Article...More Americans heading North

[SSLL]

From: http://www.thestar.com/article/243555
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More Americans heading North

U.S. immigration to Canada at 30-year high, but fewer Canadians moving to United States
Aug 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Tim Harper
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON–It was a popular vow of apprehensive Democrats in 2004, a pledge made in the heat of battle to move to Canada if George W. Bush was re-elected.

Turns out, some of them did.

An analysis of immigration statistics done by the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies showed the number of Americans who moved to Canada in 2006 hit a 30-year high, almost double the number who moved north in 2000 when Bush was elected for a first term as U.S. president.

The analysis also showed the southward brain drain is being narrowed somewhat, and most of the American migrants are highly educated people who may be moving to Canada for quality of life and social reasons.

The numbers were not huge – 10,942 Americans moved to Canada last year, far smaller than the influx predicted when bogus maps of the United States of Canada began hitting the Internet in the waning days of the 2004 campaign.

The day after Bush was re-elected president, there were 191,000 hits on Canada's immigration website, six times its average traffic, most of it from the U.S.

Websites sprouted explaining the mechanics of the Canadian immigration system, and Canadian women, tongues in cheek, offered to marry anti-war Americans.

But the increase is symbolic, said Jack Jedwab, the executive director of the association that analyzed the statistics. "Given that most of these immigrants are university-educated or better, you can assume they can find work in the U.S., so the move must be based on other reasons,'' Jedwab said.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada reported that 49.5 per cent of the Americans who migrated to Canada in 2006 had at least a bachelor's degree.

Jedwab said anecdotal information points to politics, health care, social issues, possibly even the strengthening Canadian dollar as lures northward, he said.

For 34-year-old labour organizer Tom Kertes, the move last April from Seattle, Wash., to Toronto was based on human rights.

"The words `human rights' are foreign words in the U.S.,'' Kertes said.

"They only apply to other countries.''

He moved to Toronto with his partner Ron Braun and the two plan to marry, something they could not do in Washington state.

He also cited the war in Iraq and the torture of Iraqi prisoners by Americans – and the failure of the Bush administration to clearly disavow such practice – as contributing factors to what is a major decision.

"Moving countries is not done lightly,'' he says.

He said he found the tolerance of Toronto welcoming and he thought Canadians were proud of their reputation for tolerance.

The 2006 figure marks the first time there have been more than 10,000 American migrants to Canada since 1981 and was the highest number since 1977.

Between 1967-75, a period marked by draft dodgers fleeing the Vietnam War, there were at least 19,000 Americans who fled north each year.

While the number of Americans moving north jumped, the number of Canadians moving to the United States declined to 23,913 in 2006 from 29,930 in 2005.

The net loss to Canada of 12,971 was the smallest since 2003 and slightly more than half of the loss suffered by Canada as recently as 2001 when 24,089 more Canadians moved south than Americans moved north.

The two largest categories of U.S. immigrants were the family class and economic class and Jedwab says he believes the numbers will continue to rise because of the family class of immigration.

"Once you reach a certain critical mass, the family reunification numbers tend to keep the numbers increasing,'' he said.

There was a large jump in the number of American refugees in 2006, but those were largely Haitians who received refugee status in the United States then moved to Canada.

Ontario – particularly the GTA region – was the destination of more than half of the U.S. migrants, far outpacing British Columbia and Quebec, the second and third most popular destinations.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the study is the attention it has received in the United States where it was first reported by abcnews.com.

It has become a hit on the blogosphere where many Americans have reacted with venom to those who have left the country and some 80,000 persons voted on whether they would move to Canada within hours of the question being posted on an aol.com site.

"If every American who didn't like George W. Bush left the country, there would be no one here but illegal immigrants,'' one blogger wrote.

FLIGHT PATTERNS


Analysis of immigration shows an influx of Americans moving north

10,942 Americans moved to Canada last year, a 30-year high

23,913 Canadians moved to the U.S. in 2006, down from 29,930 in 2005

[MolsonExport]

Come on up; we've lots of room, and decent housing prices to boot. Alas, our dollar is not the bargain it once was for Americans.

[Canasian]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Come on up; we've lots of room, and decent housing prices to boot. Alas, our dollar is not the bargain it once was for Americans.

Decent housing prices? Not in Victoria or Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary! And don't even think of renting in Ft. McMurray AB!!!
Come to Newfoundland!! We need people here

[Rusty van Reddick]

Wait a sec, I thought Calgary was the city with the most Americans- you mean it's NOT?!

