270: U.S. Immigration Myth: It Isn’t as Hard as You Think

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Well, Canadians have been immigrating to the USA in droves. Now, what are some of the risks? What are some of the pitfalls that they should be made aware of? In fact, what are the advantages? In fact, are there any advantages to living in Florida? Well, we're going to find out about that. We're joined by a mother daughter duo today, a power duo who we have Rocky Maimoni and we have her daughter Mena here and now. One is a sought after immigration attorney, the other has 30 years as a business veteran and a real estate powerhouse. We're excited to have both of you here today. Welcome to wealth on Main Street.

Yeah, it's great to have you both. The this discussion is really picking up a lot of speed with a lot of Canadians that, you know, we connect with and chat with. And I had occasion to live and work in the United States and thoroughly enjoyed it. And so what are you seeing out there with Canadians who are engaging and what are some of the most, I guess, frequently addressed myths about the process that you both have to address?

So I think a lot of people, they believe that it's very difficult. And growing up myself in Bolton, Ontario, I think my mom can agree as well. We both thought that this would be a very hard process.

But there are a lot of visas out there, some specifically for Canadians that are not hard to obtain, especially if you have the right team. So a lot of our clients, I think are pleasantly surprised by how fast it can be and how easy it can be.

What myths? I don't know. What myths do you think, Rocky? What myths are there out there that are not true?

Well, under the current affairs that are happening politically and cross borderly, we want to call it that so many people are frightened and they think that, you know, I'm going to cross the border, I'm going to get detained.

The Canadian media has, I know that there's one instance where a Canadian tried to enter at the Canadian U.S. border. She had overstayed in the United States, essentially making her illegal. When she tried to reapply, they she was denied at the Canadian border. So then she flew to the to Mexico and tried to enter through the Mexican border. And at that point she was detained. So I've heard all kinds of clients, you know, is it safe? Safe? I'm going to get detained. The answer is no, you're not going to get detained. Americans, Americans still love Canadians. We haven't seen any issues whatsoever. You know, if your passport isn't in order, your documents are in order, there's no reason why you should have any issues at the border. There's also a bit of a. I know that the whole immigration thing with the current administration, yes, they are cracking down on illegal immigration. However, legal pathways are still there. Like the E2 visa has been some form of. The E2 visa has been around for 200 years. When he was in power the last time. Nothing changed with the E2 visa. I mean, small business owners, the backbone of America and Canada, bringing in money, expertise, opening businesses, creating jobs. The doors are wide open. So there's a lot of that going on, which isn't true. So we have a lot of clients calling. And thankfully, you know, mena's put out some videos as well, addressing some of these concerns. So it's full steam ahead. If you want to pursue different types of visas, those are still in play.

Well, it's not like the Canadian media to take a little bit of information and jump to an absurd conclusion.

Anything, anything to get clicks and views.

Yeah. I'm going to tell you a story that really highlighted something to me. There was a video that I saw, and it was basically a person talking about how angry the Canadians are at the US for the proposed tariffs. And the video went on to say, you should be upset at your own government for high income taxes, loss of freedoms. You know, he went on and listed some things that as Canadians, we should maybe pay attention to. I tried to share that video with my sister who resides in Ontario, and she messaged me and said, why are you sending me videos about hairdressing? And I said, that's interesting. I didn't. So then I tried sending it to my nephew, and he had the same response. The only way I could show her the true video was to FaceTime her and play it on my husband's cell phone.

Somehow. It was. I didn't even know they had the capability to do that. It was received and the video was switched and I wasn't able to share it. There have been a few times where we've tried to share. Specifically, there was an air show in Fort Lauderdale and I tried to share it on the Facebook group. Hey, guys, you know this cool air show in Fort Lauderdale? And everyone started replying saying the. The content was blocked because it was. Wasn't me taking a video of the air show, it was on a news outlet in Florida, and so that news outlet was blocked in Canada. So I started to realize that the censorship is in Canada is more than we first believed it to be.

I can share with you from firsthand experience that going through the visa process, having done that twice now. My first was on an executive L1 visa, which.

My employer at the time was able to speed up the process legally, and everything went through just fine. And then when we established business in the United States, because we operate there now, the process seemed very.

