Elections

O Canada! Americans swarm to Canada’s immigration website and make it crash

By Greg Hadley

ghadley@mcclatchy.com

November 09, 2016 12:44 AM

Flikr marke1996/Flikr

Planning on moving to Canada if your preferred presidential candidate doesn’t win Tuesday? Get in line, and get comfortable. You could be waiting awhile.

As election results began to pour in Tuesday night and the race revealed itself to be much tighter than expected with Republican Donald Trump leading, many Americans decided to look into the possibility of moving north for a while.

So many in fact, that Canada’s official immigration website crashed. As of early Wednesday morning, it still wasn’t back up.

November 9, 2016
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And that’s not all. Business Insider reports that its top story Tuesday was “How to move to Canada and become a Canadian citizen.” On Google Trends, the term “Canadian immigration” began to spike at 10:23 p.m. Tuesday, right around the time the networks and Associated Press called the key swing state of Ohio for Trump, as did the term “Canada.”

Even the Canadian national anthem was trending; “O Canada!” has benefited from Americans perhaps eager to learn their new country’s national song.

Of course, interest in moving to our northern neighbors is nothing new. As USA Today reported, interest in Canadian real estate has been surging since primary season began, which is hardly surprising given how unpopular both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are.

According to Global News, just under 8,500 Americans emigrated from the U.S. to Canada in 2014. The entire process of obtaining an expedited visa can cost thousands of dollars and take up to six months. Alternatively, you can always marry a Canadian.

November 9, 2016
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