For Irish immigrants, Canada has become a destination of choice over the US

by Marisa Feil - Canadian Immigration Lawyer at FWCanada

In the last few years, Canada has been attracting more and more Irish nationals to live and work in the country, who are flocking to Canada as opposed to their traditionally favoured destination of the United States.

Between 2010 and 2011 alone, the number of Irish temporary immigrants in Canada increased by 1,000, to over 5,200. At the same time, according to a recent column in the New York Daily News, the United States' stricter immigration policies means that more and more Irish nationals are immigrating elsewhere, and Canada is a prime destination for these highly skilled workers.

The column states, "Now, many are immigrating to Australia, Canada and England. And as some two centuries of previous Irish immigration have amply shown, our loss of this wealth of talent is the gain of our economic rivals."

Thanks to the influx of Irish workers, the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre was launched in Toronto over the past weekend. The Centre's goal is to help recruit larger numbers of skilled workers to immigrate to Canada.

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Canada Minister Jason Kenney said that Canada can take advantage of the highly educated, highly skilled, young Irish nationals as the Irish economy is struggling to recover from the crisis in Europe.

These workers are able to find work in Canada and integrate easily because the country already boasts a large Irish community dating back hundreds of years, and there are no significant language or culture barriers they need to worry about.

To that end, Canadian immigration authorities are currently considering ways to make it easier for these Irish temporary workers to immigrate to Canada permanently.

"We'd like to give them a more realistic choice of staying here as permanent residents. We're happy to be in competition with Ireland for the talents of their young people," Kenney said.