[legion]

My wife's cousin lives in suburban Detroit and works in Windsor. I think in his situation there is much less paperwork as he crosses the border every day for work.

To actually relocate here, you'd need to find a company to sponsor your work visa. Maybe one of the lawyers can chime in on the process. Does the company you are talking with know you are Canadian and are they familiar with the visa process? While it is all bureaucratic voodoo to me, it does seem that some companies do this very frequently, while others are intimidated by the process and stay away from it. I also know that being granted a work visa has some dependency on the sponsoring company being able to show that they have a need for your skills and they can't find them stateside (or getting a Congressman or Senator to insert an earmark in a bill giving them an exemption).