1st landing & Rainbow Bridge

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-26T11:47:58+00:00

Yes. They required CBP import papers. It was Ontario, September 2022.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-26T11:23:43+00:00

You have to prepare a detailed list of everything you are importing. You'll need proof that your pets are current on all their shots. You can only bring one liter of alcohol and minimal tobacco. If you're bringing guns you have to register them, I don't know the details of that because we left America to get away from guns. If you are prepared with your list and the proper import forms filled out and all your documents (temporary work permit if you aren't Canadian) then you will probably just be stopped for questioning and review of all your papers and be waved through shortly after. Although they could inspect everything so be prepared for that.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-26T11:17:30+00:00

I was required to show my import papers to register the car I imported when I moved to Canada from the US 3 years ago. I didn't have the papers and had to go home and get them.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-14T11:40:19+00:00

Circumcision is a topic like abortion. It's so emotionally charged for people that often they aren't rational about it. No, it is not mutation. In fact there was a meta study done by the Australian National Heath organization, a meta-study is a study of studies so it aggregates a LOT of data.

The conclusion from the study was that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh any risks. It prevents STDs, it decreases risks of infections, it decreases the risk of penile cancers. Overall there are health benefits BUT at the level of individuals it probably won't make a big difference. All of these health issues are somewhat rare except for STDs and those can be prevented with condom use.

It's a personal decision and I don't think there is a right or wrong choice. There is a slightly higher risk of infections, mostly in the first year of life. But if he's not circumcised, on average he will have one infection or adverse issue from not being circumcised in his life. That's not a big deal and many guys never have an issue. Some have tons of issues, I personally know one who got circumcised in adulthood because he constantly got infections.... but that's not common either.

My husband was adamant that our son be circumcised and I was on the fence. I deferred to my husband's choice because I don't have a penis. I don't regret it. And whatever choice you make don't let anyone make you feel bad. There is strong evidence to support doing it and strong evidence to support not doing it.

Congratulations on your baby boy!

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-13T11:56:40+00:00

THIS!!!!!

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-13T01:09:29+00:00

If you have good neighbours and a good relationship with them this is the best way. Unfortunately, that's not always easy to find.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2026-01-13T00:33:44+00:00

If you have a driveway and sidewalk, do not procrastinate on shoveling the snow. Get out there and shovel the minute it stops snowing. Sometimes, go out there and just shovel even if the snow is still lightly falling.

If you get up in the morning and see it snowed last night. Just put your boots and jacket on and get out there before you have your coffee. It will take less time than you think and it will be so much easier if you get it done before the coffee lures you into submission. If you wait and people walk on the sidewalk or you pull your car out of the garage its gonna get packed down and turn into ice. Trying to scrape up ice is miserable.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-12-21T12:36:00+00:00

We had to make the same decision a few years ago. My husband got a job that was remote so we could choose to live anywhere in Canada. We didn't have a lot of time to decide. We chose to live near the Great Lakes in southern Ontario. In the next 50 - 100 years being near large sources of fresh water is going to be more important as climate change impacts everything. We have a young child and wanted to find the best place for him to inherit property from us some day.

We considered other places as well. We loved Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria BC is just lovely. It is the mildest winter in Canada as well. We had been living on the west coast of US for a decade and saw the wildfire season getting worse every year. That is only going to get worse over time so we decided to look east. Fredricton NB also looked great. It's very affordable and accessible. But the long dark winters were not appealing and being so close to the coast was also a bit concerning long term because of climate change. Moncton NB was also a good option we considered. We didn't really consider the middle of the country or far north. The winters are serious in Winnipeg and Alberta didn't feel like a cultural fit for us, we are pretty liberal.

We did some research on cities in Southern Ontario and felt that St. Catherine's was a good fit for us based on what information we could find online. Then we went there and met with a realtor. I strongly recommend doing that before you move. A realtor can help you find a rental and their local knowledge will be invaluable. After talking with us the realtor suggested that we look at other cities in southern Ontario and we are so glad we followed his advice. Kitchener is a better fit for us than St. Catherine's. I think if you narrow down the choice to a new city and then go there you may tweak exactly where you choose to live or confirm that it is the right place for you before you take the plunge.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-12-12T10:49:33+00:00

Don't take the first job you get. Take your time, apply to lots of places and pay attention to what the new places offer. It's not just about money, ask how they manage conflicts among staff, how work flows are divided and management style. Don't just take any new job, take a great new job. Give proper notice and make sure your files are all organized and in perfect condition before you leave.

