car payments, gas, commute time, etc.plus you'll be bored out of your skull out there.

Answer 2

It is not easy getting a work visa. I looked into moving and working in the US and the best options were having skill/education that would get you a job that could not be filled by a citizen. The other options would be marrying a citizen or possibly going to school and get a student visa. Langley is about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive from Vancouver. It's getting out towards the Fraser valley. Langley is BOOMING. Tonnes of housing going up, lots of development. They are even improving one of the HWY's out to Langley. Most of the lower mainland is experiencing a man power shortage. There are plenty of jobs, whether they are all that good or not, I don't know. You could probably rent a decent apartment for about $600-$700 a month. For any classifieds go to www.canada.com. Click on the drop down box that says: Jump to: Newspapers, TV, Radio and select The Province (Vancouver). Classifieds will be displayed on the left side. Another good site is www.langleytimes.com - the local paper. If you have to commute anywhere outside of Langley, you really would need a vehicle. If you work in Vancouver, I wouldn't bother, the commute will be a NIGHTMARE!!.. People may tell you that the only place to live is in Vancouver, but I find these people rather arrogant and think they are better than anyone who does not live in Vancouver (Westside). Vancouver is a nice place, but it is HIGHLY overpriced, a pain in the *** to drive around and an even bigger pain in *** to find parking. When you do find parking, you're paying through the nose. Vancouver also has squeegy people who will come up to your car and start cleaning your windows and when you don't give them any money, they get mad. There are also a lot of panhandlers who are getting very aggressive. We won't mention that Vancouver is also home to the very worst area in all of Canada - Downtown Eastside.

Answer 3

You are probably going to need to apply for a Federal Skilled Worker visa. It's a long process - 2 years average from the time they receive you application and it takes a while to put the application together. (Unless you have employment already arranged, in which case you will be getting a Temporary Work visa.)

Start with the Citizenship & Immigration Canada (CIC) website: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/index.html You will find all the official information you will need, including the forms.

www.immigration.ca has a posting forum with some knowledgeable people who are going through the process. This information isn't official, but it is helpful.

Answer 4

For renting apartments in Vancouver the best way is to actually go to the neighborhood and find "vacancy" signs out front of the buildings. At this time of year it's hard to find a place online or in the papers, they all get taken really fast. Anyways me and my boyfriend have been searching for weeks. (We finally found our place by looking for vacancy signs on the lawns). From my bookmarks folder, here are some websites with rental listings in Vancouver that might help you:

free sites:
http://www.vacancy.ca/
http://www.baywestmanagement.com/
http://www.balfourproperties.com/
http://www.aptrentals.net/
http://www.downtownsuites.com/
http://www.renthome.ca/
http://rentersguide.com/
http://apartmentguide.ca/
http://www.rentalmonster.ca/vancouver
http://rentacoolpad.com
http://www.mybcrental.com/
http://www.rentvancouver.com/
http://www.rentboard.ca/
http://www.equitablerealestate.ca/
http://www.crosbypm.com/
http://www.dorsetrealty.com/

sites where you pay a one-time fee to access the listings:
http://www.westvacancies.com/register.htm
http://www.101apartments.com/
http://www.247apartments.com/

Also try
http://vancouver.craigslist.org/
and
http://canada.com
...but these sites are really well known and popular and it's hard to get these apartments, lots of people apply.