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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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 Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 2:26 am Post subject: Americans going to Canada to find work |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
Americans going to Canada to find work
By John Ferri, GlobalPost | Sept. 8, 2011
(Source: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/08/america-canada-jobs/)
Usually, you hear stories of people fleeing to America, not the other way around. But the jittery state of the U.S. economy is driving an increasing number of its citizens to seek better prospects north of the border. Americans are the latest economic refugees, and they�re heading to Canada.
As he prepares to campaign for re-election, U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to make a speech Thursday night that calls for immediate stimulus spending to create jobs and improve infrastructure. But those reforms will be difficult to make. Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have resisted any efforts to boost the economy through additional spending.
As life in the U.S. worsens, prospects in Canada seem all the brighter. Canadian officials say the number of Americans applying for temporary work visas doubled between 2008 and 2010. Immigration lawyers in Toronto and the border city of Windsor, right across from job-starved Detroit, say they�re seeing a dramatic growth in clients seeking to come to Canada to work, or even as permanent residents.
So, is this a reversal of fortunes on an historic scale? Has Canada become "el Norte"? Well, not quite. The number of U.S. citizens working in Canada is, at least by global migration standards, relatively small with some 30,000 at the beginning of last year. Still, Americans make up the second-largest group of temporary workers in Canada, behind only Filipinos, most of whom work as nannies. Canada was one of the few to escape the 2008 financial meltdown relatively unscathed, a turn of events largely attributed to Ottawa�s long-standing refusal to deregulate the banking sector.
�I�m looking for a quiet, calm, sane, civilized society to start the next phase of my life,� said Michael, an out-of-work, white-collar professional from Michigan who is seeking a temporary visa to come to Canada. Like several others interviewed for this article, he did not want his full name used for fear of drawing unwanted scrutiny to his application. Though he describes himself as both patriotic and a conservative, Michael says he�s lost faith in U.S. leadership � �on both sides of the aisle� � for failing to stem the excesses that led to the collapse of Wall Street, and for the current political brinkmanship over the debt ceiling. �I�m looking for a country where the first role of the government is to protect its citizens,� he said. �It looks to me like all [of Canada�s] three major political parties seem to have proven that they are much more responsible than our leadership."
Workers like Michael are drawn to Canada�s lower unemployment rate � 7 percent in July compared to 9.1 in the U.S. � and sustained economic strength in major centers such as Toronto, which alone attracts an estimated 100,000 new arrivals a year. These include not only people with temporary work visas, or those seeking permanent residency, but also increasing numbers of university students, drawn by highly-ranked Canadian schools where tuition, even at 3 or 4 times the rates for Canadians, is still a fraction of what it costs to attend many colleges in the U.S.
John Cameron�s mother lost her senior position at a bank branch in Maine in 2009 at the same time he was trying to finalize his choices for his freshman year in college. He had his eye on American universities such as Loyola, University of Maryland, Columbia and Fordham. His father, thinking about the finances, suggested the University of Toronto. Cameron was reluctant, but now he�s a Canadian convert. �I really love it,� he said. �[It�s] hands-down one of the best schools in North America.�
Toronto has also become home to a couple in their mid-30s from New York City who both lost their full-time jobs in Manhattan in the wake of the 2008 crash. They now live in Canada on temporary visas. �It�s important for us to live in a place with a lot of diversity and a good cultural sector,� said the woman, who asked that their names be withheld to avoid compromising their residency status in Canada. She says she was surprised at how quickly and efficiently they were able to qualify for Ontario health care.
Some Canadians who had considered America their adopted home are going back. Al Brickman recently gave up on the United States after 30 years of running a Canadian-owned construction-supply business in Atlanta, Ga. �I really did hold out for about two years,� he said, but business had bottomed-out in the economy. Brickman said that his billings, once around $100,000, had dropped on some months by as much as 95 percent. Brickman moved home to Toronto to work at his company there, where he has a steady job as a general manager. His American wife and their 11-week-old baby, are now trying to emigrate to join him. Since he got back, Brickman said he�s been fielding calls from American friends hoping he can get them a job up north, too.
