Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign it's awareness episode number 16, fostering a more compassionate, empathetic and accepting society. Welcome to another episode. Yours truly, Rob Daniels with you here and, and thanks so much for being along. Hopefully you have liked and subscribed to this podcast via YouTube and thank you so much for listening, watching. Wherever you get your podcasts, that certainly means a lot. You can definitely do so via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Iheart and a whole lot more. This podcast is heard on 43 different platforms and rightfully so because it's a mental health podcast and you know you can get never get enough voices for mental health. And this week it's, it's more so all about raising awareness or building awareness you could say, or just creating awareness for those that are not that in the know, like myself. For to be completely honest with you, when it comes to immigration, we're going to be talking about immigration because you know what, it's the week of Canada Day, July 1, and then of course Fourth of July.
The United States of America love both countries very, very much. And I thought, you know what, what better time to do an episode on immigration than, than this week because, well, there's a lot to learn about both countries, how they join forces, how they differentiate. And we will get to that as we welcome the Director of Operations at Can Am Immigration to Awareness Episode 16 via video Login because he is out in the United States in South Florida. Mr. Near Rosenberg, welcome to Awareness.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Well, thank you for having me.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Yes. And thanks so much for being here and, and taking the time.
So why don't you start off of just telling me the audience a little bit about what are the operations of the, of the director of operations at at Can Am Immigration? Like what are your daily duties? What do you, what, what's your average day look like?
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Ah, that's. I wear many hats. I, I would say that for the most part I do a lot of consultations. I do a lot of these one on ones where we talk about different options for individuals who want to immigrate to Canada from the United States or from any country around the world.
I also manage staff and we manage software, but generally working on client cases and representing individuals.
Different countries, about 150 different countries around the world.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Wow. So when something like for example, someone is immigrating to Canada or the United States, like how do, how do you make a living at this exactly? Is it when, when, when a case is closed, someone is officially moving to a new country, you're getting a cut of that. That is your salary how does that work exactly?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: I wish I got a cut from every person that gives us a call.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Clients typically will call us to find out what their options are. They're either looking to move from a country around the world to Canada, or they're already in Canada looking for options to stay international students, foreign workers, refugees.
But there's a lot of individuals as well in the United States that want to move to Canada.
They give us a call and we do a consultation with them. It's a paid consultation. We charge a fee for an up to an hour or two hour conversation and then we present them with options that they have, if they have any options. Sometimes there are no options. It depends on the individual and depends on the family, depends where they want to be, their background.
And if they decide that, if we believe that there are options for them and they just decide that they want us to represent them, then we come up with a game plan and power path to citizenship essentially.
And they hire our firm to prepare applications and represent them through the entire kind of bureaucratic process, the administrative process to get a visa.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: Gotcha. What would you say are the more like common pathways for permanent residency or citizenship in, in Canada and the U.S.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: So Canada is a primarily points based system. So they look at what we call human capital.
It's merit based, so dependent on age, education, level of work experience, the type of work experience, the number of years of work experience. And they look at language proficiency, both in English and French, and adaptability factors, how well you will assimilate or how well you adapt to the Canadian economy, the culture, where you're going to live, whether individual individuals have a job offer or if they've worked in Canada before, studied in Canada. So they look at all of these factors and they essentially award you a score out of a specific range and depending on that score is whether or not Canada will want to select you. So Canada has a pool of, want to say about 250,000 applications currently.
And they range anywhere from individuals that have a very low score to those that have a very high score. And every few weeks or every few months, Canada goes into that pool and kind of does somewhat of a lottery draw, but they go with the highest ranking candidates.
And so Canada looks for individuals that are going to contribute to the economy and potentially fill jobs that are in demand.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Wow. So do you ever speak with people that get turned down like for like the first time, second time, does that happen often?
[00:06:28] Speaker B: There's actually a lot of people in the system in the pool that will never, likely never get permanent residency or never get selected.
And the reason being is because of the competition of either the younger generation or those that are in Canada who are completing study programs or have worked in Canada and they've accumulated what we call Canadian experience.
