It was an often-heard refrain from U.S. voters scared of Donald Trump winning last year's election: if he won, many said, they would move to Canada. The months of speculation seemed to be confirmed on election night, when the federal immigration ministry's website crashed shortly after Donald Trump was projected to become President.
But according to newly released statistics from Immigration Canada, that much-hyped flood of Americans fleeing now-President Trump has simply not materialized.
The number of American citizens applying for permanent residency in Canada this year stands at 1,882. That's just 66 more than those who had applied this time last year.
It is possible that many Americans did intend to come to Canada upon the inauguration of their new President: according to Google Trends, searches for "How can I move to Canada" spiked an astonishing 350% in just four hours on the night Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination during the primaries. Searches spiked by a similar figure again in November when he was elected President.
But it seems that many have been dissuaded by an immigration process that is more stringent than many expected.
Even highly-skilled American applicants to move here find their chances of approval challenging if they don't have some combination of a job offer from a Canadian employer, a degree from a Canadian university, a year of skilled-work experience here, and French proficiency. For those who work in certain sectors, such as technology, immigration is easier due to targeted government programs, but for the overwhelming majority of potential American immigrants, permission to move to Canada can be hard to come by.