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Years ago (about 1965) I wrote a letter of enquiry to a North American university in Michigan about the possibility of studying postgrad linguistics there. The letter back not only explained that I would have to work to self-fund myself (which is not so terrible) but: offence of all offences began the letter by “Dear Foreign Student”. Now that might not seem so strange to you, but since we always had the impression that we were not much different to Americans it was immediately alienating (and I am not just being funny about being an ‘alien’).The other offence related to their reading of my name was “Elisabeth Johnstone”. My writing was not so bad in those days, in fact pretty clear; but the letter was addressed to “Jehishobeth Johannsen”. Now, while that first name is a misspelling of a Hebrew name which has the same meaning as ‘Elisabeth’, i.e. ‘the Oath of God’ or ‘the Lord is an Oath’: how does an ‘E’ look like a ‘J’, a ‘s’ like an ‘sh’, a sequence ‘nstone’ look like ‘annsen’? (And they probably do not know that the Scottish ‘Johnstone’ means ‘John’s town’ rather than ‘son of John’ as in Johansen/Johannson and other Scanidinavian variants.Add that to the other gripe I have had since I was an undergrad student in Australia and I used to listen to the Voice of America on my shortwave radio while studying. They ended everything to do with international politics with reference to “America’s best interest”!! How selfish!A lesser gripe is that I later had some very nice American colleagues (lots of them) when living and working internationally. It was so annoying to have to use words like ‘sidewalk’ instead of ‘footpath’ and similar situations, because as the dominant set of people they assumed that we all had to use their jargon!Oh, and there was the case of an American woman who decided to edit a linguistic paper I wrote and altered my words to be more like she would have written it! (And I am no fool when it comes to editing, and we were publishing in Nepal, not in America.)So now are you surprised? And since then we had the American President who confused ‘Austria’ and ‘Australia’ and the one who said that the French didn’t have a word for ‘entrepreneur’ or whatever that faux pas was.And how could America elect a man like Trump to their highest office — a man who insults people with a sneer at the drop of a hat, gets rid of his chosen people who turn out to disagree publicly with him, who has talked disrespectfully about women, has tried to persuade other countries’ leaders to smear his electoral opponents, etc…..?There are many many millions of good Americans, but so much naiveté and some arrogance cannot go unmissed.

I have been researching the similarities and differences between Canadian and U.S. immigration and I will summarize information gathered from various online sources here.Canada and the United States have very similar jus soli law. It is almost unconditional; the only exception occurs when both parents are foreign diplomats. Therefore, if you want your children to receive citizenship, it isn't hard as long as you can arrange for them to be born in the country. You can be a permanent resident, a temporary worker, an international student, a tourist, or even an illegal immigrant. The remainder of this answer will focus on naturalization.Canada and the United States now have similar requirements for naturalization. If you're a permanent resident of Canada, you need to live in Canada for 4 years before you can apply for Canadian citizenship. If you're a permanent resident of the U.S., you need to live in the U.S. for 5 years before you can apply for U.S. citizenship, or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen. It used to be that Canada let you count time you lived in Canada before becoming a permanent resident for half as much, but this is no longer true.At any rate, living in either country as a permanent resident waiting for citizenship isn't that hard. Both Canada and the United States grant their permanent residents almost all of the rights and responsibilities of citizens. (The usual exceptions apply: voting, running for office, serving on a jury, and getting a passport.) Educational institutions cannot discriminate against you, and most employers cannot either.So the real question is whether it's as hard to get Canadian permanent residence as it is to get American permanent residence ("green card").There are three general ways to become a permanent resident of Canada or the United States. You can be sponsored by a family member, qualify on "merit" for lack of a better word, or be granted refuge/asylum. I'll just go over the first two, since most people won't qualify as refugees or asylees. Even then I will have to be brief as there are many cases. A full discussion of all the differences could easily fill a book. (I will also skip other, rarer paths to immigration, such as the S visa.)For family-based immigration, it seems that the process is generally harder for Canada than the U.S.The processes and waiting times for spouses and dependent children are broadly similar for the two countries, but if outside Canada, you might not be able to join your partner in Canada while you wait for their application for your permanent residence to be processed, whereas the U.S. has the finacé and spouse visas (K-1 and K-3).If your children or grandchildren are sponsoring you to immigrate to Canada, the