And so you're competing with those that are, are from abroad. And that makes it a lot harder for you to qualify or not necessarily qualify, but have the, the amount of points that you need to be selected. It's kind of, I, I always kind of look at it or, or explain it to individuals similar to a, like a lottery system. So if you buy more tickets, you have more of a chance to win the lottery. It's kind of the same way if you work in Canada, if you study in Canada, if you are in Canada and you contribute and you've, you've had some Canadian work experience, you're going to be a more desirable candidate, you're going to receive more points, you're going to be higher up on that system. So there are certain individuals that will likely never get permanent residency through that particular program.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: So how do like let's say processing times, for example, compare between Canada and the United States for permanent residency or work permits?
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Well, I mean as far as the points based systems in today's environment, it's impossible to estimate previously to, I want to say about six months ago, before the political shift in Canada or the political environment, kind of rocky situation with the, with the government, there were estimated processing times that if you got selected to become a permanent resident would take about six months to a year.
That's assuming you got selected.
There are situations where you're not getting selected and obviously we don't really know when those draws happen.
So individuals could be sitting in the pool for years on end until something kind of gives, something changes.
As far as other immigration programs, because majority of Canada is based on economic programs anywhere from 12 months to 24 months.
There are spousal programs. So if you're family sponsorship programs or sponsoring a spouse, those are typically about a year to three years depending on which kind of application you submit.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: And what would you say are the key differences between Canada's and the US's immigration systems?
[00:09:01] Speaker B: So again, Canada is based on a merit based system, whereas the United States is a very kind of old antiquated system where it's only based on employment. So if an individual has a job offer, the employer has to petition or quote unquote sponsor them for permanent residency. And there's different levels or EBs, which is employment based EB1, EB2, EB3, EB4, EB5. And depending on that, that's going to depend. That's going to make the difference as far as processing time. Could be anywhere from one to two years to five years, depending on the program itself. But again, the US doesn't look at it from a merit base. They just look at jobs and they look at what jobs are being filled.
There are obviously family sponsorship programs. In Canada, as an example, you cannot sponsor a brother or sister over the age of 22.
They are not considered part of the family class.
But in the United States, you can sponsor a brother or sister, you can't sponsor a sibling. The problem with that is that it takes about 15 years, 20 years to get approved because they have a specific quota every year that they allow. And they're very, very, very minimal, those quotas. So until a visa opens up, it could take year years for a visa to be available for that individual to sponsor a sibling.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: So we just had a slight connection blip there. But we got near back on the line here from South Florida. So we were talking about the border on both ends and how it seems that, you know, Canada in the last few years has welcomed many immigrants into the country, which is an a, okay thing with me. I, I, you know, don't see anything wrong with that. But it seemed like in California recently, they were not so welcomed or people that were there that were not supposed to be or just getting into the country were kicked out. I don't know the facts fully around that story, but maybe near you shed some light on what's going on on both sides of the border when it comes to immigration in that sense.
[00:11:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So I don't think that Canada is, you know, a lot of people are saying Canada is no longer welcoming or the US Is no longer welcoming Canadians. I don't think that's necessarily true.
We get a lot of calls from Canadians saying, we want to go to Canada, we want to go to the US we don't feel comfortable.
And then Americans saying, we want to go to Canada, we don't feel comfortable.
I don't think that needs to be the situation. I don't think that's, that's really the case. I think what's happening here is just a political shift. We're seeing Canada kind of, you know, raise its, its, its head and its nose a little bit, and the United States doing the same thing with what's happening politically with, with Trump. Obviously, a lot of Americans want to leave. They're unhappy.
But in Canada, the situation's a little bit different. It's not that we're not welcoming individuals into Canada and certainly we're welcoming visitors, but Canada recently has been more looking at the housing shortage and the cost of medical that they spend.
And it's a political issue.
On one end of the spectrum. You have individuals saying, we've got too many foreign workers, we've got too many students, we've got too many immigrants. And so the government is basically saying, well, let's reduce that, let's reduce the number of foreign workers we bring in, let's reduce the number of the intake of foreign students and overall, let's reduce the number of permanent residents that we bring in.
