USA-ian in Canada. I do IT (network engineering) remotely for a US/global F500. It is pretty straight-up for worker visas, honestly. Permanent Residency (PR)

USA-ian in Canada. I do IT (network engineering) remotely for a US/global F500. It is pretty straight-up for worker visas, honestly. Permanent Residency (PR) only matters if you want to stay. There are short term (2) year work permits available, Express Entry permits if you're young-ish and have skills and degrees. There is also the NAFTA "TN visa" which is just for US/CAN/MEX which is basically one you apply for at the border if you have a valid job offer. It's good for 3 years, can be renewed an unlimited number of times, but it's not a path to PR. As in, you'll have to move to another visa and then follow the steps to get PR that way... but it's quick and easy, and is a decent idea if you don't want to live here forever but do want to do something different for a while. You could also go to school or marry a local. There are also a few other more obscure work permits, like Provincial Nomination -- the province needs jobs filled, often in rural areas, so they'll sponsor for somethings. Often these are surprising, as in I knew someone who got sponsored to be a barber in rural AB. There are also "investor" visas -- aka buying your way in at around 400k -- and a start-up visa, though that requires funding from a handful of approved start-up/VC related groups in Canada. I know tons of folks with a PR, all of whom came in different ways, but I don't know any who did the start-up visa :/ Also keep in mind that the CAD is tied heavily to oil prices, and that salaries in STEM are just, all around, not as high as the US. I'm in AB, and compared to the 2 states that I used to live in the most (VA and WA) the taxes are crazy high -- but they're the lowest in Canada. Investing rules (the dreaded PFIC) and cross-border taxes are also a PITA, and are ones that never really came up when I lived other places overseas. I could go back to NoVA or Greater Seattle and get a 30-50k USD pay raise... and if the US wasn't under the thumb of Trump, I'd seriously consider it.