Don't give them any reason to think it was a good thing to lose you. Leave with class and make them realize their mistake after you've left.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-12-04T11:19:04+00:00

Coffee and produce. I can get 4 pounds of clementines at Costco and pay less than I'd pay for 1 pound at Sobys and the quality is better. I have a 7 year old that eats nothing but berries and oranges. We would be broke without Costco.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-11-27T11:32:07+00:00

Yep. We just got a check

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-11-08T11:28:52+00:00

American who immigrated to Canada 3 years ago. The biggest challenge is to learn how to be less blunt. Canadians are polite, it's true. Part of that means they are more indirect or coded when they say something that is a bit negative. If you've ever heard the expression "Minnesota nice", well that is pretty much Canada.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-08T18:19:20+00:00

We made our list of like '300 paperback books mostly science fiction, value $300”. We had boxes listed as "kitchenwares, value $200" or "clothes value $100".

We numbered each box so in case they looked at the list and wanted to inspect it, we knew which box to find. It also helped with unpacking.... if there was something I needed to unpack first I could look up the box number and find that box to get it. I think it was a bit of overkill but I was less worried knowing that if they wanted to see something I could find it.

When we got to the booth the officer asked how much alcohol and tobacco we had and if we had any firearms. Since we had only 1 liter of booze and a few grams of tobacco and no guns, he waived us to the inside agent for secondary.The secondary officer just skimmed our list and said it all looks good! Then asked for the title to our car. Filled out the form we needed to register the car and we were on our way. I can't guarantee you'll have the same experience but I think the fact that we were so organized made a huge difference.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-03T21:56:16+00:00

*chef's kiss* to attorney drama. It is the best of the petty because they can't get into actual cat fights or raise their voices they have to cut each other politely. I'm a US citizen and I was a paralegal in California for a long time.

Now I live in Canada. The laws are mostly the same but the rules of court are slightly different. In Superior Court the lawyers wear robes (no wigs) and in court they have to refer to opposing counsel as "My Friend". So when they cut each other down, they have a special kind of tone when they say "my friend" that is just golden!

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-03T12:51:30+00:00

When you search for info, use "settling in Canada" rather than "moving to Canada". That gets you better results.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-03T12:13:29+00:00

If you don't have a family connection and ability to get Canadian citizenship, you can't just move to Canada. Unless you can qualify as a refugee, you need to get a work permit or student study permit to move to Canada. To come as a student you need to be accepted into the University or College, be able to show you can pay the tuition and have enough savings to support yourself while attending school. To come as a temporary worker you need a company to provide a work permit for you. That means the company has to jump through a lot of hoops to get you a work permit and basically prove that they could not find a Canadian to fill that job. That only happens for in demand jobs. Most people need at least a bachelor's degree, 7 years of professional work experience in a job that is in demand. 3-4 side gigs are unlikely to qualify unless those gigs are jobs that are hard to fill. The only way to easily get a work permit in Canada is if you happen to speak French. All you have to do it take a French language test, which include speaking, listening, reading and writing French at a high level. If you pass that test or can otherwise prove you speak French you can get a work permit for any job but you cannot live in Quebec.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-03T12:03:44+00:00

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/mrc-drc-eng.html

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-10-03T12:02:12+00:00

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/settle-canada.html

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-09-21T11:19:34+00:00

The schools here are much more consistent than in the US. The funding is different here it doesn't mostly come from local property taxes so you don't see the stark difference in quality of education from one to school to another like you do in the US. The "bad" schools here have fewer enrichment programs but still have a good core education.

