Rainmaker

I just received an answer back from the lawyer, and he stated that individuals subject to the visa ban were not able to schedule an appointment during the ban.

Is anybody having any luck getting appointments for H1B visas?

tht

Interesting that your are able to talk to your employers lawyer directly (I assume they are on a flat fee model). Generally these things run through HR/Managment.

But great news, hopefully your future CEO won’t recind your offer of employment since the visa ban was beyond your control.

Rainmaker

Oh the information was passed onto me by HR. Thank you for your best wishes, and also for your input. Extremely helpful and very much appreciated.

neill

How far off are you on being eligible for Can Citizenship?

Given you have a substantial wait for a US Visa, becoming Canadian in the mean time will (most likely) open the visa-less TN route to you.

Rainmaker

Thanks Neill for your input. I suspect you are correct in this regard. I do not believe I am too far away from being eligible for Canadian citizenship. I need to do the calculation, but I would guess no more than 60ish days. I am still looking for cities with far shorter wait times, however, travel makes things so damn difficult with the restrictions in place in some places and fear of virus spread too that I may have no choice but to wait.

I wonder how long the citizenship route will take once the application is put through.

tht

Will moving to the US make you loose your PR in Canada? If it will I would try to get your Citizenship before your leave (unless they have the intent to remain clause like some other countries like NZ do?) I was lucky, leaving NZ as a PR I have an indefinite RRV, so you can return anytime and resume PR, without any tax obligations while you are no resident. An H1b is only temporary visa and most US employment is “at will”, meaning you can be terminated any time with out reason or cause. Having a backup plan if you don’t want to get sent home to your country of original citizenship is a good idea!

Rainmaker

whoa whoa whoa.... that's a bloody good point you raise, and one that did not cross my mind at all throughout this process. I need to look into that. Thank you greatly for bringing this to my attention!

Anything else that springs to mind from your personal experience that you believe I should be made aware of?

tht

Not sure if your being moved or being asked to move, that often dictates what an employer is willing to do. A written agreement to apply for a green card for your and/or some sort of repatriation agreement / reinstatement of current Canadian job would be ideal, but if you lost your PR that may not be possible without a Canadian visa...