So long, and thanks: a Canadian's likely journey home

Journal renehollan's Journal: So long, and thanks: a Canadian's likely journey home 1

Journal by renehollan on Sunday September 22, 2002 @07:01PM

Well, it happened. I was recently informed that my last day with my employer would be in about a month. My vacation for the year was paid out and I was offered a nice severance package. Time to join the ranks of the high tech unemployed. Except, my case is different: if I don't line something up PDQ (before my employment ends), I'm on the next plane to Canada. See, I'm a Canadian high tech worker on an H1B visa, until recently hopeful of getting a "Green Card".

I know. It's tough all over, Americans should get first shot at jobs, and I knew what I was getting into. True enough. You won't hear any "why do I have to leave?" sob story from me. If I wanted to reap all the benefits of being an American, I'd have to become an American, and that meant all the INH hoops toward a Green Card, a five year year wait after that before I could become a citizen. One does not walk into a place and automatically share in all the societal infrastructure benefits. Still, I wish it didn't take so long to jump through the INS hoops: I had two approved LCs which died when I had to change jobs -- and the clock on the H1B visa runs out pretty damn close to the amount of time it take for the Green Card process to complete. O.K. Enuf of a rant against the INS.

So, here I am, scrambling to either transfer my H1B to a new employer or get a position on a TN1 visa before my present employment ends. After that, it's "So long, and thanks for a taste of the good life". I will be returning back to Canada, where the job prospects are even more dismal than here. Naturally, I'm also looking for jobs in Canada, and a place to stay there as well -- my potential address there is suddenly "inconvenient" to my would-be hosts -- completely understandable. Unless something specific turns up, I'll be looking to rent a three bedroom house or townhouse around Ottawa or Hull. I hope my unemployed status wouldn't be a problem, as I could pay a year's rent in advance, if necessary. I could return to the U.S. if a job turned up (at least on a NAFTA TN1 visa), but I really don't want to put my family through any more moves unless we wind up close to where we're we'd be leaving: Dallas, TX.

Ah, Texas. Everything is big in Texas (funny, living here hasn't affected my "size" any, though). The houses are big: we live in a 3200 square foot two story home, with 5 bedrooms, most with walk-in closets, and 3 full bathrooms. We "waste" 16000 gallons or water a month watering the lawn alone. We can afford to pay people to mow our grass, take care of our bushes, and the lawn is watered with an automated sprinkler system. We have a private pool for our subdivision (Americans are big on "subdivisions", it seams: when we lived in Illinois, for example, we lived in "Countryside West", as opposed to "Countryside". For some reason, our subdivision's snootiness garnered greater house prices, and a hotter market). We could never afford a comparable lifestyle in Canada, on a software engineer's salary. For the time we've been here, America has been good to us, and I don't regret the risks we took for one minute. It does sadden me that many Americans I meet have no idea how fortunate they are. We came here with a certain amount of m in Canada, and would likely leave with three times that after five years. A damn good ROI for any "investment", not that we really looked at it financially. But, the party, likely, is about to end. At least we can say that we gave our two year old son the gift of American citizenship: he can chose between the heavily socialist Canada, and the more "survival of the fittest" U.S. when the time comes.

If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it is that the our kids (9 y.o. daughter, and 2 y.o. son) will learn that life is not all roses. As many parents, we have spoiled our kids, though often inadvertantly, as we too have come to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle.

So, the future remains uncertain -- if there are any employers in the Dallas, TX area or anywhere in Canada, I'd like to hear from you (If you're really intersted you can find my resume on my home page via slashdot -- I didn't intend for this reflection to be a plug for my services: I hit the job sites and network with people I know for that). Perhaps now, I can update this journal more frequently. I don't know what the future will bring yet, but it will likely be interesting.

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