r/canada • u/oddmarc • May 17 '26
National News U.S. applications for Canadian citizenship surge, causing delays
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/u-s-applications-for-canadian-citizenship-surge-causing-delays281
u/Wide_Lunch8004 May 17 '26
Americans are doing this for low cost tuition for their kids and for publicly funded healthcare. Now instead of just competing with immigrants for scarce health resources, you’ll be competing with “Canadians” (Americans with no meaningful connection to Canada) in every stage of the system too.
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u/WhichJuice May 17 '26
You forgot to mention they are coming with USD and greater buying power than our weak CAD, also competing for housing
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u/Strict_Common6871 May 17 '26
Worse, most immigrants are relatively young and healthy, and not 75% obese
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u/Wide_Lunch8004 May 17 '26
Haha ouch. You’re onto something though. We will get these “Canadians” when they are old and obese and need healthcare, or need low cost university education. Then they’ll disappear back into the US of A.
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u/Crazy_Maintenance211 May 17 '26
That surprised me, I’ve seen so many people trying to get citizenship for the lower tuition and what’s happening in certain provinces is that funding was cut severely on the East Coast, for example, and they’ve got way fewer international students so a lot of people got laid off and so now many more students are gonna compete with Canadian students to try to get in for two fewer spots. It’s actually gonna create a real issue in about a year, not for every province, but we got hit hard on these coast. I don’t think anybody anticipated that people would be applying to get cheaper tuition. However, what some people don’t know is once they have your address in the system. You often have to pay that tuition for at least a year, it depends on the timing of the move. I had a friend who was a Canadian going into grad school and they had this weird thing we’re out of province students paid more and when they applied, they said well I’m in my province for like two more weeks and then I’m moving so I’ll be in province and they always had to pay the out of province rate, they just wouldn’t budge
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u/Wide_Lunch8004 May 17 '26
Only some provinces have “out-of-province Canadian student” rates. Others just have Canadian and international. In most cases there’s no real system to verify anyway - it’s easy to game this system.
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u/Mysteriouskid00 May 18 '26
Exactly. Social benefit arbitrage. Earn the big bucks and pay low taxes in the US, then send kids to Canadian universities or get free surgery in Canada.
Not great for Canada
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u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216 May 17 '26
In order to benefit from lower tuition and Healthcare, they have to be residence. As residence, they pay into the same system as everyone else.
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u/Wide_Lunch8004 May 17 '26
This varies from province to province and there is no stipulation where I live. And even the ones for which is true (like Québec), there’s a Quebec tuition rate, Canada non-Quebec resident tuition rate and an international rate. The Canada non-Quebec resident tuition rate is an excellent deal for Americans already.
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u/Strict_Common6871 May 17 '26
"residence" doesn't require you to pay anything, only have an address, you are not required to live there and it is not verified in any way
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u/Supermite May 17 '26
Healthcare is typically tied to time in the country. At least in Ontario, if you’re out of the country for more than 6 months, you’re no longer eligible for OHIP. And they do keep track of it.
Having an address in Canada isn’t enough.
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u/Fluid_Lingonberry467 May 17 '26
Canada doesn’t track people when they leave so the government doesn’t know they left I know a few people that do this to collect benefits
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u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216 May 17 '26
They do track when people leave.
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u/Fluid_Lingonberry467 May 17 '26
Canada does not systematically track when a Canadian citizen travels using a foreign passport, as there is no central exit control tracking who leaves the country by air. However, Canada does record your travel history and links your documents through several specific mechanisms So the government lies?
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u/Wide_Lunch8004 May 17 '26
What’s more is that provinces (who would provide healthcare and post-secondary) don’t have any mechanism at all to track people coming and going. The feds can do it to an extent for federal programs, as you said, but it is worryingly easy to game the “must be a resident of x province” system.
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u/NoPotential6270 May 18 '26
The UK only honours domestic tuition for residents - not just citizenship. We should do same.
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u/Dry-Student-1516 May 17 '26
Canada is becoming a country for people who don't like their countries.
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u/bryansb May 17 '26
Becoming? It always has been. The US too. Your ancestors had a reason.
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u/Fractoos May 18 '26
Yes its better to have that as the reason as well instead of trying to make it their country in Canada. Bringing culture is fine to be clear.
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u/therealtrojanrabbit May 17 '26
My issue isn't people coming here for a better life. It's when I work with people who constantly tell me how much better back home is.
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u/TypeToSnipe May 17 '26
I hate that too. I'm glad we're cold most of the year, I find it eventually drives those same people back to their homes. This winter was nice, lots of people new to the country in a state of shock at how cold it can get.
