Michael Niren Interview
Interviewer: While some Americans are showing their frustration with the US economy by joining
protests others have decided to leave the country in search of work.
Immigration Canada reported that it saw a record number of Americans seeking temporary
work visas last year.
Michael Niren is a immigration lawyer with Niren & Associates which is experiencing an
influx of American job seekers.
Michael, thank you for joining us.
MN: Thank you
Interviewer: What kind of increase are you seeing?
MN: I am seeing a significant increase in my practise.
In the past there was a “brain drain” going stateside where a lot of Canadians were
seeking work permits to come to the US.
Now we are seeing the reverse trend.
A lot of Americans, a lot of American companies are coming to Canada to seek a more stable
economy better job opportunities and are asking for Canadian visas to come to Canada.
Interviewer: What kind of jobs are they looking for?
MN: A lot of them are engineers, people in the mining industry, we have a huge resource
economy, it is the whole gamut, people in the medical profession, you name it, there
is a wide range.
Interviewer: how difficult is it to obtain a Canadian visa.
I know from experience having worked in the States myself a number of years ago, there
were a lot of hoops to jump through to get a green card or first of all a work visa so
how is it in reverse?
MN: It is not too difficult if you qualify.
Americans and Canadians have the benefit of getting visas under the NAFTA agreement.
NAFTA tries to make things a lot easier, it facilitates border crossing.
If you are a professional if you have an education and if you have a job offer most likely you
will qualify for a visa however that is not the case for everybody
Interviewer: So is it important then to have a job offer and to prove that you are outstanding
in your field in order to take that job away from a Canadian person?
MN: Yes and no, you do need a job offer but under NAFTA it is not required that an employer
in Canada demonstrates that there is no Canadians that could do the job, nor that the applicant
has to be outstanding.
As long as the applicant qualifies and can get the job done then the employer can offer
the job and the applicant can get the visa.
It is not too difficult under NAFTA.
Interviewer: Interesting.
Are there certain regions of Canada that are seeing more interest
MN: Ontario is really the immigration hub of Canada.
We always see the traffic going to Ontario.
Then Alberta and the West, because of the oil industry and the resource industry, major
activity there as well.
Interviewer: What about the cost of living here in Canada as compared to the US.
Are they prepared for that?
MN: That is an interesting question because of the downturn in the US economy, some states
and cities the cost of living has plummeted.
So Americans are quite surprised by our robust housing market and the cost of housing is
quite high.
I would not say it is cheaper here based on my clients experience but it is the job stability
is what draws them.
Interviewer: If someone is interested in coming to Canada and if they happen to be watching
what would you advise and how long will the process usually take and how much does it
cost.
MN: Basically the first thing to do is to look at your resume look at your credentials
and then look at NAFTA list.
There is a list of occupations that you have to qualify for or that you have to have.
Once you have that, seek employment in the same way you would in your home country.
Once you have a job offer then you will have to consider whether or not you qualify for
the visa.
Costwise ranges from a few thousand dollars to a little bit more depending on the nature
of the case.
Interviewer: Finally for employers in Canada, should they be nervous about hiring somebody
from the US in that they will think that there is going to be a lot of work for them to get
that person here?
MN: Under NAFTA again it is not too onerous on employers.
All they have to do is prepare a job offer letter, a temporary job offer letter, prove
they are a legitimate employers, they have to comply with the requirements in the same
way as they would have to in hiring a Canadian, so it is not too bad, but they have to make
sure the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed and do what is necessary in terms of treating
their employee in the same way they would if they were a Canadian.