

Ask HN: How can I move to Canada to work as a Software Engineer? - cesarbs

My wife and I are currently living in the US, but we&#x27;re considering trying to move to Canada in the near future (next 1-3 years). We&#x27;re both software engineers, but she can&#x27;t work right now because of her visa (H4).<p>We&#x27;d like to know more about what the process is like in Canada, and how it compares to the H-1B system in the US. Also, is obtaining permanent residency as daunting as it is in the US?
======
pards
I'm a software engineer, and I moved to Toronto from Australia. Originally I
came in on a working holiday permit (12m), then got a standard work permit
(12m), then permanent residency, and now I'm a citizen.

Getting a work permit at the time was pretty easy - all I needed was an
official offer letter, my resume and a few government forms. The permit
arrived in a few weeks.

I applied for residency from within Canada and it only took 6 months. From
what I hear, it's much faster if you apply once you're here, so your best bet
might be to find a job first and get a work permit, then move to Canada, then
apply for residency once you're here.

~~~
cesarbs
So basically you can get PR after just 2 years? That's amazing!

------
byoung2
Not sure if this still applies, but there was an article a few years ago [1]
that talked about some areas of Canada having more relaxed requirements than
the popular MTV (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver) cities.

1\.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/americas/13immig.htm...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/world/americas/13immig.html?pagewanted=all)

