filing for bankruptcy on US debts in Canada

Hi all,

So, my situation is basically I have unsecured credit card debt and personal loans from US lenders while living in Canada. I moved to Canada from the US last year with these debts and thought I could keep up with payments. With the exchange rate fluctuating and ongoing expenses, that has proven to be a critical mistake. Now I need a new game plan and am looking for advice.

I spoke with a legal office in my home state regarding bankruptcy and they basically said because I am no longer a resident of the state, I should speak with a Canadian lawyer. But since they were just a law clerk and it was a brief phone call, I don't know if I should just accept their word.

First Question: am I able to even file for a US bankruptcy from inside Canada? Is that an option available to me at all? If so, what does that process look like? Alternatively, am I better off just defaulting on my US debts and carrying on? Would there be potential legal or financial ramifications for me living inside Canada from that?

Second Question: while I am employed by a US company, my payroll is handled by an employer of record situated in Canada that they contract with. On paper, I'm employed by a Canadian company even though for practical purposes my employer is US based. If there's any discussion about default judgments or civil claims (ie me being sued by my creditors), I'm assuming wage garnishment or bank account seizure is probably not a big concern because of this?

The amount of debt we're talking about is about 30 thousand of unsecured debt spread across 3 lending institutions. Most of it is held in just one of these. Where one of them is an unsecured personal loan (~22k) and the other is about 7.5k of credit card debt. The third is a few hundred dollars on a couple of credit cards but those aren't major concerns.

Any advice regarding how screwed I am, and conversely how to unscrew myself, would be very much appreciated.