I mean, it was time consuming because we had to supply a business plan and what our projected revenues and headcount would be. And when we went through the first renewal, then there was a review of that and an update provided. And so it seemed like there was no friction in the process. So when I hear people's concerns, my first question is like, have you substantiated those concerns? Like, have you spoken to an expert who can actually address that? Or are you relying on Uncle Google or ChatGPT or some other platform to give you the information? Like, you've got to get connected with a team like the both of you, and to sit down and say, here's what my plans are. Does this qualify me? What is your method of helping me get this achieved? And just get all that clarity? And you'll find that the process is not as difficult as it may be purported to be.

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. You just got to follow the basic rules. And if you have the right immigration team on your side who can properly guide you and put your paperwork together and file in a timely manner, I mean, sometimes there's little hiccups that we can't foresee. We have to deal with that. But for the most part, I mean, with the. Our E2 visa applications, for example, we have 100% approval.

That's a pretty good rating.

Yeah. Men. And the legal team, very meticulous. They make sure everything's in proper order before they sign that. We offer a guarantee on it, too, just to let our clients know, hey, we're in this with you, so, you know, we're not here to guide you on a path that leads nowhere.

Yeah.

So. And having been through it ourselves, I would have hated to start the process, get everything in order, and it leads nowhere. So we want our clients to know we've been there. We know exactly how you feel every step of the way, and we're here to guide you. I kind of. It's like big brothers watching we're going to take good care of you and make sure nobody messes around with you. So that's why we added the other legal services, because clients were asking, can, you know, we'd rather just come to you for everything. And, you know, MENA did a great job of adding those practice areas and making sure that we can take care of the full gamut of what our clients need.

That's incredible.

That compliment.

Mom.

I would like to get into a little bit of what we offer outside of immigration.

Oh, please do. Yeah, please.

So we found that a lot of our clients, just like us, they came to Florida or Texas or whatever state they wanted to immigrate to, and they didn't know how things worked. Right. So when we got here, we were like, what. What do all these things mean? And how do I protect myself? And it was kind of scary because, you know, if. If you don't have the knowledge, then you feel like, kind of vulnerable.

Right, right.

So one of the practice areas that we introduced was and is estate planning and asset protection. So in Canada, it's harder to get sued than it is in the United States. I'm sure you know about this, Jason. So what we offer is asset protection through entity formation trusts, and. And then any kind of document that they're going to need to protect any of those assets after they pass away or if in the event they're incapacitated. So that kind of went along with their journey. And then we also set up a relationship with a business law attorney that helps with a lot of the business closings that they need to undergo for the E2 visa. So part of the two is that they have to buy a business or invest in a business, and so we even help facilitate the closing or the purchase of that business as well.

That's fantastic. And that's exactly what people need, because getting the visa is one thing. Once you're over the border. Again, having been through that experience and moving to the United States, I was very grateful to have a step by step, here's everything that you need to put into place, and the sooner you get it done, the better. And something as simple as going to the Social Security office and getting set up and getting all that done and then going and getting a driver's license and going. And like, there are so many different things that. And you're right. I mean, America is not sure if I'm pronouncing this correctly, but much more.

There's far more litigation, and it's much easier to just, you know, if you disagree sue versus Canada. Yeah, it's much different. But I'll say conducting business, doing business in America is relieving.

Yes.

It's a much different experience.

Way different.

Everyone. The mindset's different. Right?

Yeah.

I remember back home, you know, I was always doing something or creating a business, and everyone was looking at me like, you know, why don't you just go to work like everybody else? You know, whereas. And that's fine. You know, I admire. My best friend is corporate. And we laugh because I say, I could never do what you do. And she said, I could never do what you do. Which is fine. Right. But if you're entrepreneurial or you want to do a little bit more United States, you just feel more support in that way. And even, like with networking events and growing your business, it seems like everyone wants to help one another. I didn't feel that so much when I was in Canada.

That's so true. Because it. I don't know. When you really embrace being an entrepreneur, I think in either country, you become unemployable.

I share this with our teammates all the time. I could not be an employee ever again. I wouldn't like the employer. The employer wouldn't like me. That is just the nature of really embracing being an entrepreneur. And in America, I got to share this. So, Rich, you're going to laugh at this, too. So when I first moved to Florida and we were just picking up some essentials, and we had purchased a property in Riverview, and so we went to Walmart just to pick up some essentials. And I walk in the door and I see this end cap of Corona.

And, like, a flat of Corona for, like, $19. You would pay $642 for that in Canada. Like, it was just. And I said to one of the associates, just in good humor, I like, you might want to check that. There's no way that can be the right price. He said, no, no, no, that's the right price. And so everything was so inexpensive. And then in the aisle, right around that end cap, there was Molson Canadian, and it had a big import sticker on it. And the price was like two and a half times what you would pay. And so I was just browsing the store, just genuinely curious about this. But then I got my first paycheck, and it was 20% more. My salary hadn't changed one iota, going from point A to point B. So I called my boss and I said, something's wrong.

