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> or apply for Canada PR

Just curious, can someone apply for permanent residency in Canada without being there in the first place? If that's how it works I'll definitely consider that option.

> unless they have a made a productive use of time by doing stuff such as freelancing

H-4s cannot freelance. My wife is on H-4 and we felt quite disgruntled when our immigration attorney told us that. Basically, she can only do volunteer work. She cannot have income from any kind of work.



Permanent residency in Canada is points-based and not petition-based like the US. You should definitely consider it.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp


Hmm, I went thought the questionnaire but I need to have had Canadian work experience to apply for PR. Still, it seems much easier to go there and stay permanently... From what I understand, if you work there for 2 years, you can ask for PR, then after 5 years living there you can apply for citizenship. Compare that to the US, where I'll probably have my Green Card in 4-5 years and then will have to wait another 5 years until I can apply for citizenship.


Yes, freelancing might not be exactly legal. Lot of people still do it.

IANAL, but I think it is legal to work for a foreign company from US, as long as the company is in no way associated or affiliated to US. Someone please correct me if wrong.


It's not, we checked that before coming to the US. My wife was a performance engineer in our home country, and there was some discussion about her keeping her job and working remotely, but our immigration attorney said that would be illegal.




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