Relocating to a new country?

I've constantly (since maybe 18-years-old) considered moving to Canada (Ottawa possibly) and was curious if anyone here has ever relocated to a new country?

 

What was your experience like? What was the visa process like (for that country)? Did you struggle with anything?

 

Any stories, no matter how long, would be appreciate. ^^

I relocated from Europe to the US about seven years ago for work, I got the job through friends and the company paid all the immigration lawyer fees (of which fees just to the US government were several thousand dollars, I don't even want to know what the lawyer firm charged). There was a LOT of paperwork involved, I had to get resumes from past employers, dobleepents from my university and since all of these were in a different language than English I had to get them translated and the translated copies notarized. I got a copy of everything that was submitted in the end and it was well over 100 pages.

 

The entire process from when I got the job and until I set foot in the US was about five months, most of that was for the lawyers to ensure that they had all the papers they needed. And this was just me moving on my own, if I had to bring a family I'm sure it would have been a lot more work.

In agreement with the above that an efficient way to relocate to a new country is through one's workplace. They'll have processes in place to cover all required regulatory steps, whatever they may be for the destination country. If your existing workplace is not multinational, flying over on a tourist visa and then applying for work in order to upgrade to a longer-term visa may also be possible. That's just speaking in general, for I don't know much about Canadian-specific immigration law.

 

I moved my family to Japan, and it went as smoothly as one could expect for an international relocation. My DD heads were carried with me, whilst the bodies and everything else went by cargo ship. This was probably overkill, so I didn't do it again later. I had a visa tied to my workplace.

 

The hardest thing about the move was relinquishing control of my personal belongings, watching them get crated and hauled off towards the cargo ship, not to be seen again for two months (you hope). I always personally pack, load, and drive the Penske on all moves one can drive to, so it was terribly stressful to not be allowed to do so this time. I guess this wouldn't apply to US->Canada, though, where you could just drive to get there, especially from someplace as close as Ohio.

 

There are lots of details about banking, housing, driver licensing, car insurance, and other regulatory topics I could talk about, but none of that would be relevant unless you were also moving to Japan in particular. For interest's sake, one blurb.. Japan requires all vehicles to pass a rigorous inspection every two years and pay JCI of around $450 in conjunction with the inspection, which is the compulsory level of car insurance you must carry. Compliance is indicated by a windshield sticker. Additional liability and property damage insurance is available from private companies, cheap, and highly recommended because court-ordered reparations payments to victims of accidents (separate from medical costs) can be astronomical in Japan. There is also a yearly road tax of $70 or so, which functions like yearly car registration in the US. Compliance is indicated by an additional windshield sticker, separate from the JCI sticker.

 

I also had to make another international move back to the US when I retired. Visas are tied to your status as a student, worker, celebrity, or spouse, so when you cease to fall into any of those categories (like retiring, graduating, or getting divorced) you must return to your country of origin. I get the feeling that Japan is hardly alone in that regard. Even though I didn't get to stay permanently, I knew that going in and went anyways. It was well worth it.