Need a job? Got a Passport? Windsor may need you.

[Canadian Visitor]

Story in Windsor Star about the difficulty employers are having in finding people to fill jobs.

Some are low-skill, but even many higher skill jobs appear to have a shortage of takers.

http://windsorstar.com/news/local-ne...-local-economy

[DetroiterOnTheWestCoast]

How difficult is it for a U.S. citizen to work in Canada, and how feasible is a commute with our border Gestapo?

[Canadian Visitor]

How difficult is it for a U.S. citizen to work in Canada, and how feasible is a commute with our border Gestapo?

For low-skill jobs, not quite impossible, but difficult, though if an employer could show an acute shortage of prospective staff.....

For high-skill labour, easy-peasy. You can get a VISA in 2 weeks flat, if you have a job waiting.

Canada is poaching lots of tech talent this way at the moment.

Mid-level skill is, as you'd expect, in the middle.

With a work visa, you could live on the Canadian side to avoid the crossings.

Or just get get a nexus card. Shouldn't be that big a deal.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...-strategy.html

[Bham1982]

Not hard to get a job in Canada; they're very accommodating to new skilled labor.

But probably not a good opportunity for most. Lower salaries, the border hell, and the IRS taxes ALL income, including foreign. The U.S. is the only country that taxes citizens regardless of where income is earned.

There are lots of Canadians working in the U.S. [[especially in healthcare, with the massive salary differential), but I'm not sure if the inverse make much sense.

[Former_Detroiter]

When I lived in Detroit I had an enhanced driver's license. I did not need a passport to travel to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean. The cost was $47.00 plus the regular driver's license fee.

[Canadian Visitor]

Not hard to get a job in Canada; they're very accommodating to new skilled labor.

But probably not a good opportunity for most. Lower salaries, the border hell, and the IRS taxes ALL income, including foreign. The U.S. is the only country that taxes citizens regardless of where income is earned.

There are lots of Canadians working in the U.S. [[especially in healthcare, with the massive salary differential), but I'm not sure if the inverse make much sense.

There is a good deal of truth here, but some details require clarification.

In point of fact, under tax treaties in place and current US and Canadian Tax laws, most Americans working in Canada pay no US tax on income. There are US tax credits available in your filings to cover income that has been previously taxed by a foreign country.

Social Security taxes are also refundable if you pay into the Canada Pension Plan during the applicable period, but you must obtain a 'certificate of coverage'.

The main issues are that you indeed have to file two returns and there is some annoying leg work associated w/that.

Also, the treaties have certain limitations where something in Canada is tax-free, but taxable in the U.S. [[notably capital gains on a principal residence)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...ticle19217822/

***

Also Bham always likes to harp on the salary thing, despite very little evidence of it being true in most sectors.

It is true that Canadian IT people, while earning typically just 100k CAD do earn less than their US counterparts in California; but that is not the case in many other professions.

In nursing, the typical salary of an R.N. in Michigan is $65,000USD while the number in Canada is $82,000CAD almost identical. There are variances by nurse-type both higher and lower in both countries.

In general though, jobs in the US that typically pay 100k or less will be similar or often higher in pay in Canada, while jobs that pay 100k or more will often be a bit lower in Canada. Of course the numbers will vary based on the exchange rate at any given time.

[Lowell]

Good details Canadian Visitor. It is a long time since my tax consultant days so while the details have changed the principles remain regarding the reciprocity and credits applying to money earned outside the US for US citizens. Obviously the burden of filing in both places remains.