Decades ago, the Indian dream was to immigrate to the USA for better education and a better standard of living. Today, many Indians are moving to Canada as against the USA, since the Canadian visa process for students and immigrants is relatively liberal and simplified.
A bright-eyed student with a dream to settle in the US of A, realizes only after going for studies, the hardships when it comes to procuring a work visa or citizenship. Many of the people, looking for more security as H1b being a work-related visa does not come with many rights whereas, the Canada PR comes with the security needed for an individual settling there. As Krisha Vaghasia, a fresh graduate from the University of Maryland puts it: “The education system is better in the USA and American companies do provide good job opportunities, but at the same time visa process makes social and financial security and a lingering issue, thus requiring an ardent choice to be made between the predominant superpower environment or one that is emerging strongly on the same path.
There’s also the fact that the USA lacks universal healthcare which makes even a routine procedure quite expensive, as opposed to Canada which provides cost-optimal universal healthcare. Indians who are moving to Canada from the USA are usually middle-aged with enough savings to make a life for themselves.
Poorvi Chothani, the Founder and Managing Partner of immigration firm, LawQuest says: “Many of the Indians applying for Canada PR, usually do this as a backup plan. Their main goal is to get an H-1B visa and then a U.S. Green Card.”
H1B is an employment-based and non-immigrant visa that allows an American employer to temporarily hire foreign workers in special occupations. Indians use this as a pathway to living in the U.S.A as procuring a Green Card is much more difficult. On the other hand, Canada PR is a visa that grants Permanent Residence in the country, and the process of getting it is relatively easy.
As depicted in the table above, there is a steady rise in the number of PR aspirants to Canada year on year which has spiked up from 39k in 2015 to 85k in 2019, a steep 29 % growth year on year (the data for 2020/21 is not being considered here owing to lockdown and pandemic conditions which would not be prudent for this consideration), and with the ever-changing geopolitical situation of the USA, more and more rigid norms being applied for immigrants, particularly Indians; strict rationale on the issuance of H1B Visa and the recent increasing cases of racial violence all put together is definitely making Canadian dream more alluring and fit for future.
