Why is it ridiculous? Most countries would prefer to take people who will add more to the country than subtract from it. A country with a robust social welfare system can not afford to have unlimited immigration. I’m sure there are tons of Americans interested in going up north for free healthcare but they already have shortages and waiting lists without adding freeloaders, not that I’m saying you are one.
As far as not knowing what you want to study I always recommend people get business degrees because regardless of what you do in life a business education will serve you well.
Not mentioning it works pretty well, unless it is visible.
:pImmigration control is bullshit and a human rights violation by my opinion, jam the system.
So basically, I need to get into either a blue collar or STEM profession, pay my dues in Amurica until I have enough experience, and learn French, and then I might have a chance of being able to live in Vancouver. Damn. That will probably take me something like 10 years. 
I’ll be like 35 at that point. Sucks.
It seems pretty ridiculous that I could more easily live in Puerto Rico or American Samoa than in a city 7 hours away from here that largely shares a similar culture. I mean what the?
I just think it’s pretty classist. Just because I’m not a professional or a big shot, doesn’t mean I have nothing to contribute to their society.
So what were you planning on doing until you’re 35, anyway? Developing some skills would perhaps be to your benefit no matter where you choose to live.
Look, we’re very welcoming up here, but if you want to live here it’s fairly understandable that we’d like you to actually bring something to the table. Why don’t you try that? I don’t think you understand what “classist” means.
God, I want to live in Canada…
What a concept! Standards for immigration!
If an American would say “we’d like you to actually bring something to the table.” we’d get slammed (or called a Republican).
It’s almost like it’s a different country.
Perhaps you should consider a different planet instead?
To be serious for a minute, you would benefit from doing some of the things in your first paragraph no matter where you end up living.
This. If you have a disability which requires you to be on social assistance of some sort, I doubt very much that you would be able to immigrate to Canada.
What do you have to contribute? I don’t mean to come across harshly: it’s a serious question.
As to the culture, yes, it’s similar, but you don’t have any right to it, any more than the average Canadian has a right to come and live in Portland.
Well, if this anecdote is still accurate:
You should go to tech school and become a plumber. That doesn’t sound very classist to me.
Clearly you aren’t if you only accept doctors, engineers, and millionaires or maybe the occasional plumbing business owner. In America you can just show up and get in, I think we’re far more welcoming a country to outsiders, though we are also far more cruel towards our own people in terms of workers’ rights and stuff like that.
Get a working guest visa for one year. Head north. Look for work. Make friends. If you go to Quebec you can probably take subsidized French immersion! You still have to return to the U.S. when the year is up. But hey, now you speak French possibly, have friends and connections. You could happen upon someone willing to fill out the paperwork and say, ‘Oh, no, he’s very important to what I do!’ (Yada, yada, yada, bullshit!) I’m not saying it will happen, you understand, but it sometimes does. Or you could even meet a girl. But regardless, you’d have some fun and you could scout out locations and at least get an idea for whether or not it would suit you.
It’s as annoying as any bureaucratic nightmare, I’m certain. Seems to be an endurance test of some sort. But somehow people continue, in great numbers to come out unscathed, given time.
[QUOTE=protoboard]
In America you can just show up and get in.
[/QUOTE]
What? I don’t think this is true at all. Got a cite for this?
I have lived in Canada for five years, and sponsored my husband for immigration here. I lived in the US for about 35 years altogether, and worked to get my husband (then-boyfriend) into the US legally. So I have some experience in both places.
It is NOT TRUE that “in America you can just show up and get in.” It is unbelievably difficult to come to the US legally. It is also, in my experience, not true that the US is more welcoming to outsiders.
You might want to look up Aesop’s fable about the fox and the grapes. Hint: you’re the fox.
You are grossly mistaken if the understanding you’ve gotten is that Canada only accepts “doctors, engineers, and millionaires,” and similarly mistaken if you seriously think America accepts anybody who just shows up. Have you paid attention to anything in the news lately at all regarding American immigration issues?
Nope. It’s hard as hell to get into the US to live.
You’ve already been told in this thread that Canada accepts more people as a proportion of their population than the US. It’s not even close.
Here’s the funny part you CAN just show up, in Canada! Not from the U.S. of course, but as a refugee you absolutely can. And when you get here we’ll send you to where you want, on a bus or train, fund you for a few months so you can get a place and get going, even ESL so you can learn the language, education programs, job search help. All of it.
That’s how you get called welcoming, AND how you make great citizens. A not insignificant portion are off assistance before it expires!
I think that was protoboard, not me. 
And I agree with your call for a cite.
Not true, although I will add America is very easy to acquire citizenship(live legally for 3-5 years) other countries are like almost a decade or more.
Completely anecdotal, but I (an American) know five people who have emigrated to Canada to work and live. All five happen to be extended family members. All five are also university professors.
After reading this thread I have spent considerable time trying to think of even one person who has gone to Canada for any job other than university professor, and have come up completely empty.
Now I’m quite sure that there are PLENTY of Americans who have gone to Canada to live who have some other job. I just don’t happen to know them.
(It does make me wonder about the quality of the Canadian university system that they seem to have to import all their professors from the US :))