So, as you maybe noticed in this post’s subject, I’ve changed my work place. It was quite a painful process because my new employer is a company from the US. Actually, there were many factors which made this process painful and one of them was the fact that we didn’t know (we weren’t sure) that a US company could hire non-canadian citizens who are temporary canadian residents now. At the end we’ve retained really great lawyers (the best immigration lawyer in Canada and one of the best in the world) and they’ve helped us to fill all papers and make it easy to switch to the new employer.

My new employer is Scribd.com - online document publishing company which is in top-500 sites in the Internet now (and growing). My primary duties there as a Scalability Expert are “simple” - our site needs to be able to keep up with growing popularity of the service. I still work remotely from Totonto, company’s head office is located in San Francisco, California.

So, here we are, I’ve started writing new posts again And, to emphasize the major idea of the post I’d like to say it again: if you’re not a canadian citizen, you CAN switch to a new employer even if it is non-canadian company (at least it works for the US companies).

Tomorrow I’m going to review all my paper ready for application and will describe this process thoroughly here. Stay tuned

Details - on their official site.

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All our experience about moving and renting an apartment will be posted here in next few days - I decided to resurrect this blog today

P.S. Here are some photos of it on its home base.

First of all, you need to choose visa type appropriate for your situation. I’ll describe B-1 visa used for business trips.

The definition of “business” under immigration law is limited, and does not generally allow for gainful employment, labor for hire or productive activity such as operating a business or consultancy work. Specifically, in the applicable U.S. law the term “business” is limited to the negotiation of contracts, consultation with business associates, litigation, and participation in scientific, educational, professional or business conventions, conferences or seminars and other legitimate activities of a commercial or professional nature.

I was going to use it for some business needs and to attend MySQL Users Conference 2007. Major problem was to get a free interview slot in nearest US consulate. Applications should be done via the Internet site of the US consulate, but there was no free spots. I decided to fly to Ottawa because they had one free spot at that moment.

So, I flew there early in the morning and returned in the evening the same day. I took some documents with me, but was not able to bring any electronic devices because US consulates has no storages for visitors’ goods and you can’t take even mobile phones inside. Documents I took with me were:

• An application, Nonimmigrant Visa Application, Form DS-156, completed and signed.
• DS-157: Supplemental Nonimmigrant Visa Application filled and signed.
• My International passport (I was forced to leave it in the consulate) with valid work permit.
• My health-card (you can bring your driver license) - will be needed in boarding process only if you’re going to fly back to your city
• One 2×2 photo which format is described in the official requirements.
• Letter from my US friends which agreed to invite to US with a business purposes.
• Copy of my employment contract with my current employer.

Interview begun with one hour late, but it was pretty short and friendly. Then consulate girl asked me to leave passport there and bring one express post letter - they returned my passport in 3 days with all visas valid for one year (I asked for one week only).

1. I did CELPIP test (it is test like IELTS, but computerized and could be done only by Canada residents).
2. We’re going to apply for permanent residence really soon.
3. We’re going to prolong my work permit next month.
4. We think about moving to Toronto (from Brampton) and I’ll describe this process thoroughly.
5. We are going to visit Ukraine this spring, but there are lots of questions about obtaining new visa.
6. We did some research about apartments pricing in Toronto and about mortgage in Canadian banks.

So, stay tune and you’ll get lots of interesting information about live in Canada.