The company deposited too much money. And he said to me with no joke, and then he literally hung up on me. It was kind of hilarious. But he said to me, there's no state income tax there, dummy.

It was like this instant increase in pay.

Everything about it was just amazing. Hence why we're doing business there again now. It's just a great country to do business in. So is Canada. I mean, I'm not saying Canada is not a great place to do business. We gainfully employ a lot of really wonderful people, and we. We contribute to growing the economy. But for heaven's sakes, like, when the government tells you that the solution to drowning is more water.

Something'S wrong.

Yeah, it's. I don't. I guess that where. The direction. The direction of the country is where. Where are we going? Like, you can only do so much. Like, people can only pay so much. And it gets. Gets to a breaking point when you have a young family with two professionals, you know, earning nice salaries, and they don't have anything to put away. At the end of the day, something's wrong. Something change.

Well, and you're. You're seeing that, Rocky, I'd imagine you guys have managed to establish a quite a large, growing Facebook group where you have Canadians trying to understand and learn. And I know, you know, from our previous conversation, you guys are doing a lot of monthly, like, webinars or. Or, you know, meetings with those individuals. So. So roughly how big is that group? And what would you say really turned the dial to all of a sudden? Just really people flooding in to try to learn more about the process? I mean, there's a lot of people exploring, you know, Google trends of how do I leave Canada, how do I, you know, move to the States? I mean, these are common things that are happening.

We.

We hear it on a frequent basis with clients we serve.

Yeah, I mean, it's the biggest exit from Canada, I think, in the history of the country.

You know, we were discoverable on many different platforms. The Facebook group, I think we're at 75,000 or more. We have a couple of other smaller Facebook groups. I think we've got about another 10,000 if we add those in. People are just. You know, Mena touched on this. When I was growing up, I thought it was impossible to move to the US So I never looked into it. And then when we moved about eight years ago.

I don't. I didn't know anybody else who had done it. And so after we did it, people were like, hey, you know, how did you do that? Or the. My favorite is they come to visit us, you know, and they're at our home and they're like, so how happy are you here?

I used to get that all the time, too. Same thing, right?

Really happy. Do you miss anything? You know, like, and it's this. It's every time they visit, they ask the same questions. Now that they've seen, you know, they're not visiting you in a hotel. It's not a. You know, they see your life, they see that you're working. So now it's like, hey, this is doable. How do I do it? And so we've helped, you know, people who've come out on their own. We've helped entire families. Like literally two generations of families, three siblings, mother and father, they're all trying to figure out. And it's really easy if you have an entrepreneurial mindset, because let's open a business there. But we also see a lot of people who are first timers and they just know that this is their easiest way in and they're willing to, you know, to try it. And I think some of the courage that they have in doing it is because they have our support, you know, because we, like I said, we don't just process the paperwork. We can connect them with a business broker. And, you know, sometimes they don't know what that means. Like, I'm gonna buy a business. Like, how do I know what I'm doing while there's processes in place? Right. Like, there's training there. And so we help to guide them. Along with business brokers, we work with a lot of people are they don't understand the process, and they think that they can just get a work visa, come on over. And then a lot of what we do is educating them. Sometimes people aren't quite ready, but they want to know what avenues they have, and so they're going to plan for it in the near future. We're getting a lot of questions about, you know, all the different ways of getting down. I think that's one of the biggest ones. And then the ones that are doing it, you know, they're not all our clients. Some of them have gone to other law firms, and unfortunately, they're not getting as much information as our clients would get. And so I see them asking questions and I'm like, this should have been taken care of by your. The staff that was helping you. But we're happy to always share as much information as possible to make it simple. They want to know about taxes, they want to know about importing vehicles. Health care is a big one. You know, how do I navigate health care. So these are some of the main issues. And then, you know, obviously, how do I get there to begin with?

That helped a lot.

What's interesting, I'm. I'm curious, has anybody. Well, firstly, is the. What is it referred to as, the.

Golden tickets, or you pay the four or five million dollars. And has anybody. I'm genuinely curious, like, has anybody reached out to your firm and said, sign me up.

They want to be signed up. They want to know what is this all about?

Oh, okay.

And it's not law, and I don't know if it ever will become law.

