Canada: Have you given any thought to moving there?

[Pryderi]

I have. If nothing has changed by 2009, you'll find me there.

[Ezlivin]

1. Yeah, particularly up to beautiful B.C.

My mom is Canadian and all of her side of the family live in Alberta, so I've already got "connections."

If the Republicans steal this November's election I'll be casting my eyes northward.

[Nay]

39. EZlivin--you do realize you can get your Canadian citizenship right now,

don't you? My mom is Canadian, and I just recently got my citizenship. There's a special program. I have never lived in Canada, but I can move there tomorrow if I need to. PM me if you want details.

[Wcross]

54. How about a Grandmother?

Seriously would consider leaving the U.S. for Canada in a heartbeat if possible (and could find a halfway decent job). I'm sure grandmothers don't qualify as an "in" though......

[Nay]

55. No, unfortunately,they don't. Your natural mother has to be a

native-born (not naturalized) Canadian citizen. My mother was, so my brother and I were able to become naturalized citizens automatically by sending in her birth certificate, our birth certificates with her name on them, and our driver's licenses as ID.

Now that I am a naturalized Canadian, my son can go an easier route to apply for Canadian citizenship -- all he has to do is fill out a few papers and live in Canada for a year before he is 28, and take a short history test and he's in.

So, if your grandmother is a native-born Canadian and you have her birth certificate, your mother can apply for Canadian citizenship. After she gets citizenship, YOU can apply and get in more easily if you are under 28. If you are over, I believe you have to go thru immigration like everybody else.

[HereSince1628]

2. I hope your younger than 40 in 2009 because they don't want you if

you are older. I'd have been gone years ago if I hadn't run into that.

[TAPat]

10. Is that for real? Please say it's not...

We've been seriously considering it, but we're both over 40 now. Our daughter is 6.

I've checked out all the info through the online government site and never saw anything about being under 40.

[adigal]

21. I took the test last year, and I am 44

and I was able to pass it. They are also looking for education levels and your ability to support yourself.

[HereSince1628]

27. Well it sounds like things are better...I had a PhD at the time I was

looking...but the issue of age was presented within the package of stuff I received. It flat turned me off.

FYI, I'd applied for several academic jobs and recieved letters in reply that Commonwealth Citizens had preference.

[grizmaster]

22. I'm 45 and qualified to move there

depends on many factors. With me it's recent Accounting degree and having canuck relatives

[Xithras]

31. There's a good reason for that

I'm sure many Canadians here can answer this better than I can, but my bro-in-law moved to BC about five years ago and I'm familiar with what he had to go through.

It's not that they refuse to take people over 40, there is simply a preference for younger people. Why? Because they want you to WORK for a few decades before you retire. If they didn't enforce that preference, they'd be flooded with older Americans who wanted to "retire" to Canada and live off of their OAS without ever paying any Canadian taxes. If you're 41 or 42, they're not going to rate you much differently than a 38 or 39 year old. If you're trying to immigrate at 65, however, they have to deal with the very real possibility that you're simply moving there for the lower cost of living and the retirement programs offered to Canadians.

There's also a strong argument to be made that older people are harder to "re-nationalize" than younger people are. When you emigrate, they want you to become a Canadian, and not simply be an American who lives in Canada. This can be a lot harder and less successful in older people, since they have lived in their birth country for such a long time. They don't want Americans to come up and start demanding that Canada become like America, they want people to come in and live as Canadians, according to Canadian traditions and in line with Canadian social norms.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Lots and lots. Constantly.

For me, that began long before the current disaster in the U.S. I've wanted to live in BC, preferably Vancouver, for years now.

What's happened since the GWB coup d'etat just added motivation.

[orwell]

4. Many Times...

...New Zealand also sounds nice.

[demnan]

5. I'm trapped in the DC area

My mother is elderly and ill and I can't move on. How I would like to go anywhere but here, I can't tell you.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

6. I've done more than thought about it, I've looked into it

but right now they are making it pretty tough to get in as so many of us from the states are wanting to go there. LOL

[mmonk]

7. Absolutely.

I'm heading that way in a few weeks to property hunt. I'm going to buy something and rent it out in the interim until I know or decide my family's fate.

[Spazito]

8. I would wait until after the next election to make sure we Canadians

don't elect our own neocons into office with a majority government. I don't believe we will but there are no guarantees these days! We should be having another election either late this year or, more likely, early next year!