[Aylmer]

But Ottawa is boomtown #2!
For all people from the sillicon valley, this isn't a world away!

Come one, Come All!

[Aylmer]

Funny thing is, all the posts here are canadian!

Canada owns!

[Nutterbug]

10,942 Americans moved to Canada last year, a 30-year high

23,913 Canadians moved to the U.S. in 2006, down from 29,930 in 2005

Net flow is still southbound, by over a 2:1 margin.

[IFtowner]

Vancouver!

[seaskyfan]

Folks talk a good game about moving to protest Bush, but most folks I know who've emigrated have done it for love. I know four cross-border couples (3 gay, one lesbian) who decided to live together on one side of the border - three wound up with the Seattle partner moving to Vancouver and the fourth wound up with the Vancouver partner moving to Seattle. Moving north seems a lot easier because of the availability of gay marriage. We have domestic partnership rights in Washington State but that doesn't help with federal immigration laws.

[Nutterbug]

Is it true that US citizens have to pay taxes to the US government, even if they're living and working outside of the country? This is just something I heard from someone, and if true, might present a drawback to moving out of the country.

[Doug]

^Sort of. A US citizen must file a US tax return and declare their global income. However, if residing in a country that has tax reciprocity with the US (ex. Canada), an American citizen can deduct the amount paid in taxes to the country of residence. In effect what this means is that if a US citizen is residing in a country where they would pay higher taxes than in the US, they would not end up paying any tax in the US. Having to file every year is a pain as US tax returns are very complex. I strongly agree with this approach as it discourages Americans from avoiding taxes by living in tax havens such as the Bahamas while eliminating citizens of convience who reside internationally but maintain the US citizenship just in case.

[Doug]

I wonder how much of this trend is due to the state of the economy? As much as die hard liberals wish that Bush's presidency were enough to drive people out of the country, Canada's economy has outperformed that of the US over the past few years. Much like the 1970's, this is largely due to historically high commodity prices. The 70's were also a time of significant US emmigration to Canada.

[Urbanguy]

^Although there has been an increase in United States Citizens moving to Canada, they, along with immigrants from Hong Kong, are the most likely to leave Canada.

Here's an article about that-> Many working-age immigrants leave

Many working-age immigrants leave: Statistics Canada

Source: CBC

A substantial number of Canadian immigrants do not plan to stay here permanently, while more than a third of young male workers leave within 20 years of their arrival, according to Statistics Canada.

A federal agency study examined the behaviours of men who were 25 to 45 when they arrived in Canada starting in 1980.

The study found that about 35 per cent departed within 20 years, with about 60 per cent of those leaving within the first year of arrival.

Immigrants' countries of origin, their economic qualifications and the business cycle had a strong bearing on their decisions to stay or leave.

For example, highest departure rates were among the group that arrived in 1980 at the onset of a business cycle downturn, and those who arrived around the 1990 recession, the study said.

People are allowed to migrate to Canada in a number of ways.

They include through a points system, in which people are classified under the categories of business class, skilled worker class and assisted relative class, on the basis of family ties or a refugee process.

The study found higher departure rates among immigrants who were admitted in the business and skilled-worker classes, noting that the global labour market makes their mobility easier.

Refugee claimants had the lowest departure rates.

Newcomers from the United States and Hong Kong were most likely to leave Canada, with about half leaving within 10 years. Newcomers from Europe or the Caribbean, in contrast, were about half as likely to leave.

Language was also a factor. Bilingual immigrants and those fluent in French had 25 per cent shorter stays. Married immigrants stayed 25 per cent longer than single immigrants.

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by Doug

^Sort of. A US citizen must file a US tax return and declare their global income. However, if residing in a country that has tax reciprocity with the US (ex. Canada), an American citizen can deduct the amount paid in taxes to the country of residence. In effect what this means is that if a US citizen is residing in a country where they would pay higher taxes than in the US, they would not end up paying any tax in the US. Having to file every year is a pain as US tax returns are very complex. I strongly agree with this approach as it discourages Americans from avoiding taxes by living in tax havens such as the Bahamas while eliminating citizens of convience who reside internationally but maintain the US citizenship just in case.

But if they're not residing in the US nor making use of its services, they have no obligation to pay into its government.

A better way to eliminate "citizens of convenience" would be to eliminate dual citizenships. I'm in favour of doing that here too.

[JDRCRASH]

I'm not suprised; the Canadian Economy is chugging along while the United States heads toward (what appears to be), an inevitable Recession.