Oh, I see.

Kind of just like a conversation they were having, and it was thrown out there, and then everyone was crazy. And I think.

There was some strategy behind that, because if you know Donald Trump at all, you know about his kind of his tactic where he aims super high and then gets to where he wants to be. So there's always an underlying motivation, I think, and I think the motivation here was to really drive EB5 investment. Even though he was bashing EB5 in that conversation, EB5 was brought up and there was kind of like a fear of loss placed on it, because we know that it's in law for a certain amount of time, and then they're going to vote on it. And he talked about the gold card, which would be very, very difficult to pass in the law. And so we got a ton of people who are like, let's do EB5 before it's gone for good. And it's the only pathway, get a green card. So that's what I think. That's just my opinion on it.

That's smart.

It did generate a lot of activity for EB5.

Oh, I can imagine. And with the business broker. So, first of all, that's a great, brilliant service to add on, by the way, given.

The number of entrepreneurs that I get to network with and who have a big desire, because now they're saying, hey, how did you get operational in the us? Like, we want to do that, too. Can we buy. Can we buy businesses there? Yes, you can. And does. Does the SBA work with international buyers or is it just predominantly us?

Yeah, typically you have to have a green card to be able to qualify for sba.

Got it.

Okay.

Yeah, it's good to know.

Yeah. But we can help them with all of that, even simple entity formation. If they want to start doing some business down here, we can help them. It's good to know.

That's fantastic. The green card process. Can you step through at a surface level what that looks like for somebody.

Sure, it depends on. It's very case specific of course, but there's generally only a few ways to get a green card. The first is through family. So either you're married to a US citizen or you have immediate family members. And sometimes even with immediate family members the wait time is quite long for that. The second most, and I think it's probably the most common way is through employment. So just like your employer transferred you down, they might have wanted to pursue a green card for you with EB3 or H1B. So that takes usually about two to three years to complete. But it is the most common way because I think a lot of companies are bringing foreign talent in and I see it quite frequently with larger companies as well. So there's employment and then there's also what I mentioned, EB5, which is green card by investment. So the minimum investment for that is 800,000 and it goes into a project that is meant to create 10 full time US jobs per applicant. There's also the other side of EB5 where you could invest called direct investment and where you buy your or start your own business business and you would invest a million and fifty and still have to account for the ten full time US jobs created.

Ah, very interesting.

The three most. Those are the three most common ways one would get their green card.

That is very interesting when you know.

Rocky, you mentioned the conversation or the questions around health and you know of course having insurance being that Canadians have a. Well, well we'll, we'll call it a. The free healthcare that everyone knows isn't free compared to having insurance and stuff in the States. And I would imagine that is a barrier for a lot of people especially if you have like maybe pre existing conditions and what have you and depending on your ages, what's been your experience now living there for eight years for you guys as far as both having insurance, getting it and the difference between your experience with the system that you live in today versus the one that you were accustomed to for your entire life prior to.

Oh my God, where do I start? So actually yeah, I want to start with, you know, April 15th is our filing deadline in the US for taxes and as we know in Canada it's April 30th and usually it was a very dreary and terrible day on April 30th because that's when you got to see exactly how much you paid. Well, now that I live in Florida, not only is the weather better, but I celebrate April 15th. And the first time, you know, that Mena here had to make a payment on April 15, she was upset. She's like, oh my God. And I said, mena, this is what you would have paid if we were in Canada. She's like, oh. I said, yeah, go be merry and happy because completely different strategy. Well, the tax advantages are incredible. And so you are going to save literally tens of thousands of dollars a year off your taxes, number one. Number two, pre existing conditions don't count when you buy, when you buy health care. Okay. Your age does, of course, there is no physical. Obviously, if you have, let's say you're in the middle of treating something and it's the first time you're getting on the insurance here, then they may ask you if there's something you're like currently treating. But in my situation, I pay $600 a month, I have really good insurance and I don't have to go to my family doctor to get a referral for a specialist. I'm covered. My most important thing for me was if I go to the hospital, I want to make sure I'm covered with everything. And so I have really good insurance. It's 600amonth. And like, I'll give you an example. I had it. My hip was hurting me. It was bothering me, bothering me. I look online, I find a walk in orthopedic surgeon's office. Walk in and I'm like, there's no way. So I look it up, I go in. Half an hour later, X rayed everything tells me what I need to do. Another shocking story. I pull into the hospital, I have to go for a test, and people who saw me must have thought I was insane. I'm laughing in the parking lot by myself because the hospital offers complimentary valet parking.

