spaflyer - few of my friends went down to the states (from Canada) to do just that and none of them currently have a job in North America as no airline/school will sponsor you further than for your training, nor will you be in the US long enough for a green card. 1 guy came back to Canada to convert (spent another 15k+), another went to an Asian airline and paid 90k+ for his type and line training on top of the 65k usd for training...very dumb.......not worth it if you ask me.
It baffles me the US won't even allow Canadian's to seek regional airline jobs as TC and FAA are so similar in terms of pilot requirements.
Advice to any foreign pilot...do the training in your country. The US has enough potential pilots, just need a more secure and attractive package which will come in due time.