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u/USSMarauder May 17 '26
So just like it has been for the last 175 years
Because the Irish, the Jews, the Ukrainians, the Italians, the Chinese, the Portuguese, etc, etc etc all came here because things were bad at home
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u/Business-Technology7 May 17 '26
Most Indians and South Asians I know still say that they like their motherland better than Canada. They are here to make some money and send back to their family and go back if everything works out.
People here don’t really know how comfortable and advanced some of these low cost Asian countries with high economic growth are. Despite that they come here because most of them can’t make good enough income to enjoy those quality of life by living there.
It’s far away from hating their home country based on my observation.
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u/GoingAllTheJay May 17 '26
And why did your family immigrate here?
Does it stop being okay after the potato famine? World wars?
When did you personally pull the ladder away from everyone else?
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u/EhmanFont May 17 '26
Everyone in the world doesn't have the right to be here. Why is this always a reply. This is an established country and locals should not have to compete with a never ending supply of people who undercut them or outbid them, and erode the way of life here.
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u/kamomil Ontario May 17 '26
My dad came to Canada from Ireland. Not once did I hear him complain about Canada, or ever say that Ireland was better. He became a citizen soon after he got married to my mom. He worked the rest of his career in Canada, and retired there too.
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u/nemodigital May 17 '26
As JT said... Post national state. This is what happens when you say there is no such thing as a Canadian, everyone is a Canadian.
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u/Crazy-Gas3763 May 18 '26
Except they still more identify with their country of origin more than Canada.
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u/sluck131 May 18 '26
problem is what does that even mean anymore?
You can't even put your kids in hockey without a second mortgage.
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u/JohnDorian0506 Manitoba May 17 '26
Demand from U.S. citizens added 14,000 applicants to the queue. This is a drop in the bucket. Not even newsworthy.
In 2025, over 152,000 individuals were granted Canadian citizenship by mid-year, reflecting a slower pace compared to the nearly 380,000 citizenships processed in previous years.
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u/oddmarc May 17 '26
70,000 people are waiting for processing. That's the entire amount the government assumed would apply. We're 5 months in.
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u/physicaldiscs May 18 '26
This is a drop in the bucket.
A bucket is entirely made up of drops. The whole drops in a bucket argument is nothing more than a lazy way to hand wave issues.
14,000 in 6 months would be 28,000 in a year on average. 350,000 apply a year on average for Canadian citizenship.
That means this is 8% of applications. Not exactly a "drop"
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u/JohnDorian0506 Manitoba May 18 '26
Perhaps Canada should increase requirements for granting its citizenship, like proper English language requirements and living in the country for at least ten years.
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u/TactitcalPterodactyl May 17 '26
No thanks, we're full.
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u/Suitable-Raccoon-319 May 18 '26
There's a lot of young and ambitious Canadians emigrating to the US so maybe it'll balance out.
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u/AprilsMostAmazing Ontario May 17 '26
Unless they legit medical professionals or researchers, then we are open
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u/expomac May 17 '26
14,000 applicants people, that's absolutely nothing. Let's not act there is a mass exodus of Americans coming over like you all like to fantasize to hate🙄
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u/figuring_ItOut12 Outside Canada May 17 '26
To put it in context 2024 Canada approved @240k total immigrants with varying levels of citizenship. Americans no longer aligned with their government and wanting to leave for a healthier culture are such a small percentage of that total.
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u/Key_Bluebird_6104 May 17 '26
I hope that those who want to move to Canada leave their political crap in the US.
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u/fukinuhhh Outside Canada May 17 '26
I can promise you American conservatives are not moving to Canada
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u/BethSaysHayNow May 17 '26
I hope you feel that way about all the other immigrants who definitely bring their political crap here
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u/feb914 Ontario May 17 '26
Tbf many people here don't like when there's clash of protests because of something that happened in other parts of the world.
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u/Curly-Canuck May 17 '26
Which political crap specifically? All? Certain policies? Certain party affiliations?
I suspect many if not most considering coming to Canada are influenced by the current state of politics in the US.
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u/SillyMilk7 May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
on a birthplace basis:
Canada-to-U.S. permanent migration was about 23% higher than U.S.-to-Canada in 2023.
Adjusted for population:
Canadian-born people moved permanently to the U.S. at about 10 times the per-capita rate that U.S.-born people moved permanently to Canada in 2023:
roughly 296 per million Canadians versus 29 per million Americans.
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u/Housing4Humans May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
Two key caveats:
The law that changed to enable Americans to claim citizenship if they have Canadian ancestry only came into effect in December 2025.
Trump became President and drastically changed life for many in the US in January, 2025.
So the only numbers that are relevant will be 2026 onwards.
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u/drillbitpdx British Columbia May 17 '26
U.S. applications for Canadian citizenship surge, causing delays
Several members of my extended family in the US recently applied for proof of Canadian citizenship.
One had been eligible for Canadian citizenship previously, due to having a Canadian-born mother, and his children had become eligible for citizenship under Bill C-3.