So that's what they're doing now. That's why it becomes even harder for individuals to become Canadian permanent residents or to come to Canada as students or even to work in Canada. Canada recently made a policy In January, on January 25, I believe, of 2025, that only certain individuals who have a work permit or a job offer in very specific occupations can bring their spouses and children to Canada.
So that limits a lot of people. That automatically reduces the amount of foreign workers that are in Canada. As far as the political issues in the United States, I just think that it has to do with, I don't know, my opinion, not so what's the word I'm looking for? It is not a very logical reasoning.
I don't know if that's the right word, but I don't see the reason to fear coming to the United States. I think the US has remained the same over the years, especially welcoming Canadians.
They just, it's politics. It's, it's really a politics issue.
And I, you know, as far as immigration goes in the United States, nothing has changed.
Canada, on the other hand, has made the changes, has made restrictions, has made it harder.
And so, you know, I had a conversation with a young 22 year old lady from Texas just earlier this afternoon and I said, what's the motivation that you want to go to Canada? And she said, well, I don't, you know, I live in Texas and I don't like what's happening here.
And that's really what I hear day in, day out. I can't tell you that. In 2016, when Trump became president, when he won the election, my phones were off the hook. I'll never forget that same thing in 2020 and, sorry, in 2025 when, when he won the election, our phones were off the hook from individuals wanting to immigrate and leave the United States to go to Canada.
It's a matter of policy. And I think that's just where we're at in today's environment. And I think, you know, there's a cycle to everything, and it's going to go up and down. It's going to change. And, you know, I think that it's just a matter of time before things in the immigration world changes again.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Right. Let's talk about dual citizenship for a moment. And this has always been a subject that I've certainly been interested in, just with my baseball background from back in the day, because I was always interested in being a Canadian and US Citizen at one point because of playing competitive baseball. And baseball in the US Is just a different level than it is in, in Canada, as much as I love those Toronto Blue Jays. And it's the place to play if you're, if you're a Toronto boy. But for the most part, the US for baseball is, is the play, just like football.
It's. It's the place to be. And in terms of dual citizenship nowadays between Canada and the U.S. like, like, how does it work exactly? And is there, are there any complications, restrictions when it comes to dual citizenship nowadays?
[00:15:58] Speaker B: No, you can hold dual citizenship. I hold dual citizenship. In fact, I hold three citizenships, Canada and the US Being included, you can hold more than one.
So Canadians can become American citizens over time. Obviously, they got to become green card holders first or permanent residents first, and then vice versa. Same thing. An American can become a permanent resident Canada and eventually become a Canadian citizen. It takes a few years, but you can become a dual citizen, and it does give you the same benefit. You can live and work and study in both countries.
However, if you do have Canadian citizenship and American citizenship, Canada, if you live in the United States, Canada wants you to report your worldwide income. So that includes what you earn in the United States.
You could be obviously taxed. I'm by no means a tax accountant, so don't take any advice from me as far as accounting goes or taxation laws. But I would say that, you know, you need to consider, if you do become a dual citizen and you do live in the United States, that Canada may look at that and say, well, share some of your income with us.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Right? Right. Right. So is. Is there still that maybe this is just a rumor or something that a few people made up? I'm not sure, but I remember being in the US once, and I don't know if it was. Someone once told me, and if it's true or Not. I don't know, maybe you can clear that up. Is that when you work in the U.S. or if you live in the U.S.
and you're a citizen there, you are just. Can. You are just considered a US Citizen and not Canadian. Whereas if you're living in Canada and you're dual, you are actually Canadian and American. Is that, Is there any truth to that?
[00:17:41] Speaker B: So if you. Let me see, I got this. Right. So if you live. And if you live in the. If you live in Canada and you hold dual Canadian and US Citizenship, you're Canadian.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: If you, if you're in. Sorry, I guess the, the. Vice versa. If you lit. So if you live in Canada and you're in your whole dual citizenship, you are a Canadian and American citizen. But if you're in the US and you are a dual citizen, you are pretty much just considered an American citizen.
