One of the biggest reasons why more and more Filipinos are looking forward to migrating to Canada rather than the United States or other countries, is because Canadian immigration policies tend to fit Filipinos’ education and skill levels. Canada’s immigration system rewards qualified workers and gives them a higher priority. In the United States, skilled migration is hard because it is not easy to get a labor petition unless you possess a skill that is highly specialized or is in great demand. Canada, on the other hand, labor petitions are done by industry.

Another reason why Canada is a better migration destination for Filipinos is the level of crime. Generally, Canada is more peaceful unlike in larger cities in the US that suffer from a high crime rate and increasing levels of violence. It has also a less stressful and calmer disposition in the mindset. The low-stress level leads to less crime. In geographical terms, Canada is a large country but its crime rate, on a per-capita basis, is very low compared to the United States. In some metropolitan areas, crime rates in the US are quite staggering. It’s not just the crime against property, but also heinous crimes. Filipinos are increasingly becoming sophisticated in terms of picking a migration destination. Canada is on the top of the list of many Filipinos because crime is definitely one of the statistics they look at.

The third reason why many Filipinos are choosing to migrate to Canada over the US is that they simply can’t get into the US. Due to the United States immigration provision of liberal family reunification, it takes only one member of a family to get to the US for the whole extended family to eventually migrate to the United States.

A family member can enter the US by either (1) marrying an American; (2) being petitioned in the Philippines through a labor sponsorship; (3) entering as a tourist, convert to an H1B visa, and then getting a green card through a labor certification; or (4) getting in as a TNT or illegal alien, and then legalize their status by getting amnesty or marrying an American. Regardless of these four ways, they become legal citizens and have the option to bring their family to the United States because of the family reunification.

The bottom line is that Canada, for all the reasons discussed above, is the best migration destination than other countries like United States. It’s better than the United Kingdom, which is more specialized in their migration needs, or Japan, which you can migrate to normally. And it’s definitely better than Arab countries, which don’t allow family migration.