How to immigrate to Canada?

If it's so difficult to immigrate into Canada, how come there's so many foreigners?

• Legitimate question asked of sheer bewilderment and for the purpose of understanding. For instance there's several Chinatowns all over Canada. There's thousands/millions of Chinese immigrants. Many of whom are cooks. Yet reading the Q's here about immigration has taught me that only those with relatives (spouse or blood relatives) or with a specific skill that no Canadian has (or is in high demand but not enough Canadians to fill the position) and only with a job offer/work sponsorship can you obtain a visa. All others are turned down. I'm sure there must be something about refugees getting asylum in Canada but I doubt Chinese qualify. To permanently move to Canada you need: A work sponsor A relative/family/spouse sponsor Fleeing your country/be a refugee Not including student visa as those are temporary. So how do all those immigrants get into Canada from countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and others in Asia and Middle East? What am I missing here? I'm sure the law aren't new and I'm sure there's hundreds of thousands of immigrants into Canada each year. How do they do it? If moving to Canada is so difficult how do you explain the large population of foreigners there? NECESSARY DISCLAIMER: nothing against immigration on my part, I'm myself an immigrant (not to Canada, unfortunately) and so were my parents, and so were my great-grandparents back before airplanes existed.

• Answer:

  Let a senior citizen who knows the history of Canada answer this In Canada as in other countries the immigration rules have changed through the years. In earlier years they were very lax but have been tightened up through the years. Others have stated the rules as they exist today so I won't go into that. Most Chinese in Canada are not recent immigrants. They are 3rd and 4th generation Canadians. The first recorded settlement of Chinese was in 1788. They came from California. In 1880 the transcontinental railway was being built and the Rocky mountains were a big obstacle. Many tunnels had to be built through the mountains. It was dangerous dirty work and the Chinese were willing to do it so they could bring their families over from China. 5000 Chinese men were brought over from China and 7000 were recruited from California. Is it any wonder there is a China town in Vancouver. The only other city I know of in Canada that has a China town and not just little pockets of Chinese is Toronto and most of them come from Vancouver. Not all people from oither countries are immigrants. Some are refugees and not all visible minorities are immigrants. Their parents may have been immigrants but they were born here. A fact of life and immigration is that many of the degrees from other countries have to be evaluated or brought up to Canadian standards and that takes time and maybe more training and immigrants do work at other jobs until it's done. Yes Canada needs immigrants. We are a big country with a small population and the best economy in the world. It seems to me you don't want the facts so much as you want to drag Canada through the mud and debunk what others say. You have chosen the Chinese because they are a visible minority and see how wrong you were!!!