Just wanna live in california

As someone with your drive to move to California I see where you are coming from. Sadly it is true, you need a bachelor's degree to immigrate. I used to live in Canada, but now I am in the States under a TN visa.

I thought it was ridiculous even though I was a Canadian citizen with a Computer Engineer degree. It's even extremely difficult for me.
In order to get a TN you have to get a job offer.
In order to get a job offer you have to interview with a company.
Most companies will not hire without interviewing you in person.
In order to interview in person, you have to be at least be visiting the location of interest.
But you can't be visiting with the intent to get a job... so you have to lie and say you are on vacation.
Then once you get a job offer, you have to confirm with an immigration lawyer to see if you can apply for your TN visa.
Then you have to head back to the Canadian border in hopes that you can obtain your TN visa.
If they reject you, they force you to stay in Canada for 2 weeks.
Otherwise yeah you can now work for the one company for up to a maximum of 3 years.
If they fire you, you have to leave the country within 2 weeks.
To apply for a green card is a totally different story, you have to marry or apply for one after working for a few years in the States.

So my advice, get a degree, and try or move to B.C. or Australia.

But you can't be visiting with the intent to get a job... so you have to lie and say you are on vacation.

You can't look for work in the US but it is legal to attend a pre-arranged job interview. If you set up the interview before you leave, it's a business meeting and you can go in as B-1.

But you can't be visiting with the intent to get a job... so you have to lie and say you are on vacation.
Then once you get a job offer, you have to confirm with an immigration lawyer to see if you can apply for your TN visa.

There is a summary exclusion clause that applies at the U.S. Border for lying to U.S. Immigration Officials or CBP. If you are caught lying to the CBP, you can receive a lifetime bar and become excludable from the U.S. for life. This could be executed summarily without an Immigration Judge reviewing it. Thus CBP has tremendous power at the U.S. Border.

Lying to U.S. Immigration is definitely not a good idea.

If I were you, I'd go 'on vacation' to California (must be under 6 months, but tell them at the border that you're traveling for a month or two around the US) and bring some kind of proof of your intent to return (like you're on vacation from work or your lease - both of which you can doctor-up yourself). Then once you're there, you can go job hunting. If you do get a job offer, you'll have to leave the country on return through a 'port of entry', which is simple, you'll drive to Mexico, walk through the border and come right back through. Then you'll have a work visa (I had TN status, if you look on Wikipedia, you might be eligible, probably not though without a degree). Im not exactly sure how it works for other visas, but you probably have to apply, wait, leave with your documents and then come back in with them.

Or, hopefully once you're in California, you'll meet the man of your dreams and you can get married.

Just trying to give you some hope. I dont think you really have an option other than this one. Maybe Craig's list can ponit you to some employment...

Canuck Abroad does not in any way shape or form condone of illegal activities regarding immigration. The suggestions in the above post are not factual, or legal.

If I were you, I'd go 'on vacation' to California (must be under 6 months, but tell them at the border that you're traveling for a month or two around the US) and bring some kind of proof of your intent to return (like you're on vacation from work or your lease - both of which you can doctor-up yourself). Then once you're there, you can go job hunting.

I do not recommend "doctoring up" a false lease or letter from an employer. It is easy enough to verify if the information is false (call the landlord or employer, or even for them to look them up online). If you are caught in such a lie, you could risk being permanently barred from entering the United States. Think carefully before making such a decision.

Like I said above, you can go in to the US to attend a job interview, so the logical approach is to do the job hunting from Canada, set up the interviews and then go to the US as B-1 visitor for business. Why lie?

Thanks for all the suggestions people. Im still working on my dream. I start nursing in University for the RN position in January ( couldn't make the september deadline ). Gonna be a 4 - 5 year course, very intense workload, and I feel old ( 27 ) haha.

However, my main question is this, since you are all the experts. My brother is in the OPP, and desperately wants me to join as well. I would, however, from what I believe, I will not be able to migrate to the states with such an occupation. Now, HE told me, that I could, that I could still apply to departments in the California area, and if they want to hire you, since you already have all the training as a police officer, then can do the VISA work.

Is this true though ?. Would the state police force hire a Canadian OPP officer since they do have the training, and give you a workers VISA ?. If anyone knows the answer, it would be extremely beneficial.

Thanks everyone, again.

I would assume in order to become a police officer in the U.S. you would need to be U.S. Citizen. State and gov't jobs only hire PR and citizens from what I've researched.

But.....

The U.S. army has a new MAVNI program where they hire immigrants to join the reserves. The only thing is you need to know another language. Maybe you should google "MAVNI program" check it out and see if you qualify.

In order for that military program, you need to be already living in the states with a green card, or some other qualifying legal reason. So this would not be a possibility. I've looked into it before .

Im pretty sure Im right about the United States not hiring cops from other countries, however if anyone has anymore information, or a firm answer on it, let me know.