Deciding Where to Settle Down

[Portia]

Do foreigners get the same medical benefits as citizens in Canada?

If I were just a tourist, no, but if I were a permanent resident working in Canada, or married to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, I could likely apply to be covered.

I'm in Canada on a student visa. We pay a nominal fee for insurance through the university ($684/yr for my wife, mine is covered by my program [much of my wife's is reimbursed by a course union fund]). Our daughter's birth was completely covered, I never saw a single bill. All of her doctor's visits are covered since she is a Canadian citizen due to her birth here. We also get all of the tax credits. My wife also got mandatory paid maternity leave through her two part-time jobs.

:D

[Katya]

I moved to Illinois because that's where my grad program was, so I didn't have a lot of choice there.

After grad school, I applied to jobs in Pennsylvania, Oregon and Maine and didn't apply to jobs in Florida or Texas because I like the cold better than the heat. I also didn't want to live in a big city with a high cost of living.

I moved back to Utah to be closer to family and friends and because I got a better job. If it had been a choice between a better job in Maine and a worse job in Utah, I think I might have stayed in Maine (but I could have afforded to visit Utah more often).