A few sentences on what happened

Consider the following paragraphs to be like the section before a recipe. I’ll write some brief thoughts, but feel free to skip below to the part with actual instructions

Let’s not kid ourselves - the 2024 US election may be the most disappointing political event in the history of many of our lifetimes. Not only did the majority of voters roundly reject the possibility of the first female president (again), but they also voluntarily signed up for what promises to be the first openly fascist government in American history. Ugh. AAAAAGGGHHH, even.

Now that the dust has somewhat settled, we are all trying to figure out the same thing - what now?

If the headlines are any indication, it looks like a record number of people are looking to leave the US and move to Canada. I certainly don’t blame anyone who feels that way. After all, I left the US in 2016 (for reasons unrelated to the election), and I have no regrets about moving to Canada. In fact, I consider it to be the best decision I’ve ever made.

How you can move to Canada

The following is a basic list with what I would consider to be the fastest and most effective way to move from the United States to Canada. Please not that I am not an immigration consultant and I am not fully aware of what the immigration regulations look like right now, but I did navigate this system myself between the years of 2016 (arrived in Canada) and 2023 (became a citizen).

Enroll in a Canadian university as a foreign exchange student

Borders are strange things. They are completely imaginary constructs that exist only within the human mind, and it’s so easy to fantasize about a world where they are porous (or nonexistant), but they’re a hard reality that we need to live with.

Just as the US border folks are very protective of who gets in to their country (despite what your racist uncle on Facebook might think), the Canadians are very protective as well. Canada is very much not the 51st state, and anybody who tries to move here will need to have a very good justification for doing so.

The best way for an average person to legitimately move to Canada is to enroll in a Canadian university. Once you’ve done this, your school will provide you with a study permit that should get you across the border. The border guards will require proof of enrollment when crossing the border, as well as potentially a screenshot of a bank statement showing that you have enough money to support yourself while in the country.

Enroll as as soon as possible

I cannot overstate how important it is to get the timing on this right. As unfortunate as it is, the social and economic pressures of cost of living / inflation have also Canadian politics sharply to the right. While the Trudeau government (elected in 2015) has been mostly friendly to newcomers, immigrants have become the popular scapegoat for the “bad times”, most commonly the cost of housing. As a result, the government’s friendliness to immigration has chilled, and is likely to become downright hostile after what’s expected to be a sweeping Conservative victory in the 2025 federal election.

The window is still currently open for people wanting to come to Canada, but that window is rapidly closing.

Choose a school in a community where you will actually want to live

A few suggestions:

• Vancouver Island University (Victoria, BC) - https://www.viu.ca/
• University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC) - https://www.ubc.ca/
• McGill University (Primarily English university in Montreal, QC) - https://www.mcgill.ca/
• Carleton University (Ottawa, ON) - https://carleton.ca/

Find a local employer who can provide you with an LMIA-exempt (or LMIA-preapproved) job

Once you’ve arrived in Canada and started your schooling, it’s important to start working on the next stage of your journey - staying in Canada.

This step is much more easily said than done, but if you’re able to find a small business who appreciates your presence on the team and is willing to work to keep you in the country.

For those not aware, an LMIA is a Labour Market Impact Assessment. It’s essentially a job market assessment where the government checks to confirm that you, as a foreign worker, are most likely not taking a job away from a Canadian worker. It’s a long process and it’s best to find ways to avoid this situation entirely.

This is possible by strategically trying to get an LMIA-exempt (or LMIA-preapproved) job. Here are a few resources on how to do that.

• Job Postings for temporary foreign workers where employers have already obtained or applied for aN LMIA
• Jobs That Are Exempt from the LMIA Requirement
• A Guide to Canada’s LMIA-Exempt Work Permits

Begin the journey towards Permanent Residence

This is the point at which you should have some level of comfort in Canada, and where my advice mostly becomes “Reach out to an immigration consultant / lawyer”. If you have a study permit and/or a job in Canada, you should have a decent amount of stability in the country.

Get involved in politics

While it’s true that you need to be a citizen in order to vote in federal or provincial elections, many political parties (most notably the worker-friendly New Democrat Party / NDP) allow Permanent Residents to become members.

Much like the United States, Canadian society is a patchwork of people who are the descendents of immigrants. Also like the US, we very often forget this fact. Becoming involved in politics is a really helpful way to not only foster/improve the conditions in your new home country, but also a great way to protect the rights and freedoms of the immigrants who follow after you.