The media loves stories about Americans who have moved abroad. As well documented on this blog, the stories are all the same “America is awful, so this individual, couple, or family moved to country X where life is wonderful“.
Today brings another in this genre of misleading stories: The Americans seeking refuge from Trump in Canada. (I think the author, who is an immigrant to Canada, herself, knows better – she’s done much good work.)
The story features 3 ordinary Americans who easily packed up and moved to Canada – except no, not representative of ordinary Americans.
Their first subject is a trans person who has applied for political asylum in Canada. About 245 people have applied for asylum in Canada from the US, this year. You need to be in a special “protected class” of allegedly oppressed persons to apply for political refugee status. Which grants a 2-year visa, after which the refugee status may be granted or denied.
The 2nd example in the story is someone who moved from Louisville to Canada. Per the story, above, he is a dual language (English, French) speaking gay psychotherapist who works with the LGBTQIA2+ community. Born in the U.S., he lived and work in the UK for some time and previously did a study abroad in Africa. As a health care worker, and as someone who speaks French, he receives significant additional points in Canada’s points-based immigration system. (Up to 50 points for speaking French, up to 135 points for having a Master’s degree, and in a “category-based” health care hiring advantage.)
The 3rd example is a woman whose son was already a dual citizen of Canada, having been born there, and the U.S. (because at least one parent is American.) After cross checking other online info (her own blog!), she had an internal company transfer from the US to Canada in 2019, was working in Canada, gave birth to a son, who then received dual citizenship. If you have a close family member who is Canadian, then you qualify for family sponsorship in Canada.
Yes – Americans are flocking to Canada – it’s so easy anyone can do it! If you have special privileges!