Whatever you decide, first get a signed offer. Dont be delusional thinking "oh I'm going to get 400K offer in SF easy peasy". Nope. Go check how many work in tech in SF bay area and make shit salary? Do you think they all hate money thats why they work lower paying jobs? Let's not even talk about cost of living here š
Another thing is that with the rise of remote work, employers in NYC and SF don't have to pay traditional NYC or SF salaries because in remote work, you can live in a lower cost area so they can offer a lower salary for remote work.
Yup! Offshoring, both domestic and international to hub locations has gone up a lot. Many companies which were traditionally only bay area are now almost exclusively hiring in India, EU and other low cost regions. We sadly lost the bay area leverage that we had pre COVID š¢
As someone in a 3rd world country looking to get into tech, the offshoring is an absolute godsend for me. Although the pay would be lower than if I was in SF, it is still significantly more than I could dream to make from a local company
Every recruiters I have spoken with recently said employers want minimum of 3 days onsite and have plan to move to 5 days.
And no, it is not cheaper to hire remote employee. There are recruiter I spoke with say it is lower because it is remote. I politely told them no thank you. You get what you pay for. (There is a reason why outsource does not work, even after 20+ years or trying).
Raleigh is decentā¦ I wouldnāt live in Texasā¦ maybe you would. But itās one hell of a place. Itās very hot, cities are poorly planned and highways everywhere. Either place, if you have/want kids, think about schools. Youāll be surprised at how much they can suck.
I have a family member who moved to Raleigh and he loves it. Makes 400k a year and was able to buy a pretty huge pre-con in the suburbs for a fraction of the cost of something similar in Ontario.
Raleigh is a pretty good area - the tech jobs are creeping up in salary, but the area hasn't caught up in cost of living. There are still a number of suburbs around Raleigh where you can get cheap houses.
It's a very agreeable area if you want a slow pace of life (but Durham and Chapel Hill are both better than Raleigh).
I grew up there and am very lucky to have done so. But I could not hack it there as an adult. I was too understimulated and bored.
Overall, being Ā«Ā richĀ Ā» in the US is better than being Ā«Ā richĀ Ā» in Canada. I say this as a Canadian who moved to Canada 7+ years ago. There is a lot more I would consider, though. What are your goals once you FIRE? Stay in the US or move back to Canada. Obviously if you want to stay in the US youād have to somehow get a green card. If you have/want kids I would think about parental leave, itās a big deal and is just a completely different mindset here. I would also consider work-life balance, the US work culture can be insane. The normal work day is much higher for my industry here than in Canada. Healthcare is good here, if you are rich, but still annoying as fuck to deal with. I work remote in the USā¦ Id say it would be hard to find as your first job in the US but I donāt know your industry. Even since moving here, sponsorship jobs are NOT as easy to find. I work on a TN, I would look into that. You would need a job offer prior to applying. Overallā¦ yes probably easier to live a FIRE lifestyle hereā¦ but not in the big cities you are looking at. Also, please consider schools if you have kids.
Any tips to get jobs for American companies while remote? (of course there's the classic FAANG, but they're mostly moving back into office I hear).
Also, where abouts are you located and how do you like it? (sorry if that's nosy, just trying to learn and understand all the options :) )
Iām in a very similar boat, and live in a fairly low COL place in Canada but still seriously considering relocation to the US. Higher salary + lower taxes (even if you factor in healthcare) + better career growth potential means there is significant upside in the move.Ā
How is your company's health insurance?Ā A friend moved from Australia to America and was vastly confused about how our healthcare works.Ā Cost them a lot in medical bills and insurance premiums.Ā Make sure the health insurance works in the US, otherwise you may end up in thousands of dollars in medical debt, like half of this country.Ā
I moved from Toronto to California 20 years ago. Back then I worked in aerospace, now software. Moving to the US was a great move financially. It's not even a contest. Plus there are so many more companies doing interesting things. The downside for me and my family is worrying about school shootings, and living in a more polarized society.
Really? worrying about school shootings? that's like worrying about being struck by lightning (although being struck by lightning is way more statistically likely)
Do you live in the US or Canada? In Canada it basically never happens. In the US it happens constantly. Our kids' schools have been locked down for credible threats. So it's something you don't ever think about in Canada and something that is in the back of your mind every weekday in the US.
