What's up guys? I'm not even sure if this is a suitable topic, but hey, I'll give the lounge a try.

Has anybody here immigrated to Canada from outside North America? I've been putting much thought into that for the last few years, and have been wondering if anyone had experiences with that, moving into the local software, web or games industry.

I'm currently 23, been working with web development for the last 4 years. I'm from Brazil and always wanted to move to Canada, started studying french around 3 years ago because of it (and because I think knowing some languages is an important thing) so yeah.

What's up guys? I'm not even sure if this is a suitable topic, but hey, I'll give the lounge a try.

Has anybody here immigrated to Canada from outside North America? I've been putting much thought into that for the last few years, and have been wondering if anyone had experiences with that, moving into the local software, web or games industry.

I'm currently 23, been working with web development for the last 4 years. I'm from Brazil and always wanted to move to Canada, started studying french around 3 years ago because of it (and because I think knowing some languages is an important thing) so yeah.

I moved here from the US, but a lot of the people at my company moved from elsewhere (Australia, Ireland, Brazil, etc). What would you like to know?

I am also interested in this post.

What would you like to know?

People in Brazil, I am not assuming this is the case with you Arthur Souza, tend to think that Canada is an easy country to immigrate because they just need workforce. Is this so?

Also, what would lead a canadian company to hire a foreigner and not a native, beside of course not having enough natives available nearby.

Brazil is warm. Canada is cold. Sometimes so bone-crushingly, gonad-shrinkingly cold that you want to weep, except the tears freeze your eyelids shut and you can not scream because your breath formed a solid mask over your mouth and nose. Are you stark raving mad?

On the other hand, it's the land of good government and excellent social services. Contact your nearest Canadian consulate for more information on required qualifications. Thousands immigrate every year, you could be one of the lucky ones.

I was in Canada for quite some time (from UK), not for work though, I was in Calgary and well my opinion is the same of what it was when I was in the US, it feels often you need to depend on a car to get anywhere, this is something I wasn't use to as in the UK (even the small towns) this isn't the case although some would argue it is ;) I also found the roads too wide and the traffic lights on too short (some never even had buttons, no idea how they worked).

Anyway the people were nice and friendly but honestly things were so far spread out and national travelling was a pain that it was kindda depressing, same in the US too, well for me at least. I am not really a fan of travelling for long hours, move to Europe ;) from London / Paris you can get to most capitals in less than 3 hours in a plane and if you are feeling home sick you can visit Lisbon :)

I also found the roads too wide

Just so you know, it's because the snow has to go somewhere when you move it off the travel lanes.

People in Brazil, I am not assuming this is the case with you Arthur Souza, tend to think that Canada is an easy country to immigrate because they just need workforce. Is this so?

I can't say as I've never tried to immigrate to anywhere else, but it was easy enough. I think it depends on the job you are going for. I am covered by NAFTA, so I think it's a lot easier for me, but it sounded like others didn't have much of a problem.

Also, what would lead a canadian company to hire a foreigner and not a native, beside of course not having enough natives available nearby.

My naive opinion would be skills, just like everywhere else. There's obviously a decent amount of overhead/risk, but compared to salary they are usually pretty manageable.

Brazil is warm. Canada is cold. Sometimes so bone-crushingly, gonad-shrinkingly cold that you want to weep, except the tears freeze your eyelids shut and you can not scream because your breath formed a solid mask over your mouth and nose. Are you stark raving mad?

Hahaha

I live in Ottawa currently. Can't tell you much about immigrating because I've lived in Canada all my life, but I recently read that the Ottawa game industry is looking to add 200 new jobs by the end of the year. Gaming is taking off here. I have also found 2 non-gaming jobs quite easily. Plenty of government work to do too, as Ottawa is the national capital.

Edit: I should also add that I only speak English, but speaking French as well is a big plus. I was asked in my most recent interview but it wasn't a deal breaker.

Temperatures range from -20 in the winter on an average cold week to +40 on an average hot week in the summer. Temps in celcius

Wow, -20 sounds a lot cold. +20 in Celsius is already considered cold where I live in Brazil... maybe I should stay here!

Wow, -20 sounds a lot cold. +20 in Celsius is already considered cold where I live in Brazil... maybe I should stay here!

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

+20 is a pretty nice day here. Don't worry though, some places in Canada aren't THAT bad. In Nova Scotia it tends to be more temperate. Temperatures never really get down too far. They tend to hover around 0 for most of winter (gross wet winters. Or really long falls/springs rather), then in summer they get mid 20s most of the time. You get used to the cold pretty quickly though. The first year would definitely be rough though.