Your last-minute guide to becoming a Canadian citizen

When all the electoral votes were counted on Nov. 8, Hillary Clinton wasn’t the only one scrambling to figure out what she was going to do for the next four years. Americans logged onto Canada’s Immigration Department website in such vast numbers that it crashed under their collective despair.

Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Barbra Streisand, Jon Stewart, Lena Dunham and Samuel L. Jackson all reportedly threatened to move there. None have.

And while we at Metro are not advocating anyone leave this great land of ours for a country that while beautiful, is only 11 percent habitable, there is a legal process.

In fact, Canada accepted about 7,500 Americans as permanent residents in 2015, down from 8,500 in 2014 and 10,600 in 2013. The numbers for 2016 were not available.

This accompanying step-by-step graphic, provided by Sky View Suites short-term rental company in Toronto, uses information from the Canadian government’s immigration and citizenship website.

Be advised, the process to become a Canadian citizen is long in most cases, and is not easy. For anyone with a criminal record, it pretty much stops at the border. Skilled workers can apply for fast-track entry, and the government also looks favorably on anyone seeking to open a business or someone who has family living in the country.

So, good luck with your decision, whatever it is. And while you may wince every time you hear Donald Trump utter the phrase, “Make America Great Again,” consider these words from Abraham Lincoln as a reason to stay: “My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.”

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Graphic by Sky View Suites
Provider of short-term rentals and furnished apartments in Toronto