DandNHill

In days of old emigrants didn't have to worry about exchange rates as they had no money to take with them! So I don't think it's garbage. Emigrants are not the same as they were a century ago... Now it's the skilled middle class who are leaving not the poor, unskilled working class! (Please don't shoot me!)

Jingsamichty

Well, that's quite an assumption. With due respect to everyone, I think there are plenty of people emigrating who wouldn't fit into the 'skilled middle class' box...

Just because some of the skilled middle classes are joining the poor and disaffected in the emigration queue doesn't mean that the whole nature of emigration has changed.

In Britain, there basically aren't any (many) poor, starving wretches anymore. But there still are people who think there is a better life waiting 'over the water' - nothing has changed. The exchange rate, or the amount of money that emigrants take with them are mere details.

99problems

The exchange rate is a crucial detail for me. A six figure sum can be greatly reduced when the exchange rate has fallen by a third. It directly affects the value of property you can afford to buy and hence your quality of life which was the whole premise for emigrating in the first place. It is de facto truth that immigrants are middle class as the NOC list demonstrates and the fact you have to have an education and be reasonably solvent to get through the process.

Simon Legree

I think that I had $183 when I arrived in 1969 !
I though it was a bit of a lark this immigration thing. I suppose I would be middle class and I had a skill that someone wanted quite badly. I didn't even stop to consider the exchange rate !
Different times.

Alan2005

The skilled worker route is just one of quite a few different ones. But yes, that visa is aimed at educated people with er.... skills.

If your six figure sum is actually unearned home equity then you can't really complain that you only got lucky in the timing of one market and not the other. Given the increase in house prices over the last 5/10 years you'll still have done ok.

JonboyE

Maybe it is just me, but I can`t help thinking that if the ability to buy a big house is the main reason you are emigrating then you are setting yourself up for a fall. It is a happy by-product of moving but not, in itself, enough to make all the other problems worthwhile.

ExKiwilass

Unless they're refugees I don't see how that's true. A century ago immigration wasn't mainly restricted to those with 'skills" the way it is now. I don't see how someone on benefits with no skills or just poor with no skills from the UK, NZ or Europe, or Asia could get to Canada unless they married someone.

ExKiwilass

Yup, no money here either. Don't know how I managed it.

99problems

I grow tired of this discussion.

Jingsamichty

Don't make the mistake of confusing particular issues in Canadian immigration with emigration as a whole.

From this board alone I've seen truck drivers, carpenters, hairdressers, nurses etc. all emigrating. Useful trades all, but 'skilled middle classes'? Not in my book anyway.

And, like I said, don't focus on Canada - what about Europe? Anyone from Britain can freely go and live anywhere in Europe - no visas, no work permits, no skill competencies required. To say that emigration is nowadays mainly restricted to those with particular skills - or worse, the 'middle class' - is plainly a nonsense.

lgspoke

If you took into consideration the rate of inflation from 1969 to 2010, $183 would now be worth $2,378,456.03 (Two million three hundred and seventy eight thousand four hundred and fifty six dollars three cents).

Or

1 million five hundred and twenty two thousand seven hundred and thirty one pounds 7 shillings and sixpence 3 farthings.

I think most immigrants would be happy with that amount today.

Note: I know there were no farthings in 1969.
And please don't take this post seriously.

ExKiwilass

Um, it being the Canada forum, yeah, I thought we were talking about Canada.

I don't agree with your definition of middle class or skilled, I guess. Well, actually, it's more that I don't agree it's a class thing - it is a question of skills, though.

MarkG

Except that:

a) if you can't speak the local language you'll be at a serious disadvantage. That's fine if you're from Eastern Europe looking for a cleaning job in the UK because UK minimum wage is more than you can earn at home, but not so good if you're leaving a job in the UK that paid decent wages to move to Poland.

b) I've read that a number of EU nations still restrict foreign workers despite it being against EU rules; for example, taking months to process paperwork for new arrivals before they're allowed to work, in the hope that they'll give up and go home first.

ireland2canada

The official stats for the various routes of Canadian immigration tell an interesting story.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...rmanent/01.asp

The number of those admitted via the family class, and the dependants/spouses of skilled workers, far outweighs the number of skilled workers.

So it would seem that the vast majority of people entering Canada legally are not doing so under the skilled worker route. Only 40,735 last year out of a total of 252,179.

So the notion that people who come to Canada are well educated and skilled in terribly important jobs is quite skewed. What the exchange rate has to do with any of that is anyone's guess.

Oink

Everyone I know wants to leave the UK now because of the crime, high cost of living, poor customer service, crumbling education system, celebrity culture, rain, crap seasides, rugby, too many old people, dirty booze soaked cities, sex obsessed teenagers hanging around shopping centres and the general lack of respect for each other. It’s just not the same place anymore. Then there’s the immigrants. I don’t blame everyone for waning to leave, its not a good place to bring up your kids and they are the most important.


Edited to add: And the traffic has gotten bad.