Yank needs advice on settling in Montreal

So you move to Montreal and start doing under the table odd jobs. What the hell are you going to do about satisfying income requirements on your residency application? Show them a pile of cash you illegally earned in Canada? Make up a fake 1040? Also, you'll need a backup place in the US where Immigration Canada can send semi-processed paperwork, and near where you can do any interviews that might be necessary. This could be inconvenient and expensive. Fucking around with immigration people isn't generally a smart thing to do. Fucking around with the immigration people of a country you actually want to emigrate to, and not one you're a tourist in and that you don't care if you get banned from forever? Spectacularly unwise.

2. It is very easy to scrape by in Montreal, however, it is very difficult to get a good job if you don't have any contacts or aren't billingual. Good jobs will pay you about 75% of what you would make elsewhere in Canada. Also, it is not always summer time in Montreal. Just keep that in mind.

Do you absolutely HAVE to be in Canada by this summer? If not, why not be patient and do things the legitmate way? Barring Australia, Canada is probably the easiest country in the Western World to immigrate to. It has a transparent points-based system that is a model for immigration reform the world over. Unless you have a criminal record or have absolutely no marketable skills, chances are that you'd get in sooner than later. If you still insist on going now and are going to work under the table, then go on a student visa and take a course at McGill or Concordia. That will be much easier to explain later down the road.

i second the suggestion to try to get in on a student visa. once you're in canada on a student visa, you can apply for a http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/work-opps.html#offcampus, which will make getting a job easier. once you have a job, it'll be easier for you to stay.

All your questions are answered on the website for Immigration Canada and in previous AskMeFi questions. You can approach it legally, which is not hard but requires a bit of pre-planning. Or you can just approach it illegally, which is actually harder and will cost you more. Why are you approaching it illegally? Legal approach: apply for permanent residency and (in the meantime) an open work permit. This is pretty much a slam-dunk unless you have multiple felonies on your record. If you had started the immigration process your years ago when you decided to move to Canada, you'd have been living in Montreal for three years now. Illegal approach: drive up there, lie to the border guards, try to find cash jobs, since non-cash jobs won't be able to employ you. Risk being deported and banned long-term from a country where you want to live. Note that if you try to cross with border with enough stuff to live on, you're not even going to make it across the border, you'll be banned right there.

Landscaping and other similar jobs are easy to be had under the table around here. If you're willing to persue that type of work let me know and I'll mention it to someone. Bachelor pads or larger can be had for $500-$700 in the NDG district, which is near Westmount and a five minute bike ride from downtown. Prices will be a bit more if you're looking in the Mile End or Plateau area, but then you're in the heart of things. A metro card is only $65 a month (good for bus and metro all over the island) and if you are at the extreme east metro (Honoré Beaugrand) it takes about 25 min to hit downtown.

You can easily find a bachelor pad for ~300$ in areas near downtown, especially in the area around the Berri-UQAM metro/bus station (I believe the area is called the Latin Quarter) as well as many other 'hoods both close and farther from downtown. I've never heard of anyone I know in the student/low income bracket having trouble finding a place to stay. I believe I heard Montreal is the telemarketing capital of North America (or the world?) and I do not doubt it. I have a friend who has married into Canadian citizenship, but won't be able to work for some months yet. He is from Belgium, speaks no french whatsoever, and is working a telemarketing job until then. He and his wife are living fine on that money combined with her low paying job. It is a good way to live until you can get a legit job. You might shy away from telemarketing, but given your background, perhaps not. Regardless, if you have marketing training, working at a place that pays on commision will probably bring in a lot of money for you. And many of these places will pay under the table and you won't need any French. Just be SURE you check the place out first and try to get a handle on how honest the operation is (maybe impossible for a telemarketing place), I've had a few friends get stiffed for pay at some of the seedier operations in town.

Just so you know, you're asking how to break Canadian immigration law. If the question is even kosher, allow me to answer a few of those. 1. Legally? None. 3. If they find out? Badly. Really badly. 5. Are you an American citizen? Then not really, no. You will need to have reasonable proof that you are a visitor, don't plan to work, and plan to leave before your 6 month valid stay is up. This is up to the border officer. 6. Probably, yes.

Well, if you would like Montreal to be your home, I would definitely suggest keeping your activities legal. I know it's frustrating, as I am trying to figure out the best way to move to Australia, and there doesn't seem to be one best route. You may have a chance even without a job offer; I plugged in what information you gave in your post, and got a score of 67, which is also the cut-off score. So you might just be able to get in. Otherwise, if you have no job offer and your points are too low, I would second the student visa idea, if you can afford it. A second bachelor's is often only two years - perhaps you can take French as a major? You would accumulate extra points that way, and probably make a lot of contacts, making getting a job offer when you're done much easier. Plus you would be already be living in Montreal! Anyway, best of luck with your interview; hopefully you won't end up needing any of this advice.