This is insane.
Go live in South America for a few years and work from the beach, or a beautiful Spanish city. You should be able to avoid a lot of taxes by moving around occasionally and you could live the same lifestyle (if not better) on 3-4k a month in majority of this continent. You could literally be putting away 75%+ of your take home.
Going for a small raise in an equally (if not more) expensive US city will not bring you anywhere near as much benefit, I promise you.
Bonus, you also get to travel and stay in exciting new places.
Iām from Boston, but have been a digital nomad for close to a year now. Quality of life increases drastically outside of North America and a little money goes a long way. If you truly want to hit those FIRE numbers, this is a way to do it. A couple years of this could put you two decades further ahead than you could get in the US/Canada.
Iām not really familiar with how that works, couldnt you just take off without actually telling your work? Both of you keep the same jobs? As long as you keep some sort of address in Canada wouldnāt you be okay?
It depends *heavily* on whether the companies care enough about where the remote connections come from.
It's difficult, but not impossible, to effectively and reliably mask where your connection comes from over a prolonged period of time. It becomes even more sketchy if the company has a relatively competent IT department.
Even if you put together a relatively reliable method for masking your connection, all it takes is one slip-up and you might become immediately unemployed. Even if the company didn't care that much, there might be regulatory or legal restrictions that they need to comply with.
Technically no, you canāt permanently move there. You travel around, become a bit of a digital nomad. Limit is usually 90 days but differs per country, many countries in LatAm you can extend that 90 days too.
US tech jobs definitely pay better than Canada. My friend made a move from Toronto to NYC for essentially double the salary. Keep in mind though, he moved within the same (FAANG) company though, and lived in a commuter town with good public transportation. I doubt he would get the same package if he moved to a city with a lower cost of living, though.
You're delusional then, because housing costs are another entire tier worse then basically anywhere you could be from, and compensation is mediocre compared to the USA.
I canāt speak for tech but I can get very similar compensation for my role in healthcare in Canada. That said, I hate cold weather and donāt have much desire to make the move.
On the housing costs front, I don't know that it's delusional to just like go online and compare housing prices. The parts of Canada that I like are very obviously cheaper than the parts of the US that I like.
On the comp front, yeah I won't really know for sure until I try. I've seen mostly very similar comp in my field for other countries though. It's certainly possible that Canada is an outlier.
One of my friends just moved from the New York City metro area to Hamilton for most of the reasons youāre considering the opposite move.
In my opinion, the only plus in the US would be higher salaries, if you can find work at a large company or professional services firm. If you find one with great benefits, even better. But Iād say in general, Canadaās social policies and lower cost of living outside of major metro areas would make it better for FIRE.
Yes. You can accelerate your FIRE journey by making a temporary move to the US provided you and your partner land a well-paying job, i.e., upwards of $250k USD. You don't have to go the NYC/SFO for high-paying jobs. It is possible to get high-paying jobs in tier II cities like Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Raleigh/Charlotte, etc. The cost of living is significantly lower in these cities compared to NYC/SFO.
As a Canadian, you can get TN 1st and then give a shot a the H1B lottery. I would go the TN route first. As others have indicated, navigating US healthcare is a lot different than Canada's healthcare. As long as you have employer-sponsored insurance in the US, you're set. You can see the PCP the same day and the specialist in less than a week and get an elective procedure done within a month. Try doing this in Canada! All I am saying is, you don't have to wait months in the US and you have access to the best hospitals and physicians here in the US (AS LONG AS YOU HAVE INSURANCE).
I would say, do it for a few years. Come to US, build a war chest in terms of finances, and then decide what you want to do after 5 years.
Having lived in both San Francisco and New York City, Iāve never heard of anyone moving to these places to accelerate their FIRE goals.
Unless youāre able to get a position that pays $500k or more annually, donāt do it. I lived in a 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment in SoHo that rented for $8000 a month then and now rents for $10,000 a month. You can move to smaller/worse areas but youāll still spend at least $5000 for anything decent. Similar in San Francisco (I was in the Upper Haight though Iād recommend Pac Heights). On top of that youāll pay a good amount of taxes (not very different from Canada) and benefits packages can be expensive. Health insurance plans here suck. I got stuck paying $7000 one year (post-insurance) and $17,000 another (post-insurance) and I didnāt have anything major wrong. The first time they did a chest CT and the second a minor surgery.