I am gonna work my ass off to try and kick our our current neocon minority government out, work a lot harder than I did the last election that's for sure!

[Warpy]

9. BC was third on my list of places to investigate when I left Boston

for good. These days, however, Central America is looking better.

Mexican real estate prices are starting to deflate slightly, thanks to their crooked election and continued unrest. That kind of unrest suits me just fine. I thrive on it.

I'm looking at investigating in person next spring. I just hope Stupid holds off on starting Dubya Dubya Three until 2010. Maybe Congress will see it coming and ITMFA.

[mnhtnbb]

16. If interested in Central America, take a look at Panama. We're building

a house on Bastimentos, which is in the northwest, on the Caribbean, near the border with Costa Rica.

Panama is BOOMING!

[Warpy]

38. Alas, most of Central America is booming,

and property prices reflect it.

My choices are Mexico and Belize. Costa Rica is out of my price range.

One can still pick up condos in both those places for a reasonable amount of money.

[mnhtnbb]

53. We did a country tour of Belize. I liked Corozal, up near Mexico.

Also, Placencia, in the southern part of the country was interesting.
But Belize is a seriously third world country.

[no_hypocrisy]

11. What difference would it make? * could declare you a terrorist,

have you kidnapped, shanghai'ed to a third country where you will be tortured, and you'll still be Canadian.

[mnhtnbb]

12. Hope you're young. Canada and New Zealand don't want

'older' people to add expense to their health care system.

If you're nearing retirement age (>50) take a look at Panama.
We are building a house there. Terrific benefits for retirees
and much less expensive health care than in the U.S.

Panama is also booming.

[OwnedByFerrets]

13. No, too cold for me, however,

I would love to hear some other, more tropical, ideas. I am readying myself for some abrupt changes in my beloved america.

[Ravenseye]

29. Same

Too cold. If I'm going anywhere I want it to be warmer than that.

I'm thinking maybe Chile.

[aikoaiko]

14. CAN has many nice things, but I wouldn't like to live there.

[mmonk]

15. I also have thought about the Bimini Islands,

The British Virgin Islands, Scotland, and have looked into property in Mexico. I would go to Belgium, but I don't think my family would be prepared for that.

[hfojvt]

17. This seems like a good time to plug

Bill Scher's new book
http://www.liberaloasis.com/2006/09/book_review_from_emboldened.php
:o

[TallahasseeGrannie]

18. Not that easy to get in

Canada IS a lovely country, however. But they have problems of their own.

Wherever you go, there you are.

[quinnox]

19. I've considered it

But not for political reasons but because I thought Vancouver was really cool. But I would probably only move there temporarily, I don't think I would ever leave the USA for good.

[NOLADEM]

20. Yep. Vancouver will soon be ruined, sadly.

But yeah.

Plus, the climate gets more hospitable every year.

:hide:

[warrens]

26. By 2009, the Olympics will be over

And Whistler will be a boomtown.

[AspenRose]

23. Yep...my french is rusty though

And I don't think my DH wants to move there, so here we are....

[warrens]

24. I'm half Canadian

We buried my mom in her home town in July, and I took my 16-year-old over to Montreal for a few days, and showed her McGill and told her, if we attack Iran, you better learn this school song because this is where you're going to college.

[woodsprite]

25. Yup, but have to be cancer-free for 5 years. I'm stuck here til 2011. nt

[mntleo2]

28. Why Don't We Secede To Canada?

I am not making this up and have been kicking this around for awhile. Most Blue states are Northern anyways and if we seceded, we would give Canada quite a bit of resources and revenue. Since the blue states already give more in revenue than the rest of our states, we could be a very big addition to Canadian economics.

In exchange we would immediately have:

* universal healthcare
* no embarrassing war
* better educational opportunities ~ and cheaper too
* cheaper drug prices
* A more liberal safety net
* a place where prisons are not outpacing the general population growth because they do more things than just send people to privatized prisons who use prisoners as slave labor making products they sell.

* no need ever again to face those TIA and Homeland Security goons at the border or on planes that never touch American soil, why go over there anyway unless our mother lives there or something, we would have everything we always had right with us!

* Canadians don't torture people
* Canada's murder rate is about 11,000 times lower than ours ~ and I am not making this up!

* Yeah their current prime minister is a neocon ~ but Canadians are much smarter than we are and this will not last long

My 2 cents

Cat In Seattle
P.S. We would invite all long suffering liberals in those wingnut states to come along with us, they deserve some peace and quiet for all they have suffered.

