toni1

hi all,
i heard its a nice city, close to all borders, and other major cities, also homes are dirt cheap there...can anyone please shed some light if your living there currently or have in the past and the advantages or disadvantages?

thanks,

G77

Do you have a job lined up? What industry are you in? Finding a job as an immigrant would be neigh on impossible around there at the moment (hence the cheap house prices).

We're heading for Windsor in September hopefully, but I have a job lined up with the company I work for here in the UK....

Biiiiink

I love it here, but the economic situation doesn't affect us. What do you do for work toni1?

toni1

i work as IT admin, here in calgary...so ive heard alot of people drive across to detroit for work, i know ontario is a manufacturing place, but is there really no other jobs out there? how are people living then?

how is the weather there? now ontario for the most part has brutal winters with lots of snow, how is windsor?

thanks,

G77

There is indeed plenty of IT work in Detroit, there's a big EDS office and also Compuware's worldwide HQ, probably lots of smaller places too. To make it feasible however, you'd need to find a company willing to support you in getting a TN visa - which I think, but could be wrong, you need to be a Canadian citizen to get. To make crossing the border on a daily basis possible/bearable, you'd also need to be eligible for a Nexus tag, which lets you drive across the border without all the customs/immigration nonsense - this again needs you to have been I think a PR for 3 years.

So it depends on your circumstances.... it's possible, but personally I'd like to have something lined up (or a large cash buffer!)

iaink

Does it? Ive been here ten years and wouldnt say that. Its warmer than Alberta, winter is shorter, and we dont get half the snow the East Coast does.


Windsor (and Detroit) is a one trick town. If Automotive is hurting, then you can bet that things are hard there.

TN is a Nafta visa class. Non canadians can forget about it. H1-B is an option, but not all that easy to find.

G77

Not necessarily - just searched on monster for "Microsoft Windows" in detroit and it came back with 93 jobs, which whilst not an immense amount, certainly gives some scope.....

dbd33

An additional snag with working for a US service bureau or consulting firm is that if they have a lot of government work they prefer people who are carded (have a US government security clearance) and/or are citizens. My email address on one client's system includes both a security classification and "non-US" so no one makes a mistake and sends me something I shouldn't see. A UK national resident in Canada likely wouldn't be the first choice of employee.

toni1

im a canadian citizen, and lets say i dont want to go to detriot to work, is there IT jobs in windsor? any other things that is good and bad about the city?

dbd33

No.

toni1

db, i you dont have any relevant comments, please dont respond at all.

dbd33

How much more relevant do you want than "No"?

G77

Bit harsh - there's IT jobs everywhere.... just depends what you're looking for.....

They're not likely to be plentiful though I have to admit!

dbd33

OK I'll try again. Windsor is not renowned as a centre for computing jobs, it's economically depressed and depends on an industry which tends to have its computing facilities located remotely; in Detroit or Oakville. It is as bad a choice of location as any of a similar population. Or, in short, no.

G77

That's more like it - he didn't say he wasn't up for a challenge