Hiya,
Depressed southern neighbor here looking for some advice. I’m sure you can guess where I’m going with this, so let’s not mince words: what’s some advice on getting to the Vancouver area, obtaining a visa, and a job, etc.? I’m not really looking for nitty gritty details on legal processes and what not, I can find that info documented in various places online (unless you just have a really good link chocked full of info for me). I’m more so looking for some insight from the denizens of the area that know it well.
I’m a millenial that’s been in tech my whole life. I know it’s a massive field, but because I’ve been on linux terminals since I was a wee lad I know how to do… well almost everything that has a job title for it and even at an older age I can pickup new languages and systems with relative ease. Besides that, I’m also an electrician, mechanic, and musician. I’ve been loosely looking for jobs, but so far what I’ve seen seems to be in the city and I need to refine my search. I generally prefer to be closer to the forest, or the mountains (glacier snowboarding is on my bucket list, before they all melt), but I wouldn’t turn down the city if it came down to that.
What are some not-so-populated areas of the west coast that still have at least a semblance of infrastructure? I don’t really care about nightlife, I just want to do tech things and mind my own business without everything that’s happening around me right now (I’m currently in the epicenter of the southern maga dipshits).
I’m curious, too… what’s the temperature like as far as Canadians accepting educated, healthy, non-fascist US citizens? In other words, do you think there might be some bias against me just because of where I currently reside? Take note how I don’t call myself American, because my ancestry is not indigenous to this land. I just happened to be born here.
Any advice on places to checkout/avoid, companies to checkout/avoid, etc. would be awesome and I appreciate it.
And just in case it’s a requirement, you should also know that I put a spoonful of Maple Syrup in my coffee every morning, nothing else. It’s a magical thing! Started doing that many moons ago and I’ll never take coffee any other way now.
ETA: After a couple of comments and staring at the map, I probably should have said British Columbia rather than specifying Vancouver, that’s my bad. Seems to me like the remote areas up there may be more my speed.
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I live in Alberta so I can’t say much on the front of where to live.
When a lot of Canadians say they hate the US (including myself) we are more so saying that we hate the government, not everyone living there. I fully welcome any Americans who want to come to Canada with open arms to escape what is going on down south and I highly doubt you will face much bias being from the US.
As for businesses, I have started to use co-op a lot more especially for gas. I don’t know how many there are in BC, but we have them everywhere here in Alberta. It’s a Canadian co-operative association and you can get a membership to your local co-op for $5 CAD (it isn’t required to shop there but you do get equity and money back on every purchase you make)
When a lot of Canadians say they hate the US (including myself) we are more so saying that we hate the government
I’m just so used to how the southern confederates act towards things like this. They’ll vilify an entire country like China, and then practically tar and feather any Korean that walks by because of it. Crazy shit.
As for businesses, I have started to use co-op a lot more especially for gas.
Are you speaking of this? https://canada.coop/en/
Looks like they have stuff pretty much all over CA, and even possibly some jobs to look into as well. Thanks for that tip! Co-ops are something I really miss about the western states. They’re practically illegal on the east.
Friendly advice: look further afield.
As in, further north? east? Not CA at all?
Curious what makes you say it in a slightly cryptic way.
Canadians ALSO want to move to a different country, just to be further from the USA. Canada has always been dominated by American interests. This 51st state thing has been a meme for the better part of a century; not that we would become such, but that we already are.
Thought that might be where you were headed with it. It’s definitely on my mind, but I mentioned elsewhere that I have a pretty deep personal reason to be close-ish to Washington State.
If I had complete free-choice and the means to go anywhere, it’d be Finland, Norway or Iceland.
Not sure why you think immigrating to Canada would be any easier than those nations. We’re a real country and everything.
In terms of relative geographical location, Canada is infinitely easier for me. These three are on completely different continents.
Canada also has less work permit requirements than any of the three I mentioned. At least in my situation.
Norway has also completely closed their immigration stuff last I checked a few months ago.
ETA: where in my comments did I even hint that it was “easier to get into Canada” or claim you’re not a real country?
Some people might try to dissuade you, as there is a housing crisis in BC. But truth be told it’s a beautiful place, you’ll fall in love with it. Nobody will hate on you for being American. Anywhere on Vancouver Island would be very civilized but it gets remote up above Campbell River. The Kooteney’s are gorgeous, Nelson and surrounding areas. Shushwap is nice. The Okanagan. Up north Quesnel is supposed to be great. There are crappy areas in some of these places too, the island feels methy at times. It’s not perfect but you could make a life there and be very happy imo. It’s gonna be expensive
Damn, the housing bits I didn’t really know about, which means that expensive is probably an understatement.
It’s almost sounding like I may need to consider anywhere else in CA. I do love remote, though. I really love remote areas. The sound of nature does wonders for my tinnitus and focus.
We’re a country of mostly trees and fields, so there’s no lack of nature. Or remoteness.
I would try to find a map of areas serviced by fibre optic internet, and use that to target regions to look into.
Do note, though, that basically anywhere between the Rockies and, like, Fredericton gets right proper cold during winter.
Good idea on the fibre map!
I’ve experienced cold-as-shit, but I’m not sure I’ve experienced proper cold yet. Lowest was -8F (-22C) and even then it only lasted for the coldest part of that night and went just above 0F (-17C) as the sun came out.
I lived in Vermont at the time, house was heated by an oil furnace. The furnace died 2 days before this happened and didn’t get replaced until a week after 🥲
For reference, most of Saskatchewan has been below -30 for all of February. Hit -40 on Tuesday. Finally warmed up yesterday. That’s a little colder for longer than we usually get, but not by very much. Large parts of Alberta are similar.
The central provinces have pretty extreme temperature swings between winter and summer. BC, southern Ontario and QC, and the maritimes are less extreme.