[MikeH]

43. Does anybody remember this?

The United States of Canada and Jesusland



http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/11/con04485.html

[Karenina]

30. IF you can get out...

[walldude]

32. My oldest son has 4 years till daft age, if we are still

at war and the draft is reintsated we'll be leaving the country, whether it's to Canada or not is up in the air.

[Arugula Latte]

36. We've already committed that we will do whatever it takes

to keep our son out of the military.

He's not going to die for U.S. corporate interests, that's for sure.

[shadowknows69]

33. In better times I would have moved to Canada

just because I love the country. I was actually going to look into dual citizenship once because I'm from a nearly border city. Now? Even if I won the lottery and they invited me I'd have to stay here and fight.

[tabasco]

34. I might move to Brazil.

I'm going there in December to look at some areas.

I have given up hope of having national health care in the US in my lifetime and I want to live somewhere where I can afford health care.

[Nay]

40. Ooh, ooh, where are you going in Brazil? I loved Camboriu and

Curitiba. My brother has lived there for 5 years and likes it, but has had a heck of a time trying to start a business. It's a lot more hassle there than here.

[tabasco]

41. I'm looking far south, maybe Porto Alegre.

Or maybe a bit further north around Blumenau / Florianiopolis.

Those are the areas I will be checking out.

I'm glad to hear your brother likes it.

[Nay]

42. I have been to Blumenau and Florianopolis. Make sure to

go to Dr. Blumenau's house -- it's a small museum now. His yard in the back has a very unusual cemetery -- for his CATS! Don't miss getting a beer in one of the beergardens. Place looks like Germany.

Florianopolis looks very modern and cool. Make sure to take the drive that goes along the shore. I have never seen such rocks, sticking up out of the water. Very cool. Also don't miss the large market area in the middle of town. Full of all kinds of wonderful foodstuffs. Sit in the plaza and watch all the old guys play cards. We speak no Portuguese, no one spoke any English, and we all got along fine.

[KamaAina]

35. I have, off and on, for years and years

I even know such Canadian minutiae as a 'riding' (~= congressional district), a 'rouge' (single point scored for a touchback) and 'First Nations' (indigenous peoples collectively). The last time Quebec held a referendum on secession/sovereignty, I managed to tune in 900 AM from Hamilton (I was in Conn.) to get the live, just barely 'Non', returns.

Since Harper, however, even I am beginning to have second thoughts. Unless they get rid of him toute suite, I fear Canada really will become "America Jr." :P

[ShortnFiery]

37. No, but I'm seriously considering France or Germany. eom

[Joey Liberal]

44. Yes, I have thought about moving to Canada

Also thought about Belize, Ireland, Bora Bora and Holland.

[treestar]

45. Doesn't their leadership just follow *

They are just as bad, they had their version of the Patriot Act, etc.

They support the US as a nation. So you'd still be surrounded by Canadian-style freepers and indirectly supporting *s actions.

Same with Australia.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

46. Too freaking cold ! I'd go to a lot of places that are warmer though.

n/t

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

47. Not to be snarky, but

Why wouldn't most DUers consider moving to Venezuela?

:shrug:

[and-justice-for-all]

48. Germany for me and my own...

[earth mom]

49. All the time!

That or Ireland or the Italian countryside. Can't leave yet though because of hubbys job. Been thinking about the idea of hubby transferring to a job near the BC border, and then we could go for it. Mainly we're in a holding pattern for now and just keeping our fingers crossed, which is, as we all know, getting more nerve racking by the day! :scared:

[Zavulon]

50. I lived there as a kid and am dying to go back.

Toronto, Hamilton, Laval (even though my French is an embarrassment), wherever. Especially if 2009 doesn't go my way. I'm not sure I can handle this sort of shit until 2013 - I was taught to be an optimist, but there is little to smile about now.

[Vadem]

51. Yes, I have! I love Canadians!.........I could move there in an ....

instant!..... if they would let me!

[cigsandcoffee]

52. No. I wouldn't leave America.

I have a tremendous amount of pride in this nation and its history (yes, while still acknowledging our many mistakes and misdeeds), and could never consider giving up my citizenship.

[area51]

56. Canada

I've been looking for a job there, because there are so few jobs available in the U.S., but it's hard. I'd love to live in a country where the people are sane, and healthcare is considered a right, not a privilege for the wealthy only.