Good morning Magenta!
Canada has a lot better immigration system compared to USA. If you recall my joke in another thread about the Canadian and US border customs agent, that pretty much illustrates the attitudes in US (sink or swim mindset) or Canada (more friendly but also more pragmatic).
My wife has a cousin in Toronto and we (including my 10 year old kids back then) visited her about 5 years ago.
Personally i love Canada and i think i mentioned this somewhere else that if it wasn't so damn cold, i would move to Canada.
But despite this i asked for details on what would be involved if i moved with my family. Engaging the locals is also something i do frequently when i travel so i'm not in full tourist mode all the time.
It turns out that even for a US citizen is pretty difficult to move to Canada. Short of getting married or having a GreenCard lottery (which Canda offers) it's pretty much impossible to move there. Even if a company guarantees your visa, that doesn't mean you have a future in your residence there.
This is actually very good because it means that Canada has a strict immigration system compared to US.
Also, even for immigrants that they accept, they require a level of education from them and some skills. This is also good.
Finally the best part is the integration system that Canada provides which is non existent in US. In Canada, immigrants get about 2000 dollars per month per person (average) which requires them to go to school for a year, learn English, learn the Canadian way of life while helping them with rent and food.
So, this program integrates people into the Canadian society. In US the mentality is sink or swim.
I was very impressed with the Canadian immigration system compared to the US and i initially thought that it would be more relaxed than US but it turned out to be the opposite.
I hope they keep it like this and they don't destroy these policies because this is what makes a country run better.
