Thinking about moving to Canada? Mais, non!
Newly launched dating app, Maple Match, matches Americans and Canadians.
If Donald Trump was not your choice for president, you might be looking to escape for the next four years.
And you may be thinking of Canada.
You are not alone.
The Canadian government’s immigration website had a spike of about 100,000 people going onto the site — all around 11 p.m. on Tuesday night. It caused the site to crash.
It is back up and running now — but immigrating to Canada is not as easy as packing up your things, learning the rules to the sport of curling and driving north.
It is possible to move to Canada, but like in the US, there are some pretty strict rules.
Canada has committed to admitting 300,000 immigrants in 2017. Some 40,000 of those spots are for refugees; 80,000 are for people with Canadian family members, and the remaining 180,000 new permanent residents will mostly be skilled workers who have already applied to enter the country and are awaiting a years-long process.
So, what about marrying a Canadian?
There’s an app for that. Newly launched, Tinder-style dating app Maple Match matches Americans with Canadians. And on your profile you can list your current citizenship status and which type of citizenship you might be interested in obtaining.
The company’s slogan? “Make dating great again.”
For Canadians, it’s old news when Americans consider moving north after an election. During the Bush years, many Democrats talked about heading to Canada. Republicans made similar threats during Obama's presidency. Obviously, it would be a tougher fit for Republicans, considering Canada's love for universal healthcare.
So, it’s not shocking that data from Google Trends suggested searches for “move to Canada” increased significantly during the night as Trump victories were declared in key battleground states, like Florida and Ohio.
But unless you are married to a Canadian or you are a skilled worker with a job offer, you aren’t likely to be immigrating north anytime soon.
Canada has managed a long, healthy relationship with the US. But when it comes to disappointing election results, don't be looking to Canada as your consolation nation.
Need another opinion? Late Show host Stephen Colbert offered similar advice on Wednesday night.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!