[00:18:07] Speaker B: No, no. If you hold dual citizenship, you're both Canadian and American, no matter what. Yeah, that's just. Yeah. I don't know where that came from. I will say, though, that when you do. If you do hold dual citizenships and you do hold dual passports, when you travel between the countries, it's very important to remember you have to use the passport of that country wherever you're entering. So if you're in the US Going to Canada and you hold a Canadian passport, you have to use that passport upon arrival in Canada. Whereas it's the same way or the other way. If you're going from Canada to the United States and you're an American citizen, you're showing your American passport. So you shouldn't be traveling just with one.
[00:18:46] Speaker A: Right. Okay, understood. Now, in terms of, like, okay, so U.S.
canadian citizenship. I'm just trying to think in terms of, you know, this week a lot of people traveling, going shopping, most likely Americans going across the Canadian side because the dollar is better, from my understanding. Right. Like, is there any current travel restrictions or requirements for crossing the Canadian U.S. border this week particularly, or just currently?
[00:19:22] Speaker B: No, I mean, I have not heard of any restrictions coming up between Canada and the U.S. you know, if you're, if you're traveling from the U.S. to Canada, especially during the holidays, just make sure you have your document. It's important to have your documentation with you. And if you're living in the United States coming into Canada, Canada is now a little bit more stringent on who they're letting in or for how long they're letting individuals in. So they're not going to necessarily reject you just because you're an American. But they will look to see that you're not coming to Canada to live in Canada or to work or to study without the right permits.
So if you're coming in for a visit for two, three days, make sure you have proper documentation. It's important for that individual to show that they reside in the United States, they live permanently there, they have employment there, they're in school there.
So that you satisfy the officer, the CBSA officer on the Canadian side, that you are, in fact coming in as a genuine visitor. And the same goes the other way. If you're a Canadian traveling to the United States, if you're going to Florida for a vacation, for a weekend, or you're going to Vegas for a bachelor party or something, it's absolutely important for you to demonstrate and satisfy the officer at the border, the CBP officers, that you are a genuine visitor, that you're coming in and you're leaving.
They have every right to look at your phone. They have every right to investigate who's coming into their country.
And so Canadians typically call me and they'll say, you know, we got stopped at the border, we don't understand why. And they look through all my stuff, and I don't think that's right. And well, unfortunately, they have the right to do that. And Canadians have no right to enter the US and same goes for the US they don't. There's no right to enter.
We do have separate countries. There is a border and we have to respect those rules. And a lot of times people think, well, because we just live up north and because we live down south, we should be able to cross back and forth. Unfortunately, it's not the case.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah, I see. So in terms of time spent in either country, and you may have touched on this earlier in our episode here, but just time spent in either country, does that affect permanent residency or citizenship eligibility at all?
[00:21:37] Speaker B: No, if you're coming as a visitor, it doesn't really affect you.
Typically, if you're in. In Canada and you're applying for permanent residence, they will look at time you've spent in Canada as a visitor, but they'll look at that in a favorable way. As long as you're obeying the rules. Right. As long as you're not in the in Canada without status, it's not going to hurt you.
It's. It could potentially even benefit you.
[00:22:02] Speaker A: How can, let's say for those that have committed crimes in the past, past criminal charges, even if they're minor, can they impact immigration applications for either country?
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Canada is a little more strict than the United States, I would say, as far as admissibility goes on criminality backgrounds.
So the most common situation we see a lot in our office is driving under influence or driving while impaired. DWI, DUIs, IN. In the United States, DUI is typically a misdemeanor, which is kind of like a summary conviction equivalent to a Canadian court.
However, Canada recently made some changes to the rules. And if you are coming in with a dui, whether you're coming in from the United States with a DU dwi, or you're coming in from any other country, you're inadmissible to Canada for at least 10 years.
So if you're an American coming in for a wedding and you have had a DUI in the last several years, you're likely inadmissible for 10 years.
That's kind of one of the most common things. There are ways to overcome that with temporary resident permits, with criminal rehabilitation applications. So that's what we do. We can assist individuals in putting those submissions together so that they can overcome their inadmissibility.
