moving home to canada

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jan 18, 2006

I'm from Nova Scotia, and did my training in New Glasgow, now in Maine. Been here 7 years and NS is still home for me. Unfortunately a friend of mine moved home a couple years ago and within a year they had laid her off, in spite of the need for nurses. They would hire temporary positions, and change them from full time to 0.2-0.4 during the off season. I feel very cautious about going back. Although I would love to be home I haven't heard about any improvements in working conditions.

gchelak · Jan 18, 2006

Hi there,
I didn't think I could get Dual citizenship that you had to give up one or the other. I guess I will have to look into that, then at least I wouldn't feel like I wasted my money on a green card.
Thanks for the tip.

Between Canada and the US- you can get your dual without giving up anything. With other countries it may be different (S Korea will not let you have dual or they will renounce you I believe)

gchelak · Jan 18, 2006

I am interested in dual citizenship however, just in case. Is it still lawful? How do we go about this? Does any of you had to get it? The more infos. you could provide me, I would be very grateful.
Yours,
Connyrn "frog-morue-frenchie" whichever you wanna call me and specially "gaspesienne"!:thankya: :biere:

As far as I know, you have to have a US green card for 5 yrs before you can apply.

You can hire a lawyer, but it is just as easy to file the papers yourself (my husband's work had one representing him and I did my own-we ended up at the same swearing-in ceremony anyway)

Here is a website with some info http://www.richw.org/dualcit/

The first thing you do is fill out an N-400, Application for Naturalization

http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/n-400.htm

watch the directions closely. The fees changed and were not reflected on the form we printed online.

Pay the fingerprint fee with the fees for this form (another mistake we made) and they will send you an application verification form with an application number.

You can then go here to see how long your local office is taking to process applications.

https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/caseStat.jsp;jsessionid=bVlxRDCW9uH-

The Houston immigration office was taking 6 months, but the San Antonio office was only 3 months from when you apply - there is not an office in Austin where we live.

More info on naturalization tests, etc http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/require.htm

You will then be sent an appt for fingerprints (they made our appt and we had to show up). Another appt will be set up for the naturalization interview and test (again, the date and time is at their convenience). The test consists of about 5 verbal questions usually from the list of 100 in the link above.

After you have completed this, they will send you another letter about the ceremony which you have to attend.

After the ceremony, you receive a naturalization certificate (and give them your green card) which you send with a passport form to receive a US passport. I was really nervous about sending the original naturalization certificate since that was the only proof you had about US citizenship.

After you receive your passport, you use the Canadian one to GO to Canada and the US one to come back to the US.

Basically, Canada does not recognise you to be a dual, but they also ignore it if you are - so it is legal. It is the country you were born in that would have the problem if you became a dual citizen with another country. Canada does not care.

Hope this helps!

Gail

oneLoneNurse · Jan 19, 2006

Hi, I notice that you're in Maine. Are you near the border? I have a good friend in Fort Kent.
I recently moved back to Canada after spending some years in the USA. I missed home alot. Unfortunately, I now feel like a stranger here.
Anyways, what kind of advice are you looking for in particular. Maybe I can help?
Mark

INterested in your experience. I have been in the US since 1988, never wrote the NCLEX and now forced to do just that. Its a pain especially since my real passion is medical informatics. I am wondering do I stay or do I go. Canada seems to need people with nursing and medical informatics experience.

lalaxton · Jan 19, 2006

We spent 12 years in the US before coming back to Canada in 2001. We did get our green cards and US citizenship. The Canadian government does recognize dual citizenship but the US does not. If you were born a US citizen and become a citizen of another country you will lose your US citizenship. This was clearly explained to us. You will also lose your US citizenship if you vote in a foreign election or join a foreign army. So if you were born in Canada and moved to the US and obtained you US citizenship you do not have to renounce your Canadian citizenship. I do have two passports. I know of only a few other country's that are like the US, most let you have duals.

I too felt that having both would help in the future, especially if my son wanted to go back to the US as an adult for work.

Hope this helps.

Fiona59 · Jan 19, 2006

How will the US government know if you vote in an election here? I mean voters lists are public documents but I don't think they send copies to Washington??!!

markjrn · Jan 19, 2006

INterested in your experience. I have been in the US since 1988, never wrote the NCLEX and now forced to do just that. Its a pain especially since my real passion is medical informatics. I am wondering do I stay or do I go. Canada seems to need people with nursing and medical informatics experience.

The NCLEX was easy, IMHO. We never studied, we just did it. As for our experience in Canada, it was less than good. Far less. Now I'm sure it depends on the province you're looking at, but in Sask, it was horrible. The worst experience of my life. I was so disappointed because I love Canada and missed home, but the work environment was toxic. I am relieved to be back in the US. I'm in Maine right now and I love it!

If I was to head back to Canada and give it another try, I'd go to Alberta or Manitoba. Healthcare seems to be in better shape there (to my knowledge Manitoba has the shortest waiting lists).

gchelak · Jan 20, 2006

If you were born a US citizen and become a citizen of another country you will lose your US citizenship.

Further to this:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1753.html

GingerSue · Jan 27, 2006

The NCLEX was easy, IMHO. We never studied, we just did it. As for our experience in Canada, it was less than good. Far less. Now I'm sure it depends on the province you're looking at, but in Sask, it was horrible. The worst experience of my life. I was so disappointed because I love Canada and missed home, but the work environment was toxic. I am relieved to be back in the US. I'm in Maine right now and I love it!
quote]
hi markjrn
I'm in SK at this time - could you let me know some of the reasons about the situation in SK being horrible. I'm kind of concerned about what's out there in the near future - where is the toxicity coming from?
I got used to the good experiences in home visiting in Toronto - great co-workers.
Thanks

markjrn · Jan 27, 2006

The NCLEX was easy, IMHO. We never studied, we just did it. As for our experience in Canada, it was less than good. Far less. Now I'm sure it depends on the province you're looking at, but in Sask, it was horrible. The worst experience of my life. I was so disappointed because I love Canada and missed home, but the work environment was toxic. I am relieved to be back in the US. I'm in Maine right now and I love it!
quote]
hi markjrn
I'm in SK at this time - could you let me know some of the reasons about the situation in SK being horrible. I'm kind of concerned about what's out there in the near future - where is the toxicity coming from?
I got used to the good experiences in home visiting in Toronto - great co-workers.
Thanks
I'll PM you...

elizabethRNNS · Feb 4, 2006

Hi

I live on the South Shore in NS and we are always looking for good nurses.

elizabeth