OPINION: Why are we falling behind America?
(Image courtesy of CBC)
Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that he will be charging new applicants for the coveted H-1B visa a one-time fee of $100,000. The fee will not apply to existing H1-B holders and for those applying for renewal, the employer is expected to pay. For those unfamiliar, the American H-1B visa allows US employers to temporarily hire foreign professionals in ‘specialty occupations,’ most commonly in STEM and other white-collar fields. The employer must petition the US government on behalf of the worker to obtain the visa.
While the H-1B visa has its fair share of controversies regarding its abuse by Fortune 500 companies and by politicians who say it exploits foreign labour and deprives American-born workers of jobs, the program remains popular among those looking to immigrate to America. According to 2024 US Citizenship and Immigration Services data, for the 85,000 legally allowed H-1B visa spots, there were 758,994 eligible H-1B registrations for the 2024 Fiscal Year, a 60 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Of the top employers with H-1B visa holders, Amazon leads the way with 14,365 holders, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, and Apple.
Data as of June 30, 2025. Information sourced from US Citizenship and Immigration Services. US government fiscal years start in October of the preceding year.
The question of whether this policy change by Trump will be successful in raising revenue for the US government or in decreasing immigration remains to be seen. However, even if we cut those eligible registrations by 75 percent, the US will easily fill its 85,000 limit. Assuming the employers pay the $100,000 fee, it would result in $8.5 billion in new revenue for the US. This harsh reality unveils an ugly truth for my country, Canada.
Make no mistake, Canada is a beautiful country with beautiful people. But Canada has failed to make its case to highly specialized immigrants as to why they should want to come here over America. According to a November 2024 report done by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, economic immigrants, categorized as highly skilled immigrants, are the most likely to leave than any other migrant group. According to a 2023 international survey conducted by Gallup, 18 percent of those who would like to move permanently to another country said the US, compared to nine percent for Canada. Even if we reduce that 18 percent by half due to Trump, the fact that Canada would only be tied with America, given the recent political instability, raises questions to ponder.
Now, this isn’t to say that everything is all bad in Canada. Canada has universal healthcare, a much more stable banking system, and less corruption in government compared to America, and I am not advocating changing either of those things. But it's also important to recognize that there is a price to pay for that. A price not in a monetary sense, but in a cultural sense.
America has built its reputation on being the land of opportunity, the land where one can make their own dreams come true with hard work and dedication. While there are no guarantees in life, America seems to offer to those abroad that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish it, and the sky is the limit. Canada, on the contrary, does not have that same culture. That is not to say that immigrants cannot become extraordinarily successful in Canada; many do, but if an immigrant wants to start a business, Dallas seems like a better place to start it than Victoria.
The point that I am trying to make is that Canada offers immigrants a higher floor, a floor of robust social safety nets, stable government, and a higher quality of life for the average person. America offers a higher ceiling of low taxes, a more enterprising culture, and the chance to become successful beyond your wildest dreams. If visa applications and retention are any indication, those worldwide are choosing the American vision over ours.
That does not mean BC has not tried to bring people in, even trying to use Trump’s election as a way to promote to Americans the opportunity of going north of the border. In an effort to recruit American doctors and nurses, the BC government launched a paid advertising campaign to recruit American medical professionals living in Washington, Oregon, and select cities in California. In Seattle, they handed out free coffee to medical workers. Yet, according to a press release from a few days ago, only 140 qualified US doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals have accepted job offers. The deployment of 140 medical personnel, in my opinion, will not significantly alleviate hospital waiting times in the near term.
In terms of Americans coming over to Canada, data isn’t reliable, but the number is expected to be in the seven-to-nine-thousand range. That is just about the number of Canadians who go to America every year as well, meaning that the immigration to Canada from America is often offset by Canadians going down south. Many of those Canadians who make the move are ones that Canada would like to keep, such as artists, academics and entrepreneurs. Imagine how much prestige the city of Vancouver would have gotten if Elon Musk and Sam Altman chose to incorporate Tesla here in Vancouver as opposed to California. Maybe it would’ve meant more start-ups being founded in the city, leading to more jobs and a “Silicon Valley North,” like how Vancouver is often called “Hollywood North.”
Ultimately, many ambitious immigrants chose America over Canada because America allows them to be ambitious, with the promise of low taxes and less regulation to start a business. This has been achieved with decades of consistent economic policy to promote the creation of numerous industries in many American cities, something Canada cannot offer at the moment.
America also offers another thing, the American dream. While the idea of how real the American dream is today is debated, the notion of making it big in the US still plays out in the minds of potential immigrants, reinforced by American movies, media, and music that is consumed worldwide. That is something hard for even big countries like India and China to replicate, let alone Canada, and that will remain the case decades from now, long after Donald Trump and Mark Carney leave office.
But I am not advocating for Canada to be America. We do a lot of things better than the Americans, and this country still has a lot of unrealized potential. We can attract the best immigrants, whether it's promoting more entrepreneurship or encouraging more businesses to stay here rather than go down south. Not just saying we want businesses to stay, but backing it up with policy. Put a larger emphasis in school to create a job rather than get one, to be a leader rather than a follower.
Will some businesses still go down south despite our best efforts? Sure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try to be a better country for immigrants and our citizens.
