Wow, thank you all so much for your contributions.
You have given me a lot to think about and areas to research.
Its going to be a long week end of internet trawling lol but I really appreciate you taking the time to respond.

We moved over 6 months ago. I'm 45, wife is a lot younger ;-)

Canada is everything we wanted and more. When I was a kid I always dreamed of living in the USA (too much American TV I guess) but as time went on I realised there were too many bad points to the USA.
Then we took a trip out to Vancouver Island about 18 years ago and fell in love with Canada.
I've found it very similar to the USA, but without the "we are the boss of the world" attitude.
But to answer your initial question...NO, you're not too old, DO IT NOW!!!, lol.

I've worked extensively in the US and Canada and, for the most part, can't tell the difference. I don't think it matters though, the OP isn't going to get a visa for the US but might get one for Canada. I would have thought the lack of a defined or saleable skill to be a bigger problem than age.

I don't think that's such a big deal in IT, especially as many of the popular qualifications are American, it's more references. Sometimes they want you to be a member of some industry organization for no apparent reason I can ever fathom. QA maybe.

Yes it's a pipe dream. Do it anyway!!!

I'd suggest you take a holiday in the area you are looking at, consider yours and the wife's skill set and start looking at employment online in that area, then book a trip (www.airtransat.com) is normally cheapest.

You might hate it but I'd suggest it's a big place and what you might hate about one town might be completely different in another.

Hubby was 40 and I was 37 when we came over and we love it here.

Steve from your brief description it sounds to me that the US is a much more appropriate destination for you.

I moved to Canada (I was born and raised in Italy and I'm in the IT consulting business) initially and lived there for 3 years (Vancouver) and I cannot stress enough how disappointing it was. If you want I can be more spacific on request later on.

The USA offer so many more opportunities for motivated professionals, not to mention more variety of landscape, culture and weather.

Do it.

I see from your other posts in the Forum that you dislike Canada intensely, perhaps that should be taken into consideration by the OP when making a decision.

I do not "dislike" Canada (well I dislike the weather but that is highly subjective, personal) and actually I'm a naturalized Canadian myself!!.
I'm just telling you that for the most part, at professional level Canada is a second choice compared to the United States, interestingly enough in 1998 when I moved to Canada it was my first choice and i never considered the USA at that time...but now I understand why the majority of motivated career oriented people prefer to go south of the 49th parallel if they have a choice.

However the US isn't easy to get into and I believe the op posted there first (US forum)

Fair enough, but after reading your many posts on this thread it would appear that you previously disliked Canada, lol, so you can see why I said that.

Let's say that I disliked professional opportunities in Canada and I have serious issues with what I call the "Vancouver propaganda" but that is just my experience so if I can help sharing my side of the coin.

The USA is the farthest thing from being a perfect place, just suits my circumstances better at the moment.

I was kinda with you until I read that old thread. A lot of what you said is/was total bs.

ps. There are people who don't dream of moving to the US - like me.

To each his own opinion I guess....


And I never talk about "dreaming to move"...

I don't want to move to the US either. In fact for the foreseeable future I don't want to move anywhere.

I had the same dilemma originally, the US is a very amazing and enjoyable country, but I liked the look of Canada because of the universal healthcare. In the US healthcare is very expensive and even getting insured can be problematic. However if this does concern you there are some US states that offer State-run health insurance options, such as Oregon. I don't know a lot about it though.

I decided on Vancouver in Canada, as for one it is close to the US Border, allowing me to have the best of both worlds. It also turned out to be much easier to move to Canada than the US.

I would say that there are just as many opportunities in Canada as in the US, despite was saturn05 says, in fact, there are some incredible economic boom areas happening in various parts of the country, particularly with those related to natural resources.

Downsides with Vancouver are that it is very expensive and is desirable, making it an "employers market". It can be quite difficult to get a job, or at the very least a decent paying one, which has made me contemplate leaving the city, although Software Engineering and Development has a fairly healthy economy here.

But this thread wasn't about Vancouver specifically, even though saturn05 loves to keep bringing it up, and I can tell you elsewhere in Canada is quite different. Housing can be quite affordable in booming cities like Winnipeg, jobs are always available in places like Alberta where Oil is extracted, and there are some great arts and culture scenes around different cities in the country.

That being said the US does have great cities which are no doubt wonderful places to live, Seattle just south of Vancouver has a phenomenal music and arts scene, and I will be honest and say there is a huge appeal to me to live there. Housing is affordable and employment postings are honest about things like salary and benefits (job postings in vancouver very rarely list the salary which can end up wasting a lot of time). However moving there would be a difficult, even if I became a Canadian citizen (NAFTA), and the thought of having some terrible illness and it costing me hundreds of thousands of dollars ultimately makes me feel more comfortable up here.