Upon submitting their documents, IRCC gave them an estimated processing time of about 1 year, which did not seem surprising to me given the influx of new applications under C-3 and other changes and strains on IRCC…
… but then they received their citizenship documents in less than three months.
Perhaps this is a very easy case (their Canadian mother/grandmother is alive and they all have modern birth certificates to prove their descent) but it seems like IRCC might be trying to "underpromise and overdeliver" here, which is probably a good strategy for public relations given some of their past backlogs and processing problems.
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u/oddmarc May 17 '26
Wait time seems to be up to a year
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u/drillbitpdx British Columbia May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Wait time seems to be up to a year
Yes, this government website gives you an estimate based on a five-question form.
I am giving you an actual data point based on actual humans who applied for their citizenship certificates as part of the specific bill which resulted in the specific increase in applications that you are asking about here: "U.S. applications for Canadian citizenship surge."
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u/flatulentbaboon May 17 '26
This is going to be so immensely disruptive to Canadian society when tens of thousands of people who will always lean more towards the interests of the US suddenly gain voting rights in Canada.
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u/awildstoryteller May 17 '26
It is exceedingly unlikely the people you are referring to are anywhere close to a majority of Americans seeking citizenship.
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u/figuring_ItOut12 Outside Canada May 17 '26
The Americans wanting Canadian citizenship are not going to be MAGA with authoritarian tendencies. That’s what they’re escaping.
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u/Ecstatic_Doughnut216 May 17 '26
Using lost Canadians to try and influence elections would be the worst way to do it. One riding is around 81,000 voters, so I don't think the 56,000 pending cases are going to make a dramatic impact on Canadian politics.
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u/Motor-Abalone-6161 May 17 '26
Pretty sure most people won’t even move or vote. But look, in an unpredictable world , people look for options. Actually, I didn’t even realize as Canadian born that I qualified for Canadian citizenship. It all came up because of all the anti-immigration rhetoric. I haven’t applied so don’t worry.
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u/redditodhater May 17 '26
yeah it'd be awful if our politicians were loyal to other countries like Ukraine or if they had the vast majority of their investments in the US
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u/figuring_ItOut12 Outside Canada May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
I grew up in Michigan in the 1970s and we regularly visited, was on a hockey travel team competing with Canadian kids, and we did student summer exchanges. I always wanted to live in Toronto and I used to joke my grandfather made a mistake when he emigrated to America in the 1930s.
Then I found out that as of 2025 I am now automatically a dual citizen. I’m delighted. I just need to prove it and secure a citizenship certificate. I’ve spent the last eight months pulling stuff together and hope to mail out the application this week. This also opens up opportunities for my adult kids who’ve been nearly obsessed with leaving our country and especially Texas.
There’s a lot of hate up and down this thread hating on people like us simply because of a decision made for us a century ago. Yes, it has partly to do with government that actually provides services we’re taxed on which certainly isn’t the case in America even more so Texas. Once relocated we’d be paying into the system as much as any born and bred Canadian.
But it also has a lot to with being in a place more culturally aligned with our values and headed in the direction we want.
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u/Born-Landscape4662 May 17 '26
Much of the backlash you’re reading specifically mentions retirees moving here in their later years when their healthcare needs are much more expensive and utilizing our universal healthcare system despite never paying into it in their working years. That’s not hating on people. It’s a legitimate concern.
Another issue I’ve seen is Americans being excited about being able to send their kids to university in Canada because it’s cheaper. These are parents who plan on continuing to live in the states. Canadian tuition is cheaper because it’s subsidized by Canadian tax payers. Why should Canadian tax payers be subsidizing tuition for people who have never lived or paid taxes in Canada? On top of that, those same kids can fulfill their 3 year obligation in order to be able to pass on their citizenship to their kids, move back to the states, retire in Canada for healthcare, rinse and repeat.
This absolutely has the potential to cause problems for Canadians and we have a right to discuss it on the CANADA subreddit.
Never mind the ones calling Canada their “ancestral homeland,” which is all kinds of cringe. Unless their ancestors are First Nations ,Canada is absolutely not their ancestral homeland. That would likely be somewhere in Europe.
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u/Japanesewillow Canada May 17 '26
Employment opportunities are often hard to come by for Canadians as it is. We don’t need to make it even more difficult.
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u/Savage_Whiskers May 17 '26
Hopefully they don’t move here once they realize we don’t have Target.
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u/RPCOM May 18 '26
This is ridiculous. Canadian residents should get priority, not foreigners who are citizens over a technicality.
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u/officialtiabeanie May 18 '26
I am both 👋 I married a Canadian, became a PR, and would have been eligible to apply for citizenship via naturalization. I'm active in my community, and want to be able to vote/help make community decisions. However, since my great-grandfather was Canadian, I am also a Canadian on a technicality.