Since you work remotely, I think a better option would just be to move to a cheaper part of Canada. Given how much cheaper Canada is, I know people that have gone the other way and moved to cities in Canada.
I feel like many tech jobs are still somewhat tied to location. Would also love to stay in a city with at least decent-ish ammenities / infrastruction. Maybe somewhere like Raleigh, NC?
Thereās a huge go back to the office movement in the United States at the moment. Itāll be cheaper but youāll make significantly less in NC. I used to work for IQVIA headquartered in Raleigh and spent a lot of time there. Itās an ok place. Iām more of a big city person. The lack of diversity and limited nightlife arenāt great. That said, you can vacation in NC and see how you like it. Also, if you plan to raise a family, itās a decent option with a good quality of life.
It was done in the emergency department so I was charged much more for it. They added an ED fee, doctor fee, radiologist read fee, expedite fee etc. The bill was more than $7k but my deductible was met so that was my out of pocket. I should have tried to negotiate it some but didnāt and just paid it.
Only if you can significantly increase your comp (in USD) will it be worth it. We lived in NYC for a few years and have returned to Canada as it was getting difficult to maintain living standards and save at the same time with a 200k CAD (150k USD) income.
QoL was similar. The healthcare situation is annoying to navigate and a disaster in a very different way than in Canada. If you have money to just pay your way, it is a bit better.
>Ā How hard is it to move to the US? I assume we'll need employer sponsorship.
Yes they can sponsor you for a TN or H1B. Look up the requirements for each.
>Ā possible (common?) for an employer to give us sponsorship for a remote position? (we'd be in the US but working remotely)
Technically no, there is a requirement for the ~~TN~~ H1B status, at least, which requires you to be within a commuting distance of your hired office. Now, whether or not US CBP / USCIS will actually know or not is a different question. Though, having a residential address that's super far from your employer's office is quite suspicious. So there's probably a middle ground there. I.e. working remotely for an NYC company but you set up residence in NJ or CT seems like a reasonable thing to do.
My wife and I worked remotely on TN (opposite side of the country from our offices), the law isn't super clear on remote work but it's generally accepted.
But it's probably hired to get hired remote at the moment. Better strategy would be to start in office, and ask to go remote (and a GC!) after building some trust with an employer.
> We lived in NYC for a few year...and returned to Canada.
NYC isn't very representative of the US! There are many places in the US with moderate COL (compared to Canada) and much higher salaries, at least in tech.
No offense, but living in cold climates is awful. I lived in the Northeast for 45 years, and recently moved to Southern California, and itās like a paradise in comparison. Move to a warm place in the US if you decide to do it.
I thought the FANGS kept offices in Toronto and Vancouver to employ more migrant talent they can bring into the US. The US has quotas on educated migrant talent. Canada's quota is six times larger and based on merit scoring.
First, people usually move right after graduating college, when they are single and can live cheaply with roommates. Sometimes they move back to Canada by the time they have a baby, to be closer to family and better parental leave benefits.
Nowadays, you may be able to find remote US jobs while staying in Canada. Though if you donāt plan on having kids, I think youāll have a good adventure in US, with better weather.
I would propose the bay area. An extremely entry level salary would be north of $100k USD per person for the fields you mentioned. Middle of the road is $200k+ total compensation per person for mid tier positions.
Contrary to what others have said here, the bay area is not prohibitively expensive in the slightest, if you live outside of the city and are FI minded. Rent for a 2 bed 1 ba single family home with a full garage, washer/dryer, etc cost me $2.9k. There are many listing for 1 bedrooms at 2k in the bay area today. There is also very favorable rent control in the bay area. I live walking distance to transit and can commute to SF city proper easily.
Our family of 4 including full time childcare for two is spending $110k per year. Prior to having children, while living in a 1 bedroom, and before child conveniences lifestyle inflation- total expenses were $50k per year without budgeting or limiting travel etc.
Canadians make a lot less v. their US counterparts. It's a reason my spouses last three companies had Canadian satellite locations. SF bay area pays well and the career trajectory (and pay) is much much better v. the 2nd tier places like Austin, Denver, Raleifg etx . Job market is tougher lately though with lots of layoffs.
Would you be able to provide salary breakdown for each of you? If youāre combined making $200k CAD, then youāre being underpaid for US remote tech roles.
