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Joe Biden Won: What’s Ahead For Canadian Immigration?

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The outcome of a presidential election in the US affects most countries across the world. Joe Biden has different policy proposals concerning trade, energy and even Canadian immigration from his predecessor, Donald Trump. The neighbouring countries next door are often first to feel the impact. Biden’s win as the president of the United States has numerous ramifications for Canada.

Trump’s immigration policies for the past four years have helped position Canada as an attractive destination for global talent. You may intuitively think that Joe Biden will reverse the current situation. However, Biden’s presidency will unlikely to restore the status of the US as the most attractive country for people seeking greener pasture abroad. Here are the reasons:

United State allows in far fewer immigrants than Canada, proportionately.

The US has a math problem that is unlikely to change with Biden’s regime. The working population in the US is roughly 160 million out of an estimated total population of 330 million. It has brought in roughly 1.1 million immigrants annually in recent decades. Approximately 14% of them have entered the US as refugees, 10% as professionals and skilled workers, and 70% under the family category.

Thus, the United States has welcomed immigrants whose number translates to roughly 0.3% of its population. Moreover, immigrant skilled workers constitute only 0.07% of America’s working population.

The Canadian population is approximately 38 million. Not long ago, the government revealed Canadian immigration plans for 2021-2031. According to the plan, at least 400000 foreigners will be allowed to immigrate to the Country annually. It translates to around 1% immigration rate per annum.

With a working population of about so million, Canada plans to bring in roughly 15% of immigrants as refugees, 60% as skilled workers, and 25% of them under the family class.

Thus, although the US population is about eight times more than that of Canada, it welcomes less than half the size of skilled workers in absolute terms. It brings in approximately twenty times fewer immigrants than Canada, on per capita terms.

Talent from all over the world will continue to choose Canada in their hunt for permanent resident due to the limited number of Green Card slots in the US. This has been the trend thought the Obama and Trump’s regimes; Biden is unlikely to change anything.

Biden’s administration is unlikely to succeed in abolishing Trump’s restrictive immigration policies in US.

While Biden’s immigration policies look to transform and put the US immigration system on a more progressive path, it won’t be easy to implement them.

 For instance, Republicans are still dominating the senate. Moreover, Stephen Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, recently unveiled several immigration policies that the Republican Party will prioritize moving forward. They include:

  • Establishing pacts with countries such as  Honduras and El Salvador, Honduras, to control the routes of refugee applicants intending to enter the US
  • Restricting asylum grants
  • Outlawing and punishing “sanctuary cities.”
  • Abolishing the visa lottery
  • Intensifying “travel bans” with tougher screening and vetting processes  when applying for a visa
  • Effecting fresh limits on work permits and visas

Unless Joe Biden uses his executive orders extensively, his immigration reform agenda would only be attainable by gaining support from Republicans in the Congress. However, Republicans have been reluctant to endorse progressive immigration policies during the Trump regime.

Canada offers certainty

In 2015, Canada allocated 600 invitations to apply (ITA) for US residents intending to cross over when it launched its Express Entry system. The number of permanent residence ITA slots allocated for candidates living in the United States has continued to increase, and it hit 10000 per annum recently. The data from IRCC (Refugees and Citizenship Canada) suggests that 85% of them are non-US citizens.

These figures are suggesting that skilled workers currently living in the US are increasingly looking to cross over to Canada in pursuit of the certainty that Canada is offering.

Under the Canadian Express Entry program, it can take just less than six months for permanent residence applicants to get their confirmation. This is highly appealing to US’s skilled workers who may still be unsure whether they’ll ever obtain a Green Card despite having resided there for years.

Uncertainty for the experienced labour force in the United States will persist notwithstanding the confirmation of Joe Biden as the next US president. Canada will still be a top destination globally for skilled and experienced workers. The demand for green cards will still exceed the available slots in the US.

 Get in touch with Rameh law if you wish to learn more about your options for Canadian Immigration with experts.

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