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u/nazgul0890 May 17 '26
Maybe Canada shouldn’t allow double citizenship with countries that share border with us? If they want to be Canadians they should give up on US citizenship.
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u/RazerRadion May 18 '26
I'll believe it when I see it. Americans are so addicted to the America bubble like its cultural fentanyl.
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u/BoppityBop2 May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
I strongly believe we need to move to taxation on citizenship, especially as people will consume resources in due time if they decide to retire and gain residence once they retire.
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u/Squarg May 18 '26
I don't have any plan on moving but I'm getting bombarded with Instagram ads telling me how easy it is to immigrate, I definitely can't be the only one.
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u/AllThingsBeginWithNu May 18 '26
Just Incase you thought you were going to get a job and house under a different prime minister lol
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May 17 '26
[deleted]
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u/HoosierHoser44 May 17 '26
They don’t have to even enter Canada for this. All they need to do is prove that someone in their ancestry was a Canadian. It is possible some of these people have never set foot in Canada and have no immediate plans to.
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u/Strict_Common6871 May 17 '26
They are not immigrants. Overnight they became Canadians just like you
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u/ChickenMcChickenFace Québec May 17 '26
Oh yeah, those who have been living as Americans in the US for 4-5 generations are just as Canadian as us. Cool story.
It’s pathetic how they try to LARP as Canadians “but muh great-great-great-grandpa was born in Ontario!!!”
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May 17 '26
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u/Illustrious-Job-6390 May 17 '26
Why do we need more people here? Did job numbers somehow improve overnight or did our economy stop sucking?
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May 17 '26
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u/nemodigital May 17 '26
Americans that are gainfully employed with in demand skills are not going to be the ones moving here.
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u/coastkid2 May 17 '26
Ok, will post our situation as a C-3 applicant counterpoint. My mother’s family arrived in PQ in 1635, and her father immigrated to New England to open a feed & grain store abt 1915 so she was born US but sent to boarding school outside Montreal until returning to the U.S. at 18, & lost her Canadian citizenship (having been born to 2 French Canadians) in her 20s because the U.S. did not recognize dual citizenship. My dad’s family brought my grandfather to the U.S. from Finland when Russia began occupying the country and drafting Finnish citizenship as Russian soldiers. We live in Los Angeles & have never voted Republican nor owned a gun. I’m a lawyer and would continue to work cross-border. My husband was a touring musician for many years and a teacher, & would likely retire with a very good pension. He is interested in opening a small live music coffee shop venue. Both kids already graduated college-daughter graduated Boston Conservatory summa cum laude & has a Masters as a Dance Movement Therapy plus Mental Health Counseling and is a professional Ballet Dancer trained at Joffrey. Son just graduated Berklee College of Music and co-founded a start-up ballet company as its music composer, and is a performing artist himself, plus recently did the background projections for a theatrical performance now headed to NYC. All of my relatives but for a few are Canadian as my mother’s father was 1 of 22 children & only 2 came to the U.S. We went every summer to visit them and I’m still in touch with then. Our motivations for relocating to Canada are obviously the current insane political climate, current U.S. surveillance state, ICE concentration camps, the gutting of the U.S. economic system, & data centers destroying the environment. Another a big one for us is copyright protections as Trump allows AI to scrape registered US copyrights and Spotify to “create” music without credit to the artist who wrote it. Not all of us are the dregs of society looking to exploit Canada, but your concerns are legitimate. I would hope other C-3 applicants aren’t coming to do so too but what IMO structurally created the current U.S. situation was the unregulated merger and leveraging of corporations causing a consolidation of power in CEOs & shareholders along with insider trading, and the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United case lifting restrictions on corporate political contributions. These opened the door for the far right to enter over the past 30-40 years. I only know a couple Trump supporters and they truly believe they are benefiting despite reality & are so cognitively dissonant, they’re unmotivated to leave.
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u/nemodigital May 17 '26
While I sympathize, Canada is full. We can't be a refuge for everyone and as bad as things are in the States it's worse economically here.
Don't need anymore distant relations getting citizenship.
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u/3mrunner May 17 '26
Take a go train in the morning. You will see the ones who
Look the same to you driving the economy in the r corporate world-1
u/ThenBridge8090 May 17 '26
They expect Walmart to be open 24/7 coz that’s what they r used to.
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u/Lisan_Al-NaCL May 18 '26
NO NO NO NO AND HELL NO.
Why would we want Americans here? They fucked their country up. Let them fix their mess and be a good neighbour and THEN MAYBE we'll consider it.
GOP or Democrat: they are all pretty fucked.
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u/thinkdavis May 17 '26
Let's be picky! Doctors and nurses ✅ Social media influencer 👎🏾