MJ23

When will people appreciate Canada as a first option? You know, I hope this never happens, but may be if the Canadian government makes immigration as hard as other places like the US, may be people will start to appreciate it more! It is like a kid wanting candy when his parents tell him you can't have it. All the sudden this piece of candy looks so good!

I have to say, when I first applied to Canada it was a second option. Not any more! I'm so excited about starting a life over there!

shriver9

Agreed, but for you, what was wrong with the US of A, that prompts you to abandon it??

JAJ

Most British people I know would prefer to live in Canada as opposed to the US. As would many Australians.

Jeremy

orazone

Reason why I want to abondon USA is that i am a Muslim and originally belong to a muslim nation and I am not feeling that comfortable. I am a thinker and love peace and silence. I want to go to some place that is not involved in any global conflict niether it has any aggresive designs against any other nation. I met a Canadian guy an year ago and he sugguested I should migrate to his country. It took me 1 month to decide and 1 month to prepare application package and here I am.... waiting for RPC Buffalo to finalize my case so that i can leave.

shriver9

Aren't you forgetting that, after WW II, it was the Americans who persuaded Britain ( and a very reluctant Churchill), Holland etc to grant independence to their colonies ( which included many Muslim nations), after assisting in freeing much of Europe and Asia from the Nazis and Japanese.

This is perhaps why, even today, when you listen to speeches given by their Presidents, there is a very heavy emphasis the words ......." FREEDOM" and "FREE WORLD".

If it was not for that gentle nudge after WW II, it will, till today, be a case of ...."the sun never sets on the British Empire"

orazone

I understand what you are saying . First thing, US played absolutly no role in my nation's freedom. Second thing, I dont care much about History. I am a simple guy who simply cares about his own status. Honestly speaking when you think about migrating to another nation thats all you see. Here I also need to mention , I am not a US Citizen. This makes things more difficult. Under Special Registration program I was forced to stand with cab drivers in restricted area for hours to get my self registered with local INS officer. I sent my passport for work visa revalidation ,normally process takes 3 months. They returned it back in 2 week time telling me its not approvable and i have to go back to foreign consulate to get it stamped. Most of my friends who travelled outside the country got special treatment when they came back. Still I am not complaining.......... They have to do it bcaz they have to. Its just a thing, that i dont want to be part of this mess. I dont want myself or my family to be harassed bY FBI or other agencies just bcaz by mistake somebody put our profile inside 'Wanted' Folder.
Again I respect US and Her right to defend herself. But i dont want to be part of this whole mess. Thats all i wanted to say.

newbee

I agree with you. I also lived in US for 5 and half years.
I decided to leave because somehow I did not like US.
Another reason is that, my Visa was expiring.

The H1B Visa is more like bonded slavery.
I want to immigrate to some country
where I can go on my own,
on my own abilities - Not
being servile to a company for
3-4 years just to get green card.

jeffank

I am glad you kind of corrected yourself subsequently.

To imply originally that USA has "aggressive designs on other nations" is becoming such a stereo-typical answer especially coming from people of Muslim background. Whilst you may claim to be peace loving etc, but you have at the same time made a statement that evokes and reinforces ugly human emotions and perceptions, and certainly does not promote peace and love and all those wonderful feelings.

ghitchi2

Personally I don't understand why Canada accepts applications from people who have previously applied for immigrant visas elsewhere, particularly the US.

The immigration system is an enormous and expensive operation - it's a waste of Canadian good-will not to mention tax-payers money to bother processing people for whom Canada will only ever be second best. Canada should not lower itself to being a catch-all for American rejects. It should seek out those who choose to put, in the words of Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, "Canada first, Canada last and Canada Always".

Gareth
Ottawa.

jeffank

Absolutely agree.

MJ23

To make a long story short, just the feeling of being guilty until proven innocent. Everywhere you look, on TV, standing in line for Special Registration..... This is becoming like living back in the middleeast I understand why all of this is happening, but in the same time I don't want to be part of it! If that's they way things are going to be, I might as well go back to the middleast. Atleast I would be able to start a family and raise them with the same set of values I was raised with!

Redwings

May I ask why is that??

I have more brits colleagues who migrated to the US than the rest of the world.

Abe S

Regarding the point of Canada being a '2nd' choice, I am 27 years old, I lived in the US almost all my life, and have been living in Boston for the last 10 years, going to University there, working as an engineer, owning rental property, and two retail stores in Boston on top of my well paying job.
I applied to immigrate to Canada to move to Montreal and moved about 6 months ago for several reasons, one of them being that I love the social atmosphere in Montreal. Despite certain personal annoyances for me like the French language, I'd have to say that I like Montreal more than any other city I've lived in in the US (New York, Pittsburg, and Boston). My point is that alot of people take Canadian immigration as a '2nd option' based on Macroeconomic numbers that may not have much affect on their personal life, like they're solving a statistics question in school. But looking at it from an individual quality of life point of view, I find Canada is as good a place as I've seen in the world (I travel extensively for work and leasure throughout Europe, Asia, and South America).
Overall Canada is not the economic powerhouse the US is, but the quality of life that you can enjoy as an individual is at least just as good if not better, and the people and society here in general are the nicest I've ever known. Like everything else in the world, you will have to work hard in the beginning, but if you can manage a Canadian college degree, or postgraduate degree in whatever you would like to do, many opportunities and personal contacts open up for you that may not be available with a non-Canadian degree. This maybe tough in the beginning but is worth the effort, especially considering how cheap education is here for residents and citizens. If college is not your thing, you'll have a tough time anywhere in the world, not just here.
In conclusion, Canada does not deserve to be a '2nd choice' for anybody as I find it's as good a place to live and grow as I've seen in this world.

tony_ZZZ

I tend to disagree with your opinions of the U.S.

I'm a Canadian Citizen and I have lived and worked in both countries and can say that the U.S. offers more opportunites than Canada.

The lifestyle in the U.S. is generally more conservative and taxes are lower. Canada instead has so many social programs for people who don't want to work where they raise our taxes thru the roof that you wind up paying over half your income to the gov't.

Not to mention the fact that Canadian society is way too liberalized and you are practically living in a police state since the firearm restrictions are way too much.

The one nice thing available in Canada is the free Medicare, however it's at the expense of the higher taxes.

iaink

Canadian tax payers money is not used. What do you think those application fees go towards!

Canada may be some peoples second choice at the application stage, but it is what a country is like after you land that really matters. The aim of the immigration process is to attract people to canada so that the economy can grow, and the current proceedure seems to work OK.

If it was made equally hard to get into canada and the US, then everyone will apply to the country that gets all the publicity, and canada would be left with few applicants. As things stand I believe the majority of those who apply to canada as a second choice grow to love it as there first choice after they land. Even if they dont and head south after a while, they have still contributed something to Canada while they are here, but wont be missed after they leave.