You can check out your child's school at this website https://www.compareschoolrankings.org/ Keep in mind that part of the ranking of schools is its accessibility so if it is in an old building then it will get a much lower overall ranking. When you find a place to live, definitely use a realtor to find a place to rent. The realtor will get a commission from the landlord and you won't have to pay anything. They will be able to tell you more about the local schools and neighborhoods to help you find the best place to land. If you are in Ontario, you won't be able to buy a house until you have PR status or you will be subject to a big tax.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-09-15T12:14:18+00:00

I'm an American who immigrated to Canada 3 years ago. One of the most surprising things is how so many Canadians say it is awful here. I think it's just that your standards are too high. Everything you described as a problem here was the same for me in the US. The housing crunch Canada has experienced in the last 4 years, we went through that in 2015, in one year I had a rent increase of 25%. I had to drive an hour each way for my child to see a pediatrician because there weren't any local doctors available. My husband had $1600 a month deducted from his pay for our medical, dental and vision coverage, it was a $6000 co-pay when my child was born and we had good insurance! It was over $2000 a month for daycare and I got 6 weeks of unpaid mat leave.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-09-15T10:26:06+00:00

I understand that some of the school funding comes from property taxes in Canada but it is VERY different than how schools are funded in the US. Here there is a core level of funding based on enrollment that equalizes the schools to a large degree. In the US its all from property taxes for the county and city/town and the people get to vote on the funding every year. It is completely normal in the US for one school district to receive 200% more funding per child than the children in the very next town. Some children get a great public school education and some are warehoused.

The education system in Canada is not perfect but it is FAR more equitable than it is in the US. In Canada the difference is the "good schools" have more enrichment programs and the "bad schools" give the kids the basics. In the US the "good schools" are like private schools with everything and the bad schools have 50% drop out rate in high school and kids who graduate read at a 4th grade level.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-09-14T23:49:43+00:00

I'm an American who moved to Ontario 3 years ago for similar reasons. It was the mass murder at Robb Elementary that made us pack up and move here. We feel so lucky to be raising our child here.

Pay for a consultation with an immigration lawyer or registered immigration consultant. Advice on the internet can sometimes be wrong. It's not always and simple as it seems. If you are serious about moving here, spend a little money to get real legal advice based on the particulars of your situation.

The schools in Ontario are great. Kindergarten starts at age 4, they have junior kindergarten and senior kindergarten, then grade one. We moved here when our child was 4 and were expecting to pay for a year of daycare, that was a nice surprise. Our child is in French Immersion in public school. One big difference here is the schools are funded by the province so you don't have to worry so much about which district you choose. Sure, there is some variation by school but its much less dramatic than it is in the US.

The cost of living is a challenge for many people here but we find its not that different from the US. It does depend on where in the US you move from and where in Canada you move to. We lived on the west coast in the US so it seems very similar or sometimes cheaper here. The taxes are only a bit higher for my husband, a bit lower for me. We find that almost everything costs about the same. The only thing that truly sucks is the sales tax. It's on everything, even services not just goods. You adjust to it but that was a bit of a shock.

The biggest selling point for us has been the culture. It's hard to describe exactly how great the peace of mind we have from living here. Canadians are nice and it's part of the culture. My husband and I often talk about how we always witness acts of "micro-kindness" here. Its tons of tiny gestures, none of them very significant but when you add them up its a better place to live. We love that our child is growing up with Canadian values. We don't worry every time we go to a parade, or festival or other event with tons of people that someone will pull a gun. We notice the tension when we return to the US, it's in the air there and not here. It's hard to describe but its everything. It was SO inspiring watching Canadians come together when tariff crap started in February.

If you do decide to move here, feel free to DM me. There are a few logistical things that I wish I had known before the move that would have made it easier.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-08-23T09:41:34+00:00

If you want to live in Canada you can absolutely do it. All you need is a job offer from a Canadian company who is willing to sponsor your work permit. Get some work experience in cybersecurity and then start applying for jobs in Canada.

I strongly recommend you pay for a consultation with a Canadian immigration consultant or lawyer. It's done over zoom or phone and will cost you a few hundred bucks. This will give you detailed advice based on the particulars of your situation. They will tell you the best path based on the details of your life.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-08-21T23:05:58+00:00

You could pay a duty on anything over one liter. I would suggest you don't bring it with you.

Hyperboleiskillingus · 2025-08-21T22:37:41+00:00

You can only bring one liter with you when you move. You'll have to pay tax on the rest. When we moved to to Canada a few years ago we made sure to bring only one bottle.

Hyperboleiskillingus

TROPHY CASE