Hello All,

Thanks to this forum. It looks like a very educative platform for beginners such as myself. I hope to gain some wisdom here about my near term plans.

So(like so many others) I am a H1-B in US who has secured Canadian PR. I got married just last year, so wife is a depenedent here in US (and NOT a Canadian PR) I came across some posts here describing the apprehensions of several people sailing in the same boat. Tried to contact one such person who was in similar situation back in '06, but then thought I would post my own topic and seek help.

I am thinking of moving to Canada in the near term. (3-4 months) I am a software engineer (also have QA experience) with around 7+ years of US experience. Moving at this point because I don't want to lose out on the Canadian opportunity while waiting, waiting, waiting on the US immigration snail train.

My wife is a CA (from India). I am myself interested in pursuing an MBA and have even obtained admission to the part time program at University of Calgary. I am also thinking about applying to another school in Toronto, just to keep my options open between Calgary and Toronto.

My question really is-

1) How do the educated folks in this forum "who have been there", fancy our chances of settling in Canada ?
2) Is there any piece of advice for me at this point on how should I proceed with a job search in Canada while being in the US ?
3) Which place is a better bet for me ? Toronto or Calgary ?

Any suggestions and advice will be much much appreciated.

regards,
Del.

since your circumstances have changed (married after you got PR), you are NOT eligible to enter Canada (unless you have already completed landing earlier), you have to first process your wive's canadian PR

since your circumstances have changed (married after you got PR), you are NOT eligible to enter Canada (unless you have already completed landing earlier), you have to first process your wive's canadian PR

Calgary is much colder than Toronto
Recruiters prefer local candidates (face to face)

thanks for your reply quest. Actually, I am a landed immigrant, so landing formalities have already been completed. As for my wife, yes, I will need to apply for her.

Considering that my background is IT/software (and aspiring to be an MBA) and hers is Accounting (CA), any thoughts on where we would be better off in terms of opportunities, cost of living, etc.

According to your professions, you both can well fit in either city. You may have to face a few challenges to achive goals. As per quest Calgary is so cold, even when we hear about Calgary we feel freezing. I would suggest Toronto.

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Meeting people is easy. Having meaningful connections is the hard part.

I returned under similar circumstances in 2006

Assuming u have not stayed away from canada for more than 3 years since ur PR landing the first order of business will be to sponsor ur wife for this u will have to return to canada and establish residence by renting a place and bank accounts and sin. this should take anywhere from 15 days to 1 month

After this u can apply to sponsor ur wife , who btw will have to return to india or her country of primary residence.

The spousal sponsorship takes 3 to 9 months and u cannot leave canada for extended period of time while this application is in progress, sometimes they even call over the phone to verify if u are back in canada. This happened to me thats how i know.


IT job market is much better than the rest. Toronto is the place for IT jobs, but i know IT people who found jobs in calgary

There are a lot of QA jobs in Toronto.

Toronto is a better bet.

Looking at your background you are more likely to get a opportunity in IT than in management.