How I moved to Canada
People from around the world share their Canadian immigration stories
Jorge’s move from Chile to Canada
We’ve written about our personal experience moving to Canada, but Canada has hundreds of thousands of immigrants who all have their own story to tell. We’re working on sharing the experiences of other people who’ve moved to Canada. Please leave a comment if you're...
Erick’s move from El Salvador to Quebec
We’ve written about our personal experience moving to Canada, but Canada has hundreds of thousands of immigrants who all have their own story to tell. We’re working on sharing the experiences of other people who’ve moved to Canada. Here's our first immigration...
All the ways you can move to Canada, legally
Your passport isn't enough to allow you to move to Canada.
If you're looking to immigrate to Canada, there are a number of pathways to permanent residency and citizenship.
Have skills
If your score is high enough, you can have PR status within 6 months.
Marry a Canadian
Marriage doesn’t automatically get you a Canadian passport, sorry.
Take a working holiday
If you're under 35, you can try out living in Canada for up to two years.
Go to school
A Canadian degree can put you on the path to citizenship.
Retire in Canada
Retiring in Canada is no longer as simple as it used to be.
All the options
There are a lot of ways to move to Canada. Find the best fit for you.
What you need to know
There are a lot of things to think about before moving to another country.
Immigration FAQs
Have questions? Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions.
Can you move to Canada?
Take the quiz and find out in 5 minutes.
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Serious about moving?
Get the full story in my book, with everything you need to know about moving to Canada without an immigration attorney, from applying for residency, to getting across the border, and getting settled in your new life.
The definitive guide to Express Entry
Do you qualify for Canada's skilled worker program?
It doesn't require a job offer or even a degree if you have what they're looking for.
How Express Entry Works
Exactly how Canada's skilled worker program works, including how much it cost and the timeline for our application.
Express Entry document checklist
A comprehensive list of the documents you'll need for Express Entry, with or without a spouse.
How to improve your CRS score
These 9 ways will bump up your comprehensive ranking system points without breaking the rules.
Moving to Canada
You get your visa to move to Canada.
What comes next?
- Declaring yourself a landed immigrant
- Getting pets across the border
- Moving your things through customs without owing duties
- Getting new IDs, enrolling in health insurance, and getting your SIN
Canada is just like home.
Except for when it’s not. I share what I’ve learned to save you some trouble.
Living in Canada
Living in Toronto
Welcome to Toronto
Toronto is Canada's largest city, it's financial capital, and a place where over 50% of residents were born abroad.
- Toronto neighborhood guide for new residents from a New York perspective
- How to rent an apartment in Toronto without a credit history and without getting scammed
- Buying a condo in Toronto as a newcomer without standard documentation
- Setting up your first home in Canada Hydro, metered internet, and how to furnish your apartment.
- How to survive your first Canadian winter It's really not that bad.
There’s more to being Canadian than watching hockey and saying ‘eh.’
Canada isn’t just a colder US, it’s got a culture and history of it’s own. They’re just too modest to brag about it.
- Becoming a Canadian citizen How long it takes, whether or not you have to give up your US citizenship, and other things you should know before making a decision.
- Canadian Federal Government A 101 guide to Canadian politics
- Understanding Canada All the Canadian history you didn't learn in school
- Canadian Travel Guides Discover the best of the Great North
Becoming Canadian
Overwhelmed?
There are so many immigration pathways and scenarios, it can be confusing to figure out the best choice for you -- or even what programs you qualify for.
Luckily, we have a simple quiz that will help you sort through the options.
Get the full story
What other prospective immigrants have said about my book,
Moving to Canada: A complete guide to immigrating to Canada without an attorney.
If you want the step by step process on how to immigrate to Canada, here it is. I found the book easy to read, inspiring, and very informative.
Laura J.I.
This book is very well written, chock full of useful information and tips. The writing style is crisp and engaging. I enjoyed reading about the author's personal experiences with immigrating to Canada, as well as the loads of information she provided on how the process worked. Somehow she took a potentially boring and tedious subject and made it interesting. Did I still have a few questions after reading this book? Of course! But thats because each person has a unique set of needs and personal history and reasons for moving. I believe this book will provide most of the basic information you will need to start the progress of moving to Canada. It is very thorough and well organized. I feel pretty confident that I understand all that will be involved in applying for a permanent residency after having read this book. Plus I enjoyed reading the background material about Canada.
We are an American couple planning our immigration to Canada through the Express Entry program. This book has been very helpful to aid us in planning and organizing all the steps and timelines for the immigration process. It also has lots of other great information about the actual moving, landing, and transitioning process. If you are a professional looking to navigate through the Canadian immigration program this book is well worth the read. We actually are using it as a reference as well, keeping pages bookmarked and using the spreadsheets and timelines, costs, etc as a model for our own documents.
G.B.
Useful for getting a general overview of the process all in one place, rather than searching around the internet.
R. Marshall
A lot of the other books about moving to Canada talk about what it’s like to live in Canada, whereas this book talks about how to actually get there. A must have for anybody thinking about immigrating.
Carter
I moved to Canada without an immigration attorney or consultant and you can, too.
Now that I’ve successfully immigrated to Canada from the US using the Express Entry program,
I’m writing the guides I wish I’d had.
Get the latest information on building your life in Canada
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