American Expats in Canada - Meet Brian and Michael | Episode 54

<p>Calgary immigration lawyer Evelyn Ackah speaks with her clients Brian and Michael, American expats in Canada&nbsp;who moved to Calgary in September of&nbsp;2018.&nbsp;Brian Owens&nbsp;and his husband Michael Dettner had the opportunity to move from Tennessee to Alberta, Canada&nbsp;for Brian's job as Artistic&nbsp;Director for the Calgary Film Festival. Brian accepted the job, and the film fest contacted Evelyn Ackah and&nbsp;Ackah Business Immigration Law&nbsp;to get&nbsp;his LMIA as a senior&nbsp;highly&nbsp;Skilled Foreign&nbsp;Worker. Brian&nbsp;started work in Calgary a few&nbsp;weeks later.&nbsp;Michael needed to apply for a Canadian visa for an open&nbsp;Spousal Sponsorship&nbsp;and received a 2-year Temporary Resident work permit&nbsp;before moving to Canada, which Ackah Law handled. Brian and Michael's American expats in Canada journey includes living through COVID in a new country while trying to qualify for permanent residence, which they finally received in 2023. This is their expat story.&nbsp;</p><p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.calgaryfilm.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Calgary International Film Festival</a>&nbsp;retains Ackah Business Immigration Law for guidance on immigration matters.</p><p>Evelyn, Brian and Michael&nbsp;discuss:</p><ul><li>Why moving to Canada in 2018 was the best decision they ever made</li><li>As Americans, why did they want to move to Canada</li><li>Had they ever lived outside the United States before</li><li>What surprised them most about expat life in Calgary</li><li>Although they moved here together, Brian already had a job offer in Canada, while Michael - the trailing spouse - had to apply for Spousal Sponsorship. How did this make their immigration journey’s different?</li><li>Now that you’ve lived in Canada for 5&nbsp;years - and lived here through the pandemic, experiencing all the delays getting your paperwork approved, what were their biggest misconceptions about living in Canada - good and bad?</li><li>Are their friends mainly Canadians, Ame