I just wonder if you have many that immigrate all the way to Canada. It wouldn’t be any harder to do than crossing into the USA.
What nationality is your largest illegal immigrant population?
There are virtually zero illegal Mexicans in Canada.
WAG
The largest illegal population in Canada would almost certainly be Americans.
Would that be from the Vietnam war?
Just as the largest illegal population in Australia is probably from the U.K. – and that’s because it’s so easy for New Zealanders to migrate to Australia that the only illegal Kiwis would be those who have committed crimes serious enough to get deported.
Possibly. I’ve seen a variety of stories about visitors overstaying their visas, from the Carribean, Africa, Central America, etc., but that’s not necessarily a matter of sneaking into Canada. As far as undocumented workers go, I would guess that Chinese immigrants would rank near the top of the list.
Note: Canada does import a number of Mexicans to work picking fruits and vegetables, so it’s not like there are no Mexicans at all in Canada.
I’m sure there is are some Mexican aliens but not to the extent of the US. The distance and logistics of travelling from Mexico to enter Canada illegally are prohibitive. Besides, it’s too cold!
I’d echo the WAG that Chinese illegal aliens would be near the top of the list.
Interesting anecdote, some of the "illegals"I have met they were either American, Australian, English, or Brazilian. They’d either outstayed their visas or married to stay here.
For my particular area I would guess that filipinos may make up the largest illegal immigrant population.
My husband’s company recently went abroad to recruit skilled construction workers, and one of the countries they recruited from was Mexico.
I’m sure there are Mexicans here, but I have zero idea what our illegal Mexican population is. My guess at our largest illegal immigration populations would be Chinese and Asian, followed by Middle Eastern, with the illegal immigration being one person comes over legally, then family members follow illegally.
I’m not really concerned about legal workers or immigrants.
People sneaking into Canada doesn’t currently seem to be a huge issue (IMO), although there was some muttering about tightening the border with the U.S. after 9/11.
An issue that gets slightly more attention in the media is dubious refugee claimants. If you arrive in Canada and claim to be a refugee, the government can’t kick you out until the (slow, backlogged) refugee claimant process is over. (At least that’s my understanding.) There was a spate of Roma/Gypsies flying to Canada and claiming refugee status, for instance.
Right, but there are basically two kinds of illegal immigrants:
(1) those who cross the border illegally, and are breaking the law from day 1 in the new country;
(2) those who cross the border legally (e.g., as tourists, students or temporary workers), and who either stay past the end of their visa or take work in breach of the conditions of their visa.
Is a person still considered illegal if they don’t have a visa but they’re married to a citizen? Or does the old sitcom troupe of marrying someone and gaining citizenship after a certain period hold true?
There are fair numbers of illegal immigrants from China, Portugal, the Phillippines, the USA, and a few other countries.
It’s not the HUGE political issue here that it is in the USA, but it’s AN issue. There are a lot of illegal immigrants in Canada; Canada brings in a very large number of immigrants, so it’s inevitable a percentage of them will break the rules. Indeed, the government recently proudly proclaimed new rules that will allegedly (they always say this) make it easier for legitimate immigrants to get in and harder for line-jumpers.
If you haven’t gone through the right process, paid the right fees, and been given a visa or permanent residency, then you are illegal. You may find it easier to fix your status than Juan, who just walked through a tunnel under the border fence between Baja California and California, but you’re just as illegal as he is.
You don’t instantly get Permanent Resident status just by marrying a Canadian citizen, no. There’s a (slow, backlogged) immigration process you have to go through.
Well, someone in Canada’s government must have thought that there was a problem with Mexicans (and Czechs or Slovaks, don’t remember which) overstaying their visa. Up until about a year ago, Mexicans could just fly to Canada without a visa. Kind of like Americans can go to Canada and to Mexico without a visa. Then that all changed, with about a week’s notice, and without notifying the Canadian embassy in Mexico City (the only place in Mexico to get a visa then, and maybe now for all I know). It was a major frigging mess for normal Mexicans who’d had all of their airline tickets purchased and travel plans made, because without warning they (a) needed a visa, and (b) couldn’t get one because the embassy wasn’t equipped to deal with it!
As for refugees, it seems that I met more refugees during the year I lived in Mississauga, ON, than I’ve met during the cumulative rest of my life. Most of them were central- or south-American, but I never met even one Mexican there.
I thought the majority of illegals might be from Central or South America but not Mexico.
I don’t think Canada has more illegal immigrants from Central/South America vs. Mexico.
We certainly have more (legal) refugees from Central America, however.
The answer is no problems with illegal Mexicans in Canada. There might be a few of them here and there, but it is not a problem. In general, there are very few Mexicans in Canada.
As a Canadian living in the US, one cultural difference I’ve noticed as a result of this is the huge prevalence of Mexican restaurants in the US. I mean, I’ve seen towns of 4000 people with 5 Mexican restaurants – and I’m not talking about Taco Bells here but real family run Mexican restaurants. In Canada this is unheard of. Large Canadian cities will have some Mexican restaurants of course, but comparatively there are very few. There are also much smaller ‘Hispanic’ aisles/sections in Canadian grocery stores – good luck finding much beyond some El Paso taco kits.
So anecdotally, after years of living in the US I’ve never met an American yet who doesn’t like/love Mexican food. However, I personally know many Canadians who dislike most of what passes for food at a Mexican restaurant – including myself. But I never ate from a Mexican restaurant until I was in my 20’s and when I finally did I just did not like it.
That changed under pressure from the US, part of the ongoing tightening of border security following 911 thing.
The US claimed Mexicans were flying into Canada and then just walking across the border into America. And I’m sure some did, why run through a field in Texas if you don’t have to?
In my opinion, Canada agreed to this as it was doable and didn’t really upset too many people. As opposed to some of the other things that were proposed which were clearly never going to fly. This placated the American’s and politicians there got to claim they’d addressed an issue.