waiting time is really long (but maybe we shouldn't count that as a hardship, the way we would for spouses) and there is a quota of 5000 new applications per year. On the other hand, if sponsored by a U.S. citizen child to immigrate to the U.S., there's no quota and you just have to wait for the usual processing time of 1-2 years.There are other forms of relations that qualify for U.S. immigration but not for Canadian immigration. For example, your sibling can't sponsor you to immigrate to Canada unless you're orphaned, unmarried, and under 18 years of age. But your sibling can sponsor you to immigrate to the U.S. if they are a U.S. citizen (however current waiting times are over a decade.)For "merit"-based immigration, I would say the American process is harder.The vast majority of people in this category will need sponsorship by an American employer, but the sponsorship process is onerous and costs tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, so many employers simply won't do it, and of those that will, the vast majority require you to work for them for a few years before they'll even start the process.After the process is started, you may have to wait years for your priority date to become current. During this time, you should be continuously employed. If you want to change jobs, you need to find another employer also willing to sponsor you for a green card, which might not be easy. This is the basis of the "indentured servitude" that many immigration critics are talking about.I did say you usually have to be working for the employer first, right? If they have an international branch, you can work there and then be transferred in, but if not, you'll generally need an H-1B visa. For that there's a lottery with about a 1/3 chance of winning per year. A lot of employers won't sponsor these "cap-subject" H-1B visas because of this---they'd have to hold the position for you for an unpredictable amount of time before you can even start working for them! A typical solution is to get around this is to get your bachelor's degree at an American university and qualify for F-1 OPT so you can start working for an employer in the U.S. while you wait for the H-1B lottery to come through. So, if you are serious about immigrating through this route, you need to get into an American university and be able to pay for four years of it. When you're an international student, these things are the opposite of easy.In contrast, for Canadian immigration, skilled work experience gives you points regardless of whether it was earned inside or outside Canada, and it doesn't necessarily have to be continuous or for the same employer. So the system limits your freedom a lot less. However, it does in a way force you to stay in the same profession since you don't get to add up experience in different professions. (In contrast, for the U.S., you can change professions while you wait for your priority date to become current... I think. But I wonder how many people have enough skills to obtain employer sponsorship in two different professions?)Canadian universities and foreign universities are treated the same (no difference in points). (However, going to university in Canada will help you develop your English or French speaking skills, which can help you earn more points.)Although you also get extra points if sponsored by a Canadian employer, many people don't need this, for example my parents. To immigrate to the U.S. without an employer sponsorship, you generally have to be really talented, or have half a million dollars to invest.In theory, you can immigrate to the U.S. if you are in an unskilled profession, whereas you aren't going to be able to get enough points for Canada. In practice, you can't (try finding an employer that'll sponsor you).I remember reading that about 2/3 of immigrants to the U.S. are family-based immigrants, with most of the balance being employer-sponsored; for Canada it's the other way around, 1/3 and 2/3. If this is true, it's not surprising given the relative "difficulty" levels.

Nice question. There are lots...Many of these touch on politics or religion (eg because Americans are more religious then church has a bigger role in social life)"Two countries divided by a common language": the use of English & shared history makes people think the two are close, but there are a lot of very real cultural differences.A few:Drinking and getting drunk is more common and more acceptable in UK. Maybe wrongly, but city centres people getting very pissed in a way you don't see as much of as in USBut drunk driving is far less acceptable.Lunch time drinking happens more in UK.It is no longer as common as it used to be, but is not unusual. A glass of wine with business lunch would be typical, or colleagues going for a pint at Friday lunchtime.American children's sports are far more serious & "professional" than in Britain. I met friends last week in CA who were worrying their 9-year old was "behind" in sports and being passed over for try-outs for baseball. That kind of competition wouldn't be usual in UK. (I'm not sure there are even try-outs unless you are going for some specialised soccer academy)College football is huge in USA but irelevant in UK. Other than the boat race I doubt any university sporting match is on TV or much cared about by anyone but participants.Fairly obvious: in UK self-deprecation is more normal; in American self-aggrandisation is more acceptable.