San Francisco/Bay Area/Nor cal. Moving?
 

Has anyone been/ knows good places to check out?

I'm going in a few days, and I'll be staying with my aunt who lives there.

Mainly shopping and food. Nothing scenic since I'll be busy with some stuff.
And does anyone know anybody who lives there?
I'm going for a couple of days just to check it out. Thinking about moving there, but I'm not sure if I'll like it yet. The whole point in the trip is to just see if I'll like it or not.

My cousin says it's like Vancouver but better, but he doesn't know anything about the car scene, so I dying to find out when I get there.

Also, anyone who has moved there, how did you go about it?

Things like:
Finding a job
Good neighbourhoods
Cheap neighbourhoods
How does car insurance work there?
etc.

Moving by myself. Might live with a friend, but he's not sure yet.

Thanks!

I will just be brutally honest with you on this one.

Simply put - you cannot just "move" down there. You have to have a good reason and if you tell them you're living there, you're gonna get your ass fucked so hard by US and Canadian customs, you'll be crying mama for days. As for looking for a job, don't bother. If you do, get your knee pads ready at US Customs.

That sucks.
What if I knock a girl up and get married down there? hah.

But in all seriousness.
What would be determined as a good enough reason?
And just how bad are my chances of employment down there?
My cousin just bought a place there, but he's going back and froth because of work. He said it was cheap. That's why it's tempting.

1. You need a university degree (BA/BSc/BComm/BBA etc.)
2. You need a company to sponsor you in order to work in the US.

How bad are your chances in finding employment? Very bad. You have absolutely no chance unless you fulfill the requirements I listed above.

If you worked illegally down there and somebody rat you out or US CBP cracks down on your case, be prepared to get deported and blacklisted from the US for a very long time.

And cheap property in San Fran? :lol

For the price of good property in Richmond BC, I could get much nicer property in Richmond CA. For less.

The cost of living will rape you.

richmond is their slums, which arn't that bad but if you have never experience hood rats (black people) you won't like it.

i got cousins that live in sunnyvale. and holy shit i could never live in the states. no matter what city it is. yeah. san fran is kinda like vancouver. but imagine a vancouver with crazy steep hills, bone chilling cold wind 24/7, REAL black people, flaming homosexuals on every corner and fucking high cost of living.

san fran isnt all bad though. alteast you can ghost ride the whip, thizz face and wear some grillz while visiting E-40's fatburger location

I was born and raised in San Francisco so feel free to PM me with some questions. I'll try to address some here though.

*Car scene is good. More people = more cars and more shops. The last Z meet I went to with my local club drew over 200 cars. 80% of which were modded Nissans from lightly modded to crazy show car levels.

*There isn't anything really cheap and nice near San Francisco. Only some parts of Richmond are OK, some are pretty dangerous. You might be able to find a decent deal in Oakland. Despite what people say (most who have terrible opinions have never been / lived there) there are some very nice neighborhoods at a lower cost. Just stay well away from east or west oakland - a part of east Oakland is known as the "killing fields" for a very real reason. Emeryville - just next door has some nice areas. There are a bunch of lofts and low rise condos around the Pixar campus there. I also like and have lived in Berkeley.

*Personally think it is cheaper here than the Bay Area at least for housing. We get hit harder here on things like groceries, income tax, and lack of tax benefits, but I do think it is cheaper here dollar for dollar in terms of just housing. But if you buy in the US you get the tax write off of course.

*Auto insurance is much better in the US IMHO. I cannot stand ICBC for several reason. You have choice in the US for both liability and extended coverage and can shop either around. And it will almost certainly be much cheaper than it is here if you can provide documentation to your entire driving history (something I had to do when I moved here from SF).

* You can always get a visitor's visa - but to stay long term you'll need something else. Work visa, student visa, etc.

Simply put, my cousin has a Bcomm from UBC, worked at CIBC for a number of years before she left van she was already in a managerial position (account manager? can't remember), while in SF she worked 8 years in the Finance Industry as a CFP (and a number of other high positions), couldn't obtain sponsorship 2 years ago (when the economy hasn't gone to shits yet, can't imagine how bad it is now) from Bank of America, luckily she found another job with another bank that is willing to sponsor her last year, now she's awaiting for her green card working as VP of Commercial Loans.

