Is it hard to immigrate to Canada, what's it like?
I grew up in the US, but I'm a citizen of a very developed European country. I speak English fluently with an American accent, so I won't be too much of an outcast. I took 3 years of French in High School (just graduated) and am planning on getting my master's degree in nursing. I'm planning on going to college all around Europe, and graduate school either in South Africa or Australia. After that, however, I'd like to immigrate permanently to an English speaking country. How hard would it be for me to immigrate to Canada? I want something that's similar to the country I grew up in (the US), but it's way too hard to immigrate there. At least I'll be close. I've known many Canadians and they're quite friendly, some of my best friends have been from Canada. However, I've also heard that they can be a bit prejudiced against foreigners. I've heard that it's incredibly hard to get a job if you've gone to school overseas and that Canadians are a bit racist. I'm white (from all around Europe), but both of my parents are European and grew up there, and I do speak a European language fluently and I'm not ashamed of my culture or anything. Also, I've known a lot of Canadians who hate Americans, and although I'm technically not American, I spent around half of my childhood there, would that be a problem?
Other - Canada - 4 Answers
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1 :
If you want to move to Canada, here is a link to the Canadian government web site with the information. http://www.goingtocanada.gc.ca/CIC/display-afficher.do?id=0000000000102&lang=eng You can take this test to see if you might qualify http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/assess/index.asp One of the most popular ways of entering Canada is as a skilled worker. Follow this link to see if you are eligible http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/tool/index.asp However, Canadian employers will often not hire a person without Canadian employment experience, which you cannot get until someone offers you a job. The problem is that so many previous immigrants from countries other than the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand or north western Europe have had false credentials that Canadian employers are wary of hiring people from other places than I listed. The process of moving to Canada can take up to three years and can cost $10,000 in government fees. Permanent residency in Canada is not free.
2 :
You cannot avoid racism anywhere. However, Canadians are no more racist than anyone else. It is exceptionally difficult to immigrate to Canada. We have about a million others whose applications are being processed by - imho - too few immigration officers. Canada only accepts about 250,000 qualified applicants each year and that still doesn't mean there will be a job for you.
3 :
Canadians are much like other people - if you are open and friendly, they will be open and friendly with you. As to getting a job - check with Immigration Canada - they have recently revised the list of high priority job classifications (sorry, I don't know where nursing fits into the list, but I would imagine good nurses would always be welcome.) Contact either the Canadian Embassy, or go online to Immigration Canada to find out how to go about immigrating. Good luck to you.
4 :
If you're from England, you might get some friendly banter if you move to Quebec :) Canada was voted the world's best country for expats recently so I imagine we're pretty good to foreigners. I'm from Vancouver there's people of all sorts of nationalities/ethnicities here to study and work, and as long as you're not a douche, people are welcoming and friendly :) Vancouver and Seattle exchange tourists a lot, same with Toronto and Montreal and their American counterparts so yeah, you'll be fairly close to your countrymen. And the hating Americans thing is just sibling rivalry so don't worry about it. It's like New Zealand and Australia. Americans are a lot like us so in reality it's actually easy to get along. Depending if you're a pleasant person or an asshole, people will react accordingly. It's the same everywhere. You have skills and speak English/French(?) well, so it should be easier for you to immigrate.
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