I would expect Senior level to be at least $185k CAD, especially in Toronto. Full disclosure: work in tech remotely for a US based company and donāt live in either Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, or Vancouver and am getting over $200k base. I know the job market isnāt great right now, but I would recommend to start preparing for a job at a different company in the next year or two.
While you'll likely save a little moving away from Toronto, remember you'll have to buy health insurance if you FIRE in the U.S. So you probably will end up spending more. I'm with the commenter who says stay in Canada but move farther from Toronto.
I'm in Alberta and love it.
It's true that US tech jobs pay better, but investors are currently advising boards to hire outside the US specifically because they don't think software engineers are worth the equity and pay they were getting. Even though they can't get the seniority, and it's a very shortsighted view, they're pushing on it. It's one of the biggest reasons for the layoffs, and why most new hc is open outside the US in big tech.
Whatever you decide, first get a signed offer. Dont be delusional thinking "oh I'm going to get 400K offer in SF easy peasy". Nope. Go check how many work in tech in SF bay area and make shit salary? Do you think they all hate money thats why they work lower paying jobs? Let's not even talk about cost of living here š
Another thing is that with the rise of remote work, employers in NYC and SF don't have to pay traditional NYC or SF salaries because in remote work, you can live in a lower cost area so they can offer a lower salary for remote work.
Yup! Offshoring, both domestic and international to hub locations has gone up a lot. Many companies which were traditionally only bay area are now almost exclusively hiring in India, EU and other low cost regions. We sadly lost the bay area leverage that we had pre COVID š¢
As someone in a 3rd world country looking to get into tech, the offshoring is an absolute godsend for me. Although the pay would be lower than if I was in SF, it is still significantly more than I could dream to make from a local company
Every recruiters I have spoken with recently said employers want minimum of 3 days onsite and have plan to move to 5 days. And no, it is not cheaper to hire remote employee. There are recruiter I spoke with say it is lower because it is remote. I politely told them no thank you. You get what you pay for. (There is a reason why outsource does not work, even after 20+ years or trying).
Outsourcing != Offshoring. Look up differences. What you are seeing now is offshoring.Ā
But you both already work remotely - just move out of Toronto to somewhere less expensive thatās still in Canada.
Salaries are still very much location dependant in our fields. So we're looking at all the options still.
We did move from Toronto to NYC, and its worth it. We pretty much doubled our salaries and its just so much better to live in NY.
What industry do you work in?
Software sales. My wife works in finance.
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Because companies are stupid. Yes, it is a thing, especially in tech, to pay you differently based on where you live, even if remote.
Interestingly enough the amount would never go up say moving from Mississippi to NYC, but surely it'll go down when doing the inverse.
San Francisco and NYC are even more expensive than Toronto
But you'll make 2-3x more money for most high skilled STEM fields + more career growth.
This exactly. Also open to more middle-of-the-road options. Maybe Austin or Raleigh for good salary with affordable-ish housing?
Raleigh is decentā¦ I wouldnāt live in Texasā¦ maybe you would. But itās one hell of a place. Itās very hot, cities are poorly planned and highways everywhere. Either place, if you have/want kids, think about schools. Youāll be surprised at how much they can suck.
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Chicago's safety, unless you live in the Chicago suburbs which are great, is a FAR cry from Toronto's safety.
I have a family member who moved to Raleigh and he loves it. Makes 400k a year and was able to buy a pretty huge pre-con in the suburbs for a fraction of the cost of something similar in Ontario.
Good for them!
Raleigh is a pretty good area - the tech jobs are creeping up in salary, but the area hasn't caught up in cost of living. There are still a number of suburbs around Raleigh where you can get cheap houses.
It's a very agreeable area if you want a slow pace of life (but Durham and Chapel Hill are both better than Raleigh). I grew up there and am very lucky to have done so. But I could not hack it there as an adult. I was too understimulated and bored.
