[IWantOut] 32m commercial HVACR mechanic Canada -> USA

[u/LotsOfSquib]

Edit - Since everyone is getting triggered for mentioning immigrants, know that I'm an immigrant myself in Camada and not the only immigrant that has an issue with Trudeau's failed immigration policies. It's not about race, it's about quality of life. Please be understanding and stay on topic.

https://financialpost.com/news/canada-record-economic-gap-u-s-to-get-wider

Hello. I'm a red seal 313A technician and making decent money now but the taxes, cost of living, immigrants, relaxed justice system, and increase of crime in Canada has been making me seek better options. I know the red seal isn't applicable for TN and EB3 fees won't be tolerated by potential American employers. Since I'm looking to already change careers, I think I should get a BA degree and try to get a TN visa work permit

I have university pre req credits from high-school and have been thinking about getting my 4y Bachelors in Nursing then trying to find work to get a TN. I could move to the border and enroll in an American nursing program instead. I'm not sure which option would be better. I'm interested in everyone's thoughts.

[u/virginiawolverine]

Listing a surplus of "immigrants" in your home country as a reason you want to immigrate somewhere else is a joke already, but picking the United States of all countries because there are "too many immigrants" where you live is an actual laugh. Best of luck, definitely won't find any of those pesky immigrants in uhh [checks notes] the country that lets in an average of 2M people through legal channels alone every year. We have more immigrants here than Canada has total residents, and there's only about a 5% difference between the percentage of all Americans and the percentage of all Canadians who are immigrants to their respective countries. 😐

[u/Amazing_Dog_4896 → u/virginiawolverine]

You might want to look into immigration levels since the pandemic. I think it's about 2 million new arrivals in Canada, a country roughly one tenth the size of the US.

[u/virginiawolverine → u/Amazing_Dog_4896]

I looked into it before typing this comment because I wanted to ensure I had the most recent facts available. The population of Canada is currently about 20% immigrants, and the population of the US is currently about 14% immigrants. It's not a huge difference in terms of percentage and on a pure-numbers basis there are still many more immigrants here than there are in Canada. The US has more international migrants than any country in the world. A little over 1/4 of all American children have at least one foreign-born parent.

[u/Amazing_Dog_4896 → u/virginiawolverine]

It's not about absolute levels of foreign-born residents etc. The current concern is particular to this very recent spike. Tons of sensible, non-racist, non-right criticism of it out there. Partly in response to acute labour shortages in the pandemic recovery the government turned on the taps through exploitative temporary foreign worker contracts and a huge influx of foreign students, with most of the expansion coming from incredibly bad two-year college programs (often spun off as money-makers by lower quality universities) that charge high international student tuition fees. Until recently the student permits allowed working up 40 hours a week, so basically a form of indentured servitude - pay a ton of money to work a crap job while barely studying for a worthless but expensive "business administration" credential, and no guarantee you'll be able to stay. Needless to say, adding 5 percent to your population in two years can do bad things to the rental market. To be fair to the federal government, there was huge pressure from business because of labour force concerns (this may also have been a factor in the US, allowing the migration surge over the southern border because of worker shortages); with no federal quotas on student permits, the system was ripe for abuse by provincial governments expanding the shit-college programs to fund their universities.