Just to give you some context, I came to the US to go to College in 2001. While in school I developed a web analytics service (pretty good and before Google bought Urchin) in 2004, called I-stats (making some changes to it to tie with Twitter at the moment). If I could, I would have worked full-time on it after I graduated, but in order to stay in the US, I had to find a job and become a H1B slave to a company. The plan then was to work for them for 2 years and then wait another 3-5 years for the green card process.

So, I-stats didn’t go anywhere, so I started working on another project, YowTRIP (a social network for travelers). I came to Quebec to study French in 2006, and that’s when I met some people who told me about the immigration process here in Canada. (I also spent some time in Montreal and fell in love with the city)

So, I did some research and as soon as I came back to the US, I started getting all the necessary paperwork and filed for Canadian Immigration. The entire process took about a year, and then I waited another 6 months before I actually moved here.

So, here’s what you should do if you’d like to immigrate to Canada. Some of the law/rules/requirements might have changed since I did it, so make sure you do your own research.

1) Decide where/how to apply

There are a couple of ways you can apply for Canadian Immigration: (1) Directly through the Federal Government, or (2) Through Quebec.

At the time, I was told that applying through Quebec was easier and since I was planning to come to Montreal anyway, that’s what I did. However, I’m not so sure it is easier… The province of Quebec has the right to choose who they want to immigrate here, so most of the paperwork is done with them. Once you’re selected, you still have to apply though the Canadian Federal Government, but you’re pretty much approved. Just need to do criminal background check and medical exams.

See more info at the Canadian Immigration website and/or the Quebec website.

2) Decide what kind of immigration

There are several types of immigration: Skilled worker, business, investment. If you have money ($500K+), you can look at the investment opportunities, otherwise you might qualify for the skilled worker.

That’s what I did. The skilled worker is for you to come here and look for a job, but once you’re granted permanent residency you’re free to work on your business, look for funding, do contract work, work part-time… Whatever it might take for you to get your business started.

There are a couple of tools on their immigration site to see if you qualify. It’s based on points you get for your field of expertise, educational level, work experience, proficiency in English/French, if you know people here, if you have relatives here, if you’ve been here, etc.

Here’s the one for Canada and the one for Quebec.

3) Submit your application and wait…

The application is very straight forward and I loved the fact that you can do everything by yourself! No lawyers, no sponsors. You will have to get some documentations from schools, jobs, etc.

So, you first send your basic application. If you’re over qualify you can bypass the interview. I had to go for an interview. I submitted my application in January. I don’t remember exactly when I got a response from them, but I had my interview scheduled for September. Then I got the approval in less than a month. I did the medical exams in November and sent criminal background check from all countries I lived more than 6 months. I got the immigration Visa in January.

4) A few more tips

You will need enough money to live here without a job for 6 months (they estimate about $10K). I bought $8K in cash with me, they asked me about it, but never checked (I also said I had more money in the bank).

My interview went really well and everybody was very nice, but you have always to be smart when it comes to immigration. Don’t give them more information than they need. For example, if you’re applying as a skilled worker, you’re NOT coming here to start your own business. Also, you’re permanently immigrating to Canada, so you’re NOT coming here because you can’t stay in the US or so that it’s easier for you to come back to the US. Naturally they want people who want to make their lives in Canada.

So, here are a couple of questions I remember from the interview (besides things about my documentation and work experiences):

1) Why do you want to move to Canada?

I said I came here a few years ago traveling and I fell in love with the city. And the people who very nice. (True, but nothing about my frustration with the US and wanting to start my business)

2) How hard do you think it’ll be to find a job?

I said I had applied to a few jobs online and I got 3 interviews, so I think it shouldn’t be a problem (True, but nothing about me not really planning to look for a job once I got here)

5) Once you get here

Oh, by the way, regardless if you apply through Canada or Quebec, once you’re approved you can live anywhere in Canada.

Once you’re here, the Canadian Government does a pretty good job in helping you integrate in the society. There are a lot of job fairs, associations, French courses, etc.

I got involved in the startup community and the people were very welcoming, so Montreal would be highly recommended. See Montreal in 2 minutes!

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I hope this helps. If you have any specific questions feel free to contact me or leave comments below. I organize a couple of startup networking events in Montreal (Montreal NewTech Meetups), so if you do choose Montreal, be sure to get in touch. Hope to see some of you here next year!

I’m now working on Twtapps (business Twitter applications) and  getting ready to start on my new venture: 63squares.

Good Luck!

I’ll redo this site at some point, but for the time being, check my tweets at @twtfelipe.

I still maintain the Twtapps blog, so check out TWT Blog for the latest updates related to Twtapps (Or on Twitter at @twtapps).

The best way to get in touch with me is via email @ info@twtapps.com
If you’d like to speak with me on the phone, please email me first with some info about it.

Here are some of them:

Red Deer Advocate, Central Alberta.

MSN Tech & Gadget, Toronto.

Prince George Citizen, Toronto.

Canoe.ca

You can see more photos from @evablue here.

Many of you know I was an exchange student in High School (in Atlanta) before I came to the US for College. I had a great experience and met a lot of really nice people, but above all I was practically adopted by this wonderful family with whom I’ve spent many family Holidays over the last 10 years.