So yes, unless you have lots of experience and a good education. I would think twice about heading down south. like others have said, It's nearly impossible for a canadian to land a position down there now, and even if you can, prepare for the worse.

and housing down there is more affordable now, but still pretty damn expensive considering you want to be living in a decent area and not in some project..

Millbrae, Hillsborough (Bay Area), etc... has dropped quite a bit.. but probably still out of reach for most middle-class families..

well, if you have family in the states. can't you get them to sponsor you? so you can get a green card? or like dual citizenship?

I second what bcrdukes said about employment. I used to live/work in the US as well, and have been through the hurdles to get a work visa. Fortunately, my company hired/paid for an immigration lawyer to make it work.

Like bcrdukes said, you'll need to have the company sponsorship already done before you even consider crossing the border and telling them you're going over for work. If you tell them that at the border without supporting documents, they're going to turn you around. As for a sponsoring company's responsibilities, they'll need to prove there's nobody in the US that can fulfil the job that they are hiring you for as they don't take too kindly to foreigners stealing their jobs.

You'll also need to consider tax implications if you have assets in Canada as well that you aren't planning to dispose of when you go down. (just something else to think about)

I have a sister that currently lives there. She's a Canadian citizen and went to school here becoming an RN. She applied at a hospital in Daly City and was hired instantly and gave her a permit.

I'm in the process of applying there myself. I tried last year but didn't have any luck landing a job. Later on, a manufacturing company did however offer to sponsor me after finding my designs on the net. I didn't follow through since I had some stuff I had to take care of here like finishing school first.

Now I have a BA and 2 years industry experience plus 4 years freelance experience so I'll give it another shot this summer. I've found a few companies worth applying for so hopefully they'll recognize my portfolio and offer me a sponsorship again.

However, the easiest way to migrate to the states would have to be going to school there.

No, because your family will need to have their own business and in some ways prove that no American can fill the void of that position, except you.

She's in Healthcare. The US has a huge shortage, so it's much easier for her to land a position there.

You, on the other hand, will be totally different.

^ I know it will be hard this time around but I'll wait a bit until the economy picks up. Though, I don't mind going back to school and taking my masters in the states. The best bet really is to go to school there and they'll grant you a visa and a temporary work permit. Then just find a job after and have the employer do the rest.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4431877_get-...ed-states.html

As long as you try, I don't see any reason why you cannot find employment in the states, regardless of which industry your specialization is. :)

I'm going to agree with what another person says... what's so appealing live in the states just out of curiousity? I'd rather live anywhere in canada than in any city in the states.

Yeah, a friend of mine is in his final year of his PhD program in San Diego, and he's been granted a work permit after he graduates.

If you have the cashflow, sure, go for an american education and live there.

I concur.

California has never fully recovered from the dotcom bust and they currently have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. You'd have to have find some job that no American is qualified to do to be able to sponsored for a work visa. And there are currently plenty of qualified americans right now but not enough jobs. I'd wait til times are good before searching for employment there.

you can be a dumbass and still succeed.. they have jobs we don't have here, except maybe toronto.

stuff is cheaper or even free, there's generally more choice of everything, better weather, better college sports, etc

that's pretty much the generally accepted stuff of what they've done well.

You need a professional degree deemed as in demand by the US Customs under the umbrella of the TN Visa (for us NAFTA people).
It is near impossible to gain any other sort of right of abode other than a vacation.

Nope!

You can't stereotype all of the US as the same.

I had one friend who grew up with me in Canada, and went to West Virginia to do his Post-Doc, and now co-runs his own lab; he loves it there, and firmly believes the quality of life and cost of living there is far better than Vancouver.

I also have another former Vancouverite who just visited his brother in Raleigh, North Carolina; and he had nothing but good to say about the place.

Having lived in London for several years now, I also would not agree that Vancouver is "the best" place in the world, despite what ICBC prints on the license plate.

The standard world rankings are based on fixed values such as pollution, cost of property/living relative to average income, health accessibility, etc., but does not factor other unquantifiable measures e.g the "vibrancy" of a city, the opportunities for higher education and employment, government/tax friendliness for business opportunities, etc.

I feel firmly that Vancouver is a great city to retire only once you've made your stash abroad.

^^i'm not disagreeing with you there, I just hate the lifestyle in the states (fastfood, highways, suv's, ghetto's, ebonics, mtv)