Background

I'm a dual citizen, having been born in Canada to a U.S. father and a Canadian mother and all the proper residency requirements having been met. As a citizen I have the right to live and work in Canada, but since my wife and father are U.S. citizens, there is some paperwork and such to do for them to be able to do the same. They need Permanent Residency status. My father had PR status back when I was a kid, but it's debatable whether he can retain that. That's a story for another day. There are several ways to get PR status, called classes. As a Canadian citizen I can sponsor my wife under the Family Class, which involves "sponsoring" her for 3 years. Sponsorship means agreeing to ensure that her living needs are met so she doesn't need to apply for social assistance (welfare). In other words, they want to ensure you're not creating a burden on the system by bringing people to Canada and then just expecting the government to support them.

The best place to start for more information on Canadian immigration is the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website at http://www.cic.gc.ca . It's pretty well organized and they also have all the forms you'd ever need, in downloadable Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. Saves them from mailing them and you from waiting for them. :)

It's worth mentioning that we are pretty desperate to move, regardless of the destination. We stay here for free because my mother owns the property and I'm managing it on her behalf (also another story for another day, and one reason why we've stayed as long as we have), but this area is infested with gangs and it's positively nervewracking to live here. After more than 2 years of watching the gangs move into our neighborhood, and putting up with more and more of the helicopter/car chases, gunfire, crime, graffiti, habitual trespassing on this property doing who knows what, and other problems they bring, we're ready to leave this place by hook or by crook - yesterday if possible. What a cesspool! Why anyone sane (who isn't rich enough to insulate oneself by living in the well-to-do areas) would ever choose to live here voluntarily is beyond me.

That said, we've been rather undecided whether to make the move directly to Canada and apply for PR after we're there, or temporarily move someplace else in the U.S. and apply for PR while continuing to save money for the "big move." I suppose we will probably do the latter, but if we do, then where? We'd like to cut costs to save money faster. We have an RV but it's not equipped for cold, so we can either live in the RV someplace temperate (we don't mind it, and it's cheaper than renting an apartment) or sell it and live someplace with a lower cost of living. Ultimately, for our Canadian destination, we'd like to end up somewhere in Ontario between Toronto and Ottawa. Some considerations for the meantime, so far:

• local suburbs - "known evil," may be quickest way out, not great but at least significantly better than here
• Oregon coast - wonderfully peaceful and beautiful, but is also tsunami hazard zone, and finding work could be a real challenge
• Minneapolis - very nice place in many regards, jobs seem plentiful, much closer to Ontario, but we'd have to rent an apartment because the RV wouldn't withstand the winters
• Colorado somewhere - beautiful area, don't know much else so still doing research, RV wouldn't withstand the winters