Grandpa Lesher will be missed by all his friends and family. He lived his life to the fullest and I will always remember hearing their stories about when he was growing up and about raising his family in West Virginia to talks about the latest gadget (he loved new technologies.)

I spent a couple of Christmas with them at their home in West Virginia and a few others in Atlanta. Over the past few years they have been spending the Winters in Florida, so I’d always try to come to Atlanta when they were driving by on their way to or from Florida.

Last year I went to Huntington, WV for their 50th year aniversary (see photo below) and I got to see the church in which they got married, where they lived when they met and saw many of their friends.

Well, not much new is going on personally, but I’ve been pretty busy developing new Twitter applications. This past week was kind of crazy as I was finishing up our latest one and adding new features to some of the others. So for the past “3″ days I worked straight for 36 hours, then slept for 10, worked for 24, slept for 6, worked for another 24… and rested on the last day

Anyway, so a couple of weeks ago I released Twtjobs, a simple job application. I got a lot of great feedback and a lot of people using it. I’m going to do some changes to it this week.

Yesterday, I released twtBizCard, a Twitter business card application. In the past couple of days I got a lot of positive feedback and a nice article about it at Mashable.

So what’s next? I’m not sure yet. I have a long list of ideas for new apps, but I think I’m going to take some time to make some improvements to twtpoll, twtjobs and twtvite for the next couple of days…

Mar 18: Just made a donation @ Kiva http://www.kiva.org/lender/… You should check it out too…

Mar 20: So @snoopdogg (60K) and @kevinrose (300K) tweeted a twtpoll and the new server survived (Yay!) Not I-stats… I-stats was down

Mar 22: What is that, snow? I thought the Winter was over…

Mar 25: Heading out to StartupDrinks @ Brutopia

Mar 26: RT @techvibes: Twtapps Keeps Rolling Out Those Twitter Apps http://ow.ly/1vv4

Mar 28: Oh wow, is it really 57 degrees??? Summer is officially here!

Mar 31: Setting up and transferring some files to my laptop, so I can do some work from Brazil… http://twitpic.com/2mwbg - Somebody is thinking he is going to Brazil too…

Apr 1: WTF? I didn’t realize I had a 5 hours lay over in Miami… This is BS!

Apr 2: Ok, I’m in Brazil. Got here this morning. Flight was ok. I’m going to the beach (jk - it’s kind of cloudy)

Apr 3: My niece is kind of driving me crazy…

Apr 4: Trying to work, but my dad fell asleep next to me and he’s snoring. If I wake him up he’ll turn the TV back on. Which one is worse?

Just got back from the beach…

Apr 5: And the birds are waking up in Brazil… so loud!

Apr 6: Ticketmaster uses TwtQpon to share discounts with their followers on Twitter: http://bit.ly/tmE2D

Apr 8: My god it’s hot and humid here. Missing the Montreal weather

Going to meet some friends from High School.

Apr 10: My older sister is turning 30 today!

Apr 11: Going to eat Acaraje (I’ll post a photo of it later)

Apr 15: Waiting for my flight in Salvador… Flight is delayed 30 min so far…

Just arrived Montreal

Apr 16: Just got aubie back. Thanks @paisible for taking care of him.http://myloc.me/Sj

Apr 18: I’m unsubscribing to a bunch of RSS. I see all of their news on Twitter, no need for RSS anymore…

Apr 21: Finally got back home. I have an interview tonight @ 9pm EST @http://www.twittertuesday.com/

Apr 22: New @twtpoll record: 32K visits today.

worried about the cat. he hasn’t been eating today. I’m taking him to the vet tomorrow. I don’t have another $4K to spend on him.

Apr 23: @twtapps was nominated for AlwaysOn Global 250 Competition @ Stanford in July - http://bit.ly/IUgtZ

Apr 27: Just had an interview with @prosperitygal Thanks Michele. Always a pleasure talking to you!

Apr 29: Just did an interview with @readwriteweb. The article should be out soon.

Latest @twtapps on RWW: TwtJobs: 140 Characters to Employment - http://bit.ly/mxZLr

Apr 30: Working on my presentation for Startup Camp next week… (I have to do a pre-presentation presentation tonight)

May 5: At station-c. Great turn out. http://mypict.me/wss

May 6: I have my first TV interview tomorrow afternoon Then I’m presenting @twtapps at Montreal StartupCamp at night!

May 7: I will be broadcasting my presentation live in 10 min @http://qik.com/twtfelipe http://myloc.me/Amr

May 8: Oh oh… I believe I forgot my little sister’s birthday today….

May 9: 5 hours replying emails… I’m going to take a burger break and then come back to more… Still a few more to go…

May 12: Going to go watch star trek at imax at 9:45 anybody want to join us?

We have the worst seats ever… 1st row… http://myloc.me/Ni0

May 13: My interview with L’Atelier.fr: @twtfelipe ? Brasil, simplicity and great apps ! http://bit.ly/t22Hk (Thanks @renaudedba)

Ok, so that catches up with today… Follow me on Twitter @twtfelipe