By Jackie Lam

Cori Carl, a 32-year-old managing director of a nonprofit, and her wife Casey Daly, a business analyst, moved from Brooklyn to Toronto last spring via the Express Entry program.

The immigration process itself is a lot like a tedious online job application,” says Cori, who did it without the help of an immigration lawyer. “There’s nothing difficult about it, just a lot of getting copies of the right documents and a bunch of data entry.”

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This article isn’t quite accurate. It certainly didn’t cost $17k to move to Canada. It was probably $5,500 total, including the moving truck and incidentals like getting a new drivers license, etc. The author confused the requirement to show that you can support yourself while you look for a job (proof of funds) with having to actually give that money to someone in order to move.

You can’t just apply for an open work permit, it’s only available for specific circumstances, like if your spouse has a work/student visa and you move to Canada with them. If you wanted to do freelance work in Canada you would do that through a TN visa under NAFTA.
No one moving to Canada as a permanent resident would require a work visa. It wasn’t that I didn’t need a work visa because of my job, it’s because permanent residents have the right to work or go to school without restrictions.
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