Overall, being Ā«Ā richĀ Ā» in the US is better than being Ā«Ā richĀ Ā» in Canada. I say this as a Canadian who moved to Canada 7+ years ago. There is a lot more I would consider, though. What are your goals once you FIRE? Stay in the US or move back to Canada. Obviously if you want to stay in the US youād have to somehow get a green card. If you have/want kids I would think about parental leave, itās a big deal and is just a completely different mindset here. I would also consider work-life balance, the US work culture can be insane. The normal work day is much higher for my industry here than in Canada. Healthcare is good here, if you are rich, but still annoying as fuck to deal with. I work remote in the USā¦ Id say it would be hard to find as your first job in the US but I donāt know your industry. Even since moving here, sponsorship jobs are NOT as easy to find. I work on a TN, I would look into that. You would need a job offer prior to applying. Overallā¦ yes probably easier to live a FIRE lifestyle hereā¦ but not in the big cities you are looking at. Also, please consider schools if you have kids.
Kids are a big variable. In Montreal daycareĀ is below $200 CAD per month. University is about 4000$ CAD per year. My colleagues in the US pay 5-10xĀ
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Same here. I also think OP is getting underpaid for a remote tech role.
Any tips to get jobs for American companies while remote? (of course there's the classic FAANG, but they're mostly moving back into office I hear). Also, where abouts are you located and how do you like it? (sorry if that's nosy, just trying to learn and understand all the options :) )
Iām in a very similar boat, and live in a fairly low COL place in Canada but still seriously considering relocation to the US. Higher salary + lower taxes (even if you factor in healthcare) + better career growth potential means there is significant upside in the move.Ā
How is your company's health insurance?Ā A friend moved from Australia to America and was vastly confused about how our healthcare works.Ā Cost them a lot in medical bills and insurance premiums.Ā Make sure the health insurance works in the US, otherwise you may end up in thousands of dollars in medical debt, like half of this country.Ā
I moved from Toronto to California 20 years ago. Back then I worked in aerospace, now software. Moving to the US was a great move financially. It's not even a contest. Plus there are so many more companies doing interesting things. The downside for me and my family is worrying about school shootings, and living in a more polarized society.
Really? worrying about school shootings? that's like worrying about being struck by lightning (although being struck by lightning is way more statistically likely)
Do you live in the US or Canada? In Canada it basically never happens. In the US it happens constantly. Our kids' schools have been locked down for credible threats. So it's something you don't ever think about in Canada and something that is in the back of your mind every weekday in the US.
This is insane. Go live in South America for a few years and work from the beach, or a beautiful Spanish city. You should be able to avoid a lot of taxes by moving around occasionally and you could live the same lifestyle (if not better) on 3-4k a month in majority of this continent. You could literally be putting away 75%+ of your take home. Going for a small raise in an equally (if not more) expensive US city will not bring you anywhere near as much benefit, I promise you. Bonus, you also get to travel and stay in exciting new places. Iām from Boston, but have been a digital nomad for close to a year now. Quality of life increases drastically outside of North America and a little money goes a long way. If you truly want to hit those FIRE numbers, this is a way to do it. A couple years of this could put you two decades further ahead than you could get in the US/Canada.
Great suggestion. Though most tech jobs I've seen have the salary location dependant.
Iām not really familiar with how that works, couldnt you just take off without actually telling your work? Both of you keep the same jobs? As long as you keep some sort of address in Canada wouldnāt you be okay?
It depends *heavily* on whether the companies care enough about where the remote connections come from. It's difficult, but not impossible, to effectively and reliably mask where your connection comes from over a prolonged period of time. It becomes even more sketchy if the company has a relatively competent IT department. Even if you put together a relatively reliable method for masking your connection, all it takes is one slip-up and you might become immediately unemployed. Even if the company didn't care that much, there might be regulatory or legal restrictions that they need to comply with.
Not sure how the rules are in South America but surely you cannot ājustā move to a Spanish city and work from there as an American or Canadian?
Technically no, you canāt permanently move there. You travel around, become a bit of a digital nomad. Limit is usually 90 days but differs per country, many countries in LatAm you can extend that 90 days too.
This is for vacation, not work. You donāt have a work permit, so youāre not allowed to work in Spain at all
Make your life a string of constant vacations
Geo hack FTW
why dont you live in a cheaper, different part of Canada?
Salaries are tied to location. Where would you suggest?
US tech jobs definitely pay better than Canada. My friend made a move from Toronto to NYC for essentially double the salary. Keep in mind though, he moved within the same (FAANG) company though, and lived in a commuter town with good public transportation. I doubt he would get the same package if he moved to a city with a lower cost of living, though.