(Try reading people's resumes for an insight into this).Briton's tend to complain more (hence "whingeing poms"), Americans be more positive. Glass half full etcBut Brits will have more "Keep Calm & Carry On" phlegmatic.When there was the search for the Boston bombers & the city was locked down Britons were astonished at the over-reaction.America is more legalistic & litigious. Lawyers are more feature of everyday life, people worry about lawsuits more.Perhaps paradoxically, in many respects America is more regulated. "You can't do that". Jay-walkiing, needing permits for some kinds of businesses, being able to walk off the trail in national parks.This also generalises into more respect for authority: people are respectful of the role of President in a way they aren't about the Queen, journalists are more deferential to poltiticians.Newspapers are more common in UK: the tabloids are more widely read & don't really have US counterpart.Americans are much prouder of their country. Flagpoles are common in USA; they'd be deeply odd in UK.Race and racism plays out differently. US has more more successful blacks, but in many respects is more separated. There are TV programs blacks watch and whites don't, and vice versa. I have friends in NY who are mixed race: they commented that certain suburbs one or other would be uncomfortable. Neither of those would be true in UK. Here race is closely linked to class, but there is a lot more mixing eg inter-racial marriage.Related to above, the races are different. There are virtually no hispanics in England and it would be rare to see Spanish in signs, but there are a lot of Poles & Polish shops. There is also more Pakistani and Muslim things are more visible than in US (eg shops saying food is halal).And as a result ethnic food is different. UK has very few Mexican restaurants -and most are dire- and virtually no Vietnamese. (Actually, both of those are changing in the last year or so, at least in London if not other places).On the other hand Indian restaurants are more common (actually, most are Bangaladeshi but never mind) as is Thai (I'm not quite sure why? In an odd twist a lot of English pubs serve Thai food). Kebabs are universal (Turkish and slightly different to Gyros, which don't exist). Of course fish&chip shops still survive, and most pubs now do food.Chain restaurants differ too. McDonalds and Subway are ubiquitous, but Denny's, Wendy's and IHOP are unknown in UK. Mid-market chains are different in UK - so no Red Lobster, Outback or Olive Garden, but Cote or Wagamamas.Pubs vs barsWe don't celebrate 4th July (d'oh) but there is no real "celebrate national day" equivalent. St George's Day & St David's day are essentially invisible, and to the extent St Patrick's day is celebrated it is as a US import / excuse to drink beer.There is no Thanksgiving nor equivalent. Christmas would be the only big day for seeing family.Americans are bigger. Taller & heavier.And a lot more very obese people.(24% of English, 36% of Americans)[1]But beyond the %age you can see a lot more very, very fat Americans.Guns perhaps touches on political, but in England they are very rare. Obviously, very few people own them & other than farmers or soldiers few will have shot one.Hunting is very different. In England it is very much an upper class thing but more egalitarian (or even blue collar) in USAnother obvious one: Tipping.In USA you would tip almost every service person: 18-20% to waitstaff in a restaurant, taxi driver, $1-2 for a barman, something to hairdresser, bellboy, person who parks your carIn UK waitstaff might get 10%-12% (but often that would be included as service charge in the bill), taxi-driver or perhaps barman "keep the change" - but in general few people get tips.Perhaps not surprising, there are fewer service staff: bellboys or car parking attendants would be rare.Visiting SoCal made me feel like Tom in Downtown Abbey - all those servants bowing & scraping for things I expect to do myself.Universities. Americans are far more loyal to their university. Alumni networks, donating money to your school, wearing a class ring or signet ring - those are far more common in USA then in UK.Oxbridge is a slight exception.Pedestrians are more usual in UK.Cities are more pedestrian friendly and people will walk more. When I was based in CA for a year and walked to the office or to bars it was tricky/scary & people were surprised: I can't think of that reaction in UK.As surprising one. Britain is more egalitarian in culture.Avoiding politics (social mobility etc) but as a cultural thing, as measured by Power-Distance [2] Britain scores 26, USA scores 31.While not a huge discrepancy, this is subtle but present, and is probably manifest in things like tipping.HT Eivind Kjørstad for blogging on power distance & making me think of thisTo quote Mark Harrison's answer to How should I respond when a stranger asks me "What do you do"? If asked "what do you do?"When talking to an American: List your employer, then job title.When talking to a European: Explain your hobbies.I'll probably think of a few more.Would be interested in other people's thoughts too.[1] After being nagged ;) International Comparisons[2] United Kingdom - Geert Hofstede This actually has quite a few interesting observations, but in most of them UK is close to USA. I'm not sure what to make of the disparity in "Pragmatism" score though...?Note: there seem to be several versions of this score.