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Greetings! I'm an American married to a Frenchman. We have two young children with both French and American citizenship. We have been living in France for a few years, but it's been very difficult for me to adjust. Plus, my husband is more "American minded" than French, and he LOVES hockey! I miss the States and would love to move back, but after living in France....going back to the US seems a bit scary and overwhelming.
Canada seems like it would be the perfect fit for our Franco-American family. Canada has strict gun laws and great health care, same as France. Both countries also seem to have better family values, more so than the US. Yet, Canada also has a similar culture to the US (the good parts of the US that I miss!), and it's an English speaking country. Ideally, I would love to live in an English speaking part of Canada, but still have the option of visiting Quebec or finding French schools.
My husband currently has a great job as a computer software admin (mainly working with SAP, Linux, etc). I have a job teaching English to French business professionals. My French is not perfect, but it's not required for me to teach English. Though if I were completely bilingual like my husband and children, that might help!
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The first thing you need to do is research immigration laws in Canada. It probably will be harder than you think to move there permanently and find work.
I'm an American married to a Frenchman. We have two young children with both French and American citizenship.
Canada seems like it would be the perfect fit for our Franco-American family.
Canada also has a similar culture to the US (the good parts of the US that I miss!), and it's an English speaking country. Ideally, I would love to live in an English speaking part of Canada, but still have the option of visiting Quebec or finding French schools.
My husband currently has a great job as a computer software admin (mainly working with SAP, Linux, etc). I have a job teaching English to French business professionals.
Your family is a perfect fit for any major cities in Canada, especially your two little ones will boost up your points . In the last 10 years or so, our Federal Immigration Levels had been in the ballpark of 250k-300k. The 2012 Plan Target will be more or less the same, with no spectacular increase envisaged.
Both posters above have steered you toward the right direction. No one can explains better than the official site wrt,
Gos and Dougie - I was looking into Ontario and I agree with you both, it looks like it would be a good place for us. More specifically, I was looking at Ottawa (since it's so close to Montreal and Quebec), Toronto, and London.
I know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but just the idea of moving to Canada seems like a breath of fresh air to me. Also, I am so delighted by the positive feedback I have gotten from the Canadians in which I have discussed this with. Very warm and welcoming! My family and I are planning a trip to Canada for either December or January. Really looking forward to it!
Although I miss my country, family and friends back home, I honestly wouldn't have any problem embracing the Canadian way of life. I believe it would be the best thing for our family. I would even consider dual citizenship for myself, and possibly even raising my kids as little Canucks!
Although Ontario is a great place to live and raise family, I would still recommend living in Quebec instead since you already speak French.
Canada is and looks like mostly like the U.S., but use the metric system och universal health care. Canada still has same road signs and road system, same/similar stores, large houses, large cars, huge portions, same/similar holidays etc.
Quebec (Montreal area) would feel most home to you and a mix of France and U.S./Canada.
Montreals housing is very affordable, decent-good job market, cheap daycare, good labour benefits (more than rest of Canada and U.S.) and beautiful city!!
Ottawa is right in Ontario-Quebec border, but I wouldn´t recomment it that much because there´s not that much things to do (small city) and to be honest boring.
So either Toronto area, or Montreal! If I were you I would move to Montreal by a mile.
There´s no place like La Belle province
BTW get used to warm to hot & humid summers, and often very cold & snowy winters in southern Quebec & Ontario area.
Hi! I really appreciate your advice. Although Quebec does seem nice, I don't want live in a French speaking area. I've been living in France for almost 7 years, and I need to be surrounded by some English speakers! My husband enjoys speaking English as well, so I don't think he would necessarily want to live in Quebec either. I would however, like for my kids to continue French language classes. I recently read that many elementary schools (outside of Quebec) offer French language programs. Is that true? If so, I would definitely be interested!
Thanks for the tip about Ottawa. The only reason I considered going there was because of its close proximity to Quebec. Montreal sounds lovely as well, but don't they speak predominantly French there?
I recently read that many elementary schools (outside of Quebec) offer French language programs. Is that true? If so, I would definitely be interested!
All cities of a decent size in "English Canada" have at least one "French first" public school. Which is to say all subjects are taught in French except for English as a language. They basically function in French like a school in Quebec or even France* would. These are generally for kids who *already* speak French.
Then you have the regular English-language schools which would be similar to those in the States, except that French rather than Spanish is the second language they teach.
*I mean linguistically, and am not referring to the school system itself.
As other posters may be drawn to the topic discussed here, I'd like to give a balance picture that Montreal is not all French but cosmopolitan from my observation when I lived there. Others can chip in and/or correct me.
The Italian area centers around Honore-Beaugrand on the metro green-line.
I found a lot of native French speakers live between there and downtown, Montreal-East and Outremont.
NDG (Notre Dame de Grace) is a bi-lingual area (French & English), and multi-cultural with lots of new immigrants from Asia and the Middle-east.
There are very nice waterfront houses along the river on the western side of island of Montreal. I'm drooling. How much would it cost to own a house by the river? The only drawback is that some of the houses are under the fly path.
Also, Concordia and McGill are both English universities.
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I miss the States and would love to move back, but after living in France....going back to the US seems a bit scary and overwhelming. 
. In the last 10 years or so, our Federal Immigration Levels had been in the ballpark of 250k-300k. The 2012 Plan Target will be more or less the same, with no spectacular increase envisaged.
