Imagine living in the mortgage-free house walking distance to the beautiful beach where warm, sunny weather is year-around. With current GTA real estate market it’s no longer a dream but a possibility that can come true. How? Well, look south of the border and no further. Selling your house can
potentially make you enough money so you could afford to buy a condo, townhouse or even a detached home somewhere in Florida and live 
mortgage-free life. At the end aren’t we all want the same?
Of course we are but unfortunately U.S government is not making it easy for us to just cross the border and enjoy a cold beer on the beach. Canadians can only stay in the states for a period of 182 days in 1 calendar year. That means you would not be able to enjoy your mortgage free life year around but only for 6 months in a year. The best option of course would be getting a permanent residence status also known as Green Card but unfortunately USA is not as welcoming as Canada. You can get the Green Card by:
Family based – get sponsored by immediate family member
Employment based – get sponsored by US employer
Diversity Visa Lottery – in order to be eligible to apply you must have at least high school diploma or 2 years of working experience in a qualifying occupation and be born in the country which has low immigration rates to USA. Unfortunately Canada is almost always excluded from the list of eligible countries. The good news are is that if you were not born in Canada but in the country which is not on the list then you can apply as the eligibility is based on the country of birth and not the country of residence. If you do not qualify on the basis of education then you may check whether your occupation and work experience can let you get a nice tanned body http://www.onetonline.org/find/ It can be a little confusing but basically you need to type your profession (hopefully you have one) in “Keyword section” and then click go. You will see a long list of related occupations so choose the one that relates to you. Then you need to scroll to “Job Zone” section. In order to qualify your occupation must have Job Zone 4 or above and Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) 7 or above. Anything below those numbers will be disqualified. If you decide to apply for DV then go to this website and read everything on it from A to Z https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/diversity-visa/entry.html
Filing electronic application for DV lottery is free. Beware of the so called immigration consultants that will fill out the application on your behalf. You don’t need anyone to file the application if you can read and write in English (which you do because you read this article). Also DV lottery registration opens on Oct 1 and registration ends in Nov so beware of scams that offer to apply on your behalf year around. In order to register for DV lottery go to https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ Husband and wife can each submit an entry or one person can submit for the whole family. If either spouse is selected then the other will apply as dependent.
If you would like to read about other special visas such as visa for Iraqis who were employed by US government or to read in depth about immigration visas mentioned above then go to https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate.html