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[rs7k]

How easy is it? I'm a Canadian citizen, born in Toronto, and I've been considering some of my "long-term plans" lately. I've always wanted to move out of the country at some point during my life, mainly to see what it's like. I went on a trip to California once, and I really liked it.

I'm going to Georgian College in the fall in Barrie, ON. It's a community college, and I plan on taking an aviation course. I plan to be an air traffic controller. There's apparently quite a bit of demand for controllers (that's what I've been told), and since I'm basically perfectly bilingual (french/english, grew up in Sherbrooke, QC), I thought it'd be a neat idea. I also love aviation in general.

I've been doing some thinking, and I realized that aviation is a pretty international field. And I also wouldn't mind working in the U.S. and make more money. I was wondering how easy it was to move to the U.S. and get a job at an airport like that, if I worked and gained experience in Canada first. I talked to my parents about it, and they said they wouldn't mind sending me to college in the States, but would the FAA hire a non-citizen? I really don't know.

Anyways, someone will probably call me an idiot for wanting to leave Canada, but who hasn't at some point? Or is it just me? meh..

 

[darscot]

Everyone should leave their homeland during there life time. The problem with being Canadian is it's just so kick ass here home sickness is a lot worse for us. If your planning on heading to the US it's even worse it's like going to bizaroo Canada. A lot stuff is the same but everything is all fucked up.

 

[cloudwalking]

I am Canadian, and my whole family immigrated to the U.S. about five years ago. We are all permanent residents (green card) and are not currently trying for citizenship.

We've had quite a few headaches dealing with the INS, but they were all on the part of the organization. We've had forms that were supposed to be mailed to us never show up. We've had them tell us one thing and do something totally different. We've waited in line for 8 hours at an INS office to apply for our green cards. Then, the green cards took twice as long to arrive as we were told that they would.

It's also quite a long process. For instance, we had lived in the US for over a year before we posessed our green cards. If you go for citizenship, that takes even longer.

I'm not totally clear on all of the details on the specifics, because I was quite young when all this went down. I just know that you have to fill out a lot of forms, present a lot of ID, etc. My father got a lot of help with it all from his employer, which was great, because I don't think we would have had any idea where to begin on our own. You'd probably be best to check out the INS website (http://ins.gov) for information. It's also great if you can talk with someone who immigrated to the U.S. before you, and ask them what they had to do to complete their application.

Basically, it's a long process, but my family is immensely happy that we did it. It was a very smart move financially. Our standard of living increased almost double. And America, despite the bad things said about it sometimes, is a very nice country. Most of the Americans I've met have been genuinely friendly, easygoing people.

Sorry I haven't been much help giving you any specific information. ^^

And OT, but good luck with the air traffic controller career. My uncle and cousin (they are both from Sault Ste. Marie) are both into that, and they absolutely love it. And yes, there is a huge demand for them!

 

[rs7k]

sorry..

*bump*

 

[seanoff]

rs7k,

you know you can come to australia and work for 2 yrs pretty much anytime you like. although you need to become an australian resident to work for Air Services Australia.

Anything else tho, 2 years of open season

 

[rs7k]

rs7k,

you know you can come to australia and work for 2 yrs pretty much anytime you like. although you need to become an australian resident to work for Air Services Australia.

Anything else tho, 2 years of open season

What's Australia like in terms of cost of living? You make it seem like it's easy to get in, lol. That would be sweet, but it would also be a big-ass move.

 

[etiolate]

...gonna eat a lot of peaches

 

[seanoff]

You are Canadian so yeah its easy to get into Australia, and just as easy for us to work in Canada. Go to Whistler/Blackcomb half the staff are Australians.

Cost of living varies depending on where you live and what you want to do. If you want to live on the North Coast of NSW or SE QLD and surf, not so bad, Sydeny is expensive in that big city sort of way, Melb not quite so expensive. Adelaide (don't bother) Perth not bad and a very nice place (great women) Brisbane not too bad close to the Gold Coast and Sunshine coasts if beaches are your thing. Up where i live, everything is expensive but i'm closer to Singapore than Sydney and it would be way too hot for you. very rarely below 30C anytime and a cold night here us anything below 20C.

Pay is usually OK, min pay is somewhere out around $12/hr, food is pretty cheap, petrol high $1.10/litre but just drive a smaller car,