🇨🇦👋 Have any of my fellow Canadian designers found success moving to the states for work? What was the process like? I feel like everyone I know who did this is a dev and using visa paths not as viable for us 🥲
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Mostly TN visas. They are… not great. You are bound to company, like most temp work visas. They are usually reserved for very different purposes, like contractors for mining companies. So I have been questioned many times at customs. They don’t like us using TNs, to say the least
Also depends on your level of education. If you have college or university education, it’s an easier path. I don’t know, I guess I’m glad I did this in my 20s when I didn’t have much to lose. But felt like 6 months of paper work for 2 years of work permit. Not great.
Ooooof good to know, thank you~ Seems like hard pros and cons with moving to the states in general, esp as a more junior designer with a non-design degree :(
To be clear some of the best times of my life were had in the US on a TN visa haha. It’s just hard. You make friends young but you may not get your visa renewed so you’ll have to leave. Not sure I’d do it differently. Part of risk taking when young I guess!
I don’t even know if I was allowed to call myself a designer on a TN now that I think of it. My job title was like “Scientific Technologist” or some nonsense. It all felt super sketchy, like it wouldn’t last. 😆