Shawn Shepard, a legal software supervisor who was among hundreds laid off by his Manhattan law firm in 2008, is hoping a Canadian employer will sponsor him. Shepard, who lives in Jersey City, N.J., is a regular visitor to Canada, with friends in Montreal and Toronto. With 20 years of experience, and, he admitted, �the arrogance of being a U.S. citizen,� he figured it would be a snap. But now, he�s found himself in the classic migrant dilemma: �In order to get a work visa, you need a job offer. In order to get a job offer, you need a work visa.� And even if he were to interest a prospective employer, a visa would only be issued if the employer can show that no Canadian was qualified for the job. �The economy up there is doing very well, despite the global slump,� Shepard wistfully told this reporter, a gainfully employed Canadian. �Your politicians didn�t put you in the same mess that ours did.� |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:25 am Post subject: |
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This is nothing new, Mexican Americans have been fleeing to Mexico for jobs. Filipino immigrants in Canada are going back to the Philippines.
these guys will soon realize that there is nothing up there and move to Korea next. I can understand moving to Canada from Detroit though...
Canada>>American ghettos |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:39 am Post subject: |
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| Nothing surprising. Hamilton, Ontario (And, no. I'm not talking about NZ) attracts jobless American metallurgy experts for the past 10 years. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:06 am Post subject: |
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| NohopeSeriously wrote: |
| Nothing surprising. Hamilton, Ontario (And, no. I'm not talking about NZ) attracts jobless American metallurgy experts for the past 10 years. |
I can understand if there are specific vacancies like that but I can't understand everyone else moving to Canada based on the fact that their unemployment rate is a few %'s lower.
Canadian economy doing well? Compared to American ghettos? Exactly which city are they talking about? Toronto's job market in particular is pretty saturated and quite competitive last time I was there. It's why I left the damn place. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| recessiontime wrote: |
| Toronto's job market in particular is pretty saturated and quite competitive last time I was there. It's why I left the damn place. |
You see. Toronto doesn't represent all of Canada. I was a your typical Montreal-Hamilton teen back home. I avoided the GTA like a plague. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| NohopeSeriously wrote: |
| recessiontime wrote: |
| Toronto's job market in particular is pretty saturated and quite competitive last time I was there. It's why I left the damn place. |
You see. Toronto doesn't represent all of Canada. I was a your typical Montreal-Hamilton teen back home. I avoided the GTA like a plague. |
While you do have a point, neither Montreal nor Hamilton are sparkling examples of places with high employment prospects (fyi, i lived in both cities). Both are very run down and jobs in both cities are terrible to non-existent. Even Vancouver is doing horribly from what I've heard. Not too sure about other places but it seems to me the main big cities that attract newcomers are also the most competitive places to land jobs. |
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NohopeSeriously
Joined: 17 Jan 2011
Location: The Christian Right-Wing Educational Republic of Korea
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 7:32 am Post subject: |
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How in the world are we all going to live together if we cannot get along?
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This article sounds like right-wing kumbaya.
It identifies a major point--massive amounts of money distorting the political system. But what are the solutions? |
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NovaKart
Joined: 18 Nov 2009
Location: Iraq
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| The last paragraph really puts a damper on the whole article. It looks like it's only an option for the highly qualified when you consider the work visa situation. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:50 am Post subject: |
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| NovaKart wrote: |
| The last paragraph really puts a damper on the whole article. It looks like it's only an option for the highly qualified when you consider the work visa situation. |
Yes and no. If you attend university in Canada you are granted an automatic three year work permit upon graduation, allowing you to work pretty much anywhere that relates in some way, shape, or form to your degree. As such, you can attend undergrad or graduate school in Canada, cut your teeth in country following graduation, then have the skills necessary to receive permanent sponsorship. |
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NovaKart
Joined: 18 Nov 2009
Location: Iraq
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:24 am Post subject: |
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| Well that's good at least, is it easy for Americans to get accepted to Canadian universities? Are the costs usually cheaper than in the US? |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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| NovaKart wrote: |
| Well that's good at least, is it easy for Americans to get accepted to Canadian universities? Are the costs usually cheaper than in the US? |
In the case of some universities (McGill, for example), it's easier for Americans to get accepted for undergrad than it is for Canadians. International rates are about what you'd pay at most state universities for in-state tuition. In my case, attending McGill was significantly cheaper for me than attending UMass would have been, despite being a Massachusetts resident and McGill being a much better school. For grad programs the playing field is a lot more even, but generally they don't operate on a quota system in terms of acceptances, as far as I know. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| I am not sure if the ESL world in Canada is very good. Does anyone know? I do have an M.A. in TESOL; I am a Canadian. I can speak decent French. |
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