My very first entry stamp on my old French passport This is my immigration timeline for both the permanent residence and the citizenship process. Note that I was very lucky, my application was...
My very first entry stamp on my old French passport This is my immigration timeline for both the permanent residence and the citizenship process. Note that I was very lucky, my application was...
So here I was, this morning, trying to remember which province joined the Confederation last (in case you want to know, it’s Newfoundland in 1949).
Reference checks are one of these puzzling aspects of life in North America that newcomers will quickly get familiar with.
I braced myself for the ordeal—doing paperwork is never fun, not to mention the expected Hunger Games at the passport office.
If you’re reading this section, you’re probably considering immigrating to Canada. And maybe you have questions. Let me just highlight a few basic guidelines to start. I am always happy to answer...
Do you have a question about Canada? Contact me! Meanwhile, read the answers to the most frequently asked questions. WEATHER-RELATED QUESTIONS Will I freeze to death in Canada? Canada’s long...
Yes, It Gets Cold (Ottawa, March 2014) I first came to Canada in February 2002, at the end of a three-month-long backpacking trip from Mexico to Brazil (yes, by bus). A stop in Canada was not part of...
Looking for Canadian immigration info? If you are looking for info on how to immigrate to Canada, start with the Immigration category for first-hand tips on how to settle in Canada, how to...
Falésias de Cacimbinhas, Tibau do Sul – State of Rio Grande do Norte I started this blog—named after a Manu Chao song, Clandestino—in 2006 after I became a permanent resident of...
It hit me in the “crackers & soup” aisle, of all places. I’ve been living in Canada for twenty years and I still don’t know what a typical Canadian dinner is.
Moving to a new country is a huge step. Typically, the first practical thing you need to ask is where you’re going to live — can you actually buy and own property to make a foreign country feel like...
I was expecting Recife to be less relaxing than Natal or João Pessoa because it’s a much bigger city, but I didn’t know the stress would come from international news.
Every city is like a new country in Brazil, especially if you change state. I didn’t know anything about João Pessoa and the state Paraíba, I just took a chance. Sometimes you get lucky, right?
Enter 2020, the year that sucks for pretty much everyone around the globe. There’s no hierarchy of suffering but I think expats, immigrants and foreign workers are having a particularly hard time.
“Hypothetically—asking for a friend, obviously—can a foreign national work in Canada without a proper permit?”
No matter how it’s phrased, this is the gist of the question I get asked once in a while.
I’m not overly worried about getting sick given our lifestyle in Ottawa. I'm worried about everything else, though.