But like, for example, if you're, if you have a DUI in Canada, the United States, you're not inadmissible. You are admissible. So you can go to the United States for a vacation with a dui, no one's going to care.
But the other way around, coming to Canada, it's. It's a little bit different.
[00:23:48] Speaker A: Wow. Wow.
Learning a lot here especially.
And something else I'd like to learners, maybe you can add to it. You said twice now that your busiest times were when Trump won the election in 2016 and then in 2025. What about what happened at your office?
Talk about a little bit of how busy you were when the COVID 19 requirements were in place at the border and what you had to show and what you didn't have to show, and if you had a vaccine and if you didn't and how many you might, Your phone lines must have been off the hook then. No, yeah, yeah. Both.
[00:24:28] Speaker B: Both countries, Both countries were very strict on traveling, so both countries require the shots.
We dealt a lot with. There was a big slowdown in movement. Right. So we didn't have a lot of individuals going back and forth.
The ones that we were working on, the ones that we were helping, were primarily those working at companies that were supposed to supporting the different employers in either Canada or the U.S. so we do a lot of visas from the U.S. to Canada, where we work with factories. So there's a big paper company out of British Columbia and one in Quebec. And these paper companies were actually the ones producing the masks that were being distributed.
And so we were working with individuals who were living in the United States, working in the United States, coming in on contractual basis to repair the machines that break down the machines that typically will produce this paper, the mask.
And so we were working with different companies in Canada, bringing foreign workers in. But, yes, they did have to have the COVID 19 exemptions or they had to have the shots. So it was a very tough time because a lot of rules were changing very quickly, and our office, including myself, we had to keep up to date with those rules on a daily basis.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Yeah. Challenging, for sure. Probably created a whole bunch of anxiety. There was.
I can't even imagine what you went through during that time. So thank you for your service through that. And I guess I'll leave you with one last thing. I mean, you are the Director of Operations of Can AM Immigration. And in terms of.
Before I draw a blank here, what was I going to say is that.
Yeah, I just wanted to get your thoughts on how realistic you think this 51st state stuff is.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: I. I find it a. I find it a joke, really. I. I find it. I find it's never going to happen. I mean, maybe. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Not in our lifetime, at least. I. I don't think, you know, Canada. Canada is a sovereign country, and we like what we like up in Canada. I was. I was watching a.
A reel the other day on flipping through Instagram, and I. I noticed there was a reel with an American hockey player and a Canadian hockey player, and they were sitting at a table and they were kind of sharing what Canada calls, you know, certain items and, you know, a hamburger versus a chicken sandwich. And it's. It's really funny to see how different the two cultures really are.
And so I don't think, you know, we assimilate very well with each other.
We're very different.
You know, when I say we, and I'm. I'm originally Canadian, and I've been living down in the United States now for close to 20 years, and there are certain things that I say and people pick up on that. I say a.
And there's other things that we, you know, we do as Canadians, we're very polite, whereas Americans are a little bit different.
But I would tell you that, you know, in my opinion, 51st State is a very far stretch.
You know, I think it's. It's comical.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow. Well, love having you on this episode. Canadian, American, doesn't matter. You're. You're a great guy at that. If anybody wants to talk immigration with you, they should totally hit you up to get more information. Why don't you give some, some info on how, uh, potential clients can get in touch with you near Rosenberg?
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Absolutely, yeah, they can get in touch. Canadian visas dot com, Canadian visas with an S plural dot com or through Instagram, Canada visa expert with underscores there. Canada visa expert.
And of course, by phone 416-665-3939 or toll free 888-808-7338. And we hope to help. You know, we'd be happy to help you.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: Thank you so much for doing this, bud.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: And happy 4th of July and happy Canada Day.
There you go.
Yes, you as well. So this has been awareness episode number 16 with the Director of Operations for Can Am Immigration near Rosenberg. We thank you so much for listening, watching wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe like away on YouTube would certainly mean a lot, and we hope to continue more meaningful conversations in the future. For producer Mike, I'm Rob Daniels. We'll see you in the next episode.
