You can just leave the bank account open w/o having to stay in Canada.

Another question. Does anybody know if you can use an extend stay hotel as you Canadian address for poker stars?

From the bits and pieces I've read / heard, Stars does not want to allow people who are just going for a short period of time. Looks like they are mostly requiring at least a 6-month lease. This could change (for better, or worse even) as they get a deal figuring out with the DOJ, but right now they really do want you to relocate -ie show intent to stay out of the country, except for short visits, for the foreseeable future. And they seem to be being sticklers about this, vs. a wink-nod policy where the bare-minimum will suffice, they're really making people prove they are settling in.

As far as getting across the Canadian border in your situation, mortgage and marriage certainly will satisfy the requirement that you intend to return to the US, but it will increase the difficulty of answering why you would be traveling so long then, if not to work. Why is a wife-and-family guy leaving home for months, if not to work? And whether playing poker is something you need a work permit for seems to be a gray area and up to the discretion of the border patrol officer.

You might be best off either waiting it out and writing alot of letters to get poker regulated in the US, or exploring the internet for a country your wife and you would, for other reasons, really enjoy living in, and then see if she can get a job offer there that comes with a Visa, then sponsor you and move to a new country in a sustainable fashion where you can both continue your careers. B/c at least right now, trying to do a short-term poker fix is a lotta hassle, and maybe a 50/50 Stars will take you, plus it's taking weeks for some folks to get approved even when they do everything by the book. Lot of effort and time away from your family that may or may not pay off, and furnished accommodations are pricey...

Good luck!

Anyone move to thailand?

or Mexico? Thinking about how hard it is to get a bank account in some of these places is giving me a head ache. Need to get out of this country asap.

Yeah I am thinking after reading this I am better off seeking employment/playing part time here at bodog unless my wife finds employment in Canada. Thanks for the informative post.

I hate my desk job and feel like I may lose it soon anyway. I just sent in my application to the Peace Corps.

It is 27 months abroad. With my background in computers...I would hope they would put me to use somewhere with access to the internet.

Live for free, work during the day...and play online cards?

I was considering something like this, but better pay and working conditions. I'm looking into teaching Engrish overseas again (maybe China this time). Paid housing and enough money to live on, anything you make from poker is gravy.

I'll be surprised if I am selected though...I just googled around and they seem very selective. And my app wasn't the best (resume time gap due to poker, not a college grad)

I hear you can teach english even if english is the only language you know? Is this what you did?

You need a college degree and be a native English speaker. That's about it.


Got eslcafe.com for info and job listings

mmm...no degree. I'll check it out anyway.

Stars had no problem with my month-to-month lease that is indefinite, but I have heard of people having problems with short term leases that have a specific ending period in them that is less than 6 month in the future.

You definitely do NOT need a work permit to enter the US as a business traveller, as long as you are stay less than 6 months. US citizens on short term business travel must follow the same guidelines as US visitors on short term travel.

-Carlos

What are the people that are flying to another country doing about transportation when they are there? Renting/leasing a car for 6 months?

For anyone that relocated to Costa Rica:

Did you tell the border agents that you were there to play poker or something else? I'm considering heading there next year with my wife for a couple months and wondering if it'll be a problem to tell them I'm there to play online poker.

I dont see any benefit to telling them about poker. Just say youre there to to fish/surf/dive.

my best friend has done 2 peace corps tours. From what it sounds like, the drop out rate is HUGE and its really not something you should think about doing unless going to 3rd world countries to help people is something you truly want to do. Using it as a way to see the world or get a new experience, or even worse as a means to play poker, I would imagine will have you hating life. Thats assuming they even put you somewhere with electricity, much less the internet (which also listening to him talk, sounds like peace corp like most things is run by **** ups so you arent necessarily going to go where you would best be used, or where you want).

What is the best way to withdraw funds from Stars? Did moneybookers but I think I got screwed with the currency conversion.

I couldn't get either neteller or moneybookers to work for me, so I've just been doing wire transfers. Takes about 4 days, don't know about all the fees though.

^^ That was lengthy's last post on 2+2 2 months ago.
He last logged in 1 month ago.

In March he mentioned that his ptr name had an imposter.

That same imposter, SickCallWu was recently banned (sketchy and abusive behavior) on 2+2 as iCallSick1

2 weeks ago on Pocket 5s 1kciSllaCi made a transfer post claiming lengthy's Pokerstars account as his own:
.

Either they are one and the same person, which is unlikely, or 1kciSllaCi is scamming P5s. Check out his change log.

P5s mod notified.
Posted for internet search purposes.

im sick of reading people who dont know the facts.

Im an american citzen, moved from arizona to serbia, play on pokerstars, the only thing pokerstars requested from me was my id passport, and an address where im staying at, and a copy of the visa or mastercard im depositing funds on to the site with. if u have any questions just ask someone who actually moved and did the whole process not listen to people who specualte

thats a bit harsh, especially considering everyone has had different experiences, so some speculation and compiling of different experiences is to be expected.

For instance, your experience with getting set up on pokerstars is very different than my own. I had to send them my passport, a copy of my lease, a copy of my Canadian bank account information and they made me get a canadian phone line, and would not except anything else. So I had to go out and buy a cell phone simply so pokerstars could call me one time. The whole process took about 2 weeks.

If someone only listened to you and your experience they might find they are unprepared because stars wants more than they did for you.

Alobar how do you like Canada so far? What city are staying in? What is the plan 6 months from now?

That looks too much like a vacation primer IMO. What's surprised me the most after being off these pages for awhile, is that many of you are still tied in various ways to the U.S. I really thought more people would take the path leading to a permanent residency. I would hate to have to force a year's worth of volume through six months or less, and have to repeat the ordeal of moving all over again.

I just landed in Ottawa this past week. I'm not sure if I'll have any issues or not given that I'm changing my address from South Korea to Canada, but I am a U.S. citizen so I expect some hassle.

First off: Anyone want to give cliffs and bank names about getting a Canadian bank account? I tried one place already (PC Bank) and was told that of my two forms of ID, one of them needed to be issued by the Canadian government, so I was unable to get a bank account.

I'm en route to getting my Canadian driver's license, but that could take a month or longer (have to send a letter to or go in person to New York to get a copy of my driving record, since that's where my license was issued, before they will exchange it for a CAD one).

If there was a bank that I could get an account at with just a passport and US license, they'd snap get my business.

Other than that no real issues yet, but I have another week before I'm back to the grind - been searching for an apartment and it's been a real pain in the ass... a lot of realty companies post things like "1 bedroom from 675/mo..." then you call them and they're like, "Oh, the only unit we have open right now is $1,099 a month...." but I think we finally found a place.

Move Oct 1., furnish the place, then get to the business of changing my address with stars. My name is on the lease, but other than that I don't have any bills yet, so hopefully it's not an issue.

Thinking of checking out Casino Du Lac Lemy in the meantime, it's like a 10 minute drive from here.