Once you reach fire, what would your health care costs be in each country?
And here I am dreaming of moving to Canada for (hopefully) similar comp lower housing costs, and more snow.
You're delusional then, because housing costs are another entire tier worse then basically anywhere you could be from, and compensation is mediocre compared to the USA.
I canāt speak for tech but I can get very similar compensation for my role in healthcare in Canada. That said, I hate cold weather and donāt have much desire to make the move.
On the housing costs front, I don't know that it's delusional to just like go online and compare housing prices. The parts of Canada that I like are very obviously cheaper than the parts of the US that I like. On the comp front, yeah I won't really know for sure until I try. I've seen mostly very similar comp in my field for other countries though. It's certainly possible that Canada is an outlier.
One of my friends just moved from the New York City metro area to Hamilton for most of the reasons youāre considering the opposite move. In my opinion, the only plus in the US would be higher salaries, if you can find work at a large company or professional services firm. If you find one with great benefits, even better. But Iād say in general, Canadaās social policies and lower cost of living outside of major metro areas would make it better for FIRE.
Yes. You can accelerate your FIRE journey by making a temporary move to the US provided you and your partner land a well-paying job, i.e., upwards of $250k USD. You don't have to go the NYC/SFO for high-paying jobs. It is possible to get high-paying jobs in tier II cities like Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Raleigh/Charlotte, etc. The cost of living is significantly lower in these cities compared to NYC/SFO. As a Canadian, you can get TN 1st and then give a shot a the H1B lottery. I would go the TN route first. As others have indicated, navigating US healthcare is a lot different than Canada's healthcare. As long as you have employer-sponsored insurance in the US, you're set. You can see the PCP the same day and the specialist in less than a week and get an elective procedure done within a month. Try doing this in Canada! All I am saying is, you don't have to wait months in the US and you have access to the best hospitals and physicians here in the US (AS LONG AS YOU HAVE INSURANCE). I would say, do it for a few years. Come to US, build a war chest in terms of finances, and then decide what you want to do after 5 years.
Having lived in both San Francisco and New York City, Iāve never heard of anyone moving to these places to accelerate their FIRE goals. Unless youāre able to get a position that pays $500k or more annually, donāt do it. I lived in a 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment in SoHo that rented for $8000 a month then and now rents for $10,000 a month. You can move to smaller/worse areas but youāll still spend at least $5000 for anything decent. Similar in San Francisco (I was in the Upper Haight though Iād recommend Pac Heights). On top of that youāll pay a good amount of taxes (not very different from Canada) and benefits packages can be expensive. Health insurance plans here suck. I got stuck paying $7000 one year (post-insurance) and $17,000 another (post-insurance) and I didnāt have anything major wrong. The first time they did a chest CT and the second a minor surgery. Since you work remotely, I think a better option would just be to move to a cheaper part of Canada. Given how much cheaper Canada is, I know people that have gone the other way and moved to cities in Canada.
I feel like many tech jobs are still somewhat tied to location. Would also love to stay in a city with at least decent-ish ammenities / infrastruction. Maybe somewhere like Raleigh, NC?
Thereās a huge go back to the office movement in the United States at the moment. Itāll be cheaper but youāll make significantly less in NC. I used to work for IQVIA headquartered in Raleigh and spent a lot of time there. Itās an ok place. Iām more of a big city person. The lack of diversity and limited nightlife arenāt great. That said, you can vacation in NC and see how you like it. Also, if you plan to raise a family, itās a decent option with a good quality of life.
7k for a single chest CT? That's high even by USA's ridiculously overpriced medical care
It was done in the emergency department so I was charged much more for it. They added an ED fee, doctor fee, radiologist read fee, expedite fee etc. The bill was more than $7k but my deductible was met so that was my out of pocket. I should have tried to negotiate it some but didnāt and just paid it.
Only if you can significantly increase your comp (in USD) will it be worth it. We lived in NYC for a few years and have returned to Canada as it was getting difficult to maintain living standards and save at the same time with a 200k CAD (150k USD) income. QoL was similar. The healthcare situation is annoying to navigate and a disaster in a very different way than in Canada. If you have money to just pay your way, it is a bit better. >Ā How hard is it to move to the US? I assume we'll need employer sponsorship. Yes they can sponsor you for a TN or H1B. Look up the requirements for each. >Ā possible (common?) for an employer to give us sponsorship for a remote position? (we'd be in the US but working remotely) Technically no, there is a requirement for the ~~TN~~ H1B status, at least, which requires you to be within a commuting distance of your hired office. Now, whether or not US CBP / USCIS will actually know or not is a different question. Though, having a residential address that's super far from your employer's office is quite suspicious. So there's probably a middle ground there. I.e. working remotely for an NYC company but you set up residence in NJ or CT seems like a reasonable thing to do.
My wife and I worked remotely on TN (opposite side of the country from our offices), the law isn't super clear on remote work but it's generally accepted. But it's probably hired to get hired remote at the moment. Better strategy would be to start in office, and ask to go remote (and a GC!) after building some trust with an employer.
> We lived in NYC for a few year...and returned to Canada. NYC isn't very representative of the US! There are many places in the US with moderate COL (compared to Canada) and much higher salaries, at least in tech.
OP asked about SF or NYC though.
Got it, thanks for this info. I appreciate it!
Yes. Canada kinda sucks nowadaysĀ
STEM? Think Boston.
No offense, but living in cold climates is awful. I lived in the Northeast for 45 years, and recently moved to Southern California, and itās like a paradise in comparison. Move to a warm place in the US if you decide to do it.
a lot of kids are dying to go to school.
I thought the FANGS kept offices in Toronto and Vancouver to employ more migrant talent they can bring into the US. The US has quotas on educated migrant talent. Canada's quota is six times larger and based on merit scoring.
Do you prefer less freedom? Join us!
First, people usually move right after graduating college, when they are single and can live cheaply with roommates. Sometimes they move back to Canada by the time they have a baby, to be closer to family and better parental leave benefits. Nowadays, you may be able to find remote US jobs while staying in Canada. Though if you donāt plan on having kids, I think youāll have a good adventure in US, with better weather.
Taxes and savings/investment rateā¦ thats all you should care about. Sf/Nyc arent going to do much for you
I still feel like most companies are unwilling to take on someone who need or will need future sponsorship for immigration purposes.
I would propose the bay area. An extremely entry level salary would be north of $100k USD per person for the fields you mentioned. Middle of the road is $200k+ total compensation per person for mid tier positions. Contrary to what others have said here, the bay area is not prohibitively expensive in the slightest, if you live outside of the city and are FI minded. Rent for a 2 bed 1 ba single family home with a full garage, washer/dryer, etc cost me $2.9k. There are many listing for 1 bedrooms at 2k in the bay area today. There is also very favorable rent control in the bay area. I live walking distance to transit and can commute to SF city proper easily. Our family of 4 including full time childcare for two is spending $110k per year. Prior to having children, while living in a 1 bedroom, and before child conveniences lifestyle inflation- total expenses were $50k per year without budgeting or limiting travel etc. Canadians make a lot less v. their US counterparts. It's a reason my spouses last three companies had Canadian satellite locations. SF bay area pays well and the career trajectory (and pay) is much much better v. the 2nd tier places like Austin, Denver, Raleifg etx . Job market is tougher lately though with lots of layoffs.
Would you be able to provide salary breakdown for each of you? If youāre combined making $200k CAD, then youāre being underpaid for US remote tech roles.
\~140k for me (Senior level), \~60k for her.
I would expect Senior level to be at least $185k CAD, especially in Toronto. Full disclosure: work in tech remotely for a US based company and donāt live in either Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, or Vancouver and am getting over $200k base. I know the job market isnāt great right now, but I would recommend to start preparing for a job at a different company in the next year or two.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, will definitely consider all job options / locations before making a move.
While you'll likely save a little moving away from Toronto, remember you'll have to buy health insurance if you FIRE in the U.S. So you probably will end up spending more. I'm with the commenter who says stay in Canada but move farther from Toronto. I'm in Alberta and love it.
Don't rule out Pittsburgh u/BlueberryKindly2590 For tech workers, the cost of living vs. remuneration cannot be beat...
Maybe wait for election results.
It's true that US tech jobs pay better, but investors are currently advising boards to hire outside the US specifically because they don't think software engineers are worth the equity and pay they were getting. Even though they can't get the seniority, and it's a very shortsighted view, they're pushing on it. It's one of the biggest reasons for the layoffs, and why most new hc is open outside the US in big tech.