Yeah. So I have also seen instances where treatments don't exist in Canada and they do here. My mother had an ailment for 10 years. She couldn't, couldn't fix it. And one of our clients was a specialist. I asked him, he said, here's the medication. Shipped it up to my mother. Within six months, everything was, was solved.

So I think the health care here, I mean, it's not, I don't think any system is perfect. But what I like about it is I would rather spend the money I choose to buy the insurance I want and actually have service when I need it 100%. And I didn't have that same experience in Canada. I had months and months of waiting for a specialist and now they're taking you know, your wellness exams instead of doing it every year. No, it's every two years. No, it's every three years. I mean, they're just, they're rolling the dice. They know that if they push it out, more people are going to get sick, but the cost of treating them is going to be less than actually giving people. I had a client who needed surgery. She had a brain tumor and the Canadian system told her that it wasn't quite time yet. We're just going to watch it. She ended up booking a surgery in California, paying for it and going there on her own. So, you know.

That'S what I think about the healthcare. I think it's been great. And they take good care of you and I appreciate that, especially coming from the Canadian system, which is, you know, it's bogged down, much different.

And I'll add to what you shared. So my. One of my companies takes care of me going down to Florida, down to Naples once a year, typically in the month of February. And I visit Fountain Life. And Fountain Life is shout out to Fountain Life if anybody ends up listening from Fountain Life. They're incredible.

The day starts at around 7am and runs till about 6pm and we do full body MRI, DEXA scan.

Microbiome, blood work, the whole gamut. And there's literally.

You'Re pampered from the moment you walk in the door until the moment your day is done. And then they prepare an entire presentation of all of your results that are reviewed with you. They describe to you in every detail what your body does well, what it may not be doing so well, how to bridge that gap. And they use artificial intelligence screening technology for lungs, for internal organs, for it is just incredible. And when I describe this service to my.

My family doctor here in Canada, she said, oh, I would love to see that presentation of what they put together. I said, yeah, of course. I'm happy to share it with you. And she said, I have never seen anything this remarkable and thorough ever, ever. Because the practice of medicine is governed in Canada and the U.S. by certain standard of care, certain standard of.

Diagnosis and certain standard of prognosis. And all these. The doctor was explaining all this to me because I said, hey, have you ever thought about operating in Canada? And he said, we would just not be able to overcome the regulatory obstacles. So where I was going with this is now what this organization has done. Given that a lot of Canadians spend time in the United States as snowbirds, many of whom are now migrating to the U.S. they're setting up inside of These adult only communities where you would be accustomed to having a community center with a gym, a pool, maybe some barbecue, some amenities. And now fountain life being part of your hoa so you can literally create time, go in, see a doctor, get a test. No different than you'd say, hey, I'm going to go take a swim today. I'm going to go see if Dr. Smith is available to have a discussion with me about what's been ailing me. That would never happen here ever.

Well, because it's not a business. Right, Right. And there's only so much money there. Like when I owned a retirement home in Canada, we would send some of our clients, they had to go to the hospital and sometimes they'd spend a week in a hallway on a gurney.

Oh my goodness. Yeah, that's terrible.

And it, there's no, it's not like there's a private option where you can say, you know what, I'd like to pay for more service, I'm going to go to the private hospital.

In fact, they're against that.

Yeah. See Italy has both and it works because it takes pressure off of the public hospital because people who want and can't afford can go to the private hospital and taking some of the stress off the, of the public. So I don't know why they don't look at that.

Me neither.

Underlying reason, like why would they care?

I think the, the fear based tactics and the media comes up and it's, well, if we do this and we have private that, then that means we're going to stop spending on the public system. There's, there's some fear tactics that are used every time it comes up. And I also don't understand. It seems very strange to me and fundamentally, you know, if you have the same amount of doctors, you have the same amount of nurses, the same amount of staff, the same physical square footage of hospital rooms and space. If you removed 20% of the people from going there and they chose to go somewhere else, there's automatically 20% more time, effort, physical space and appropriate care available for everyone else.

You think maybe they're afraid they're going to lose talent?

Possibly, Yeah. I would say that that would likely be an element of it given that it's already happening.

Yeah.

They're already afraid they're leaving the country. Right?

Yeah.

But if there's an option for me as a physician to go to the private hospital, I'm not capped. I can make way more money than, you know, maybe I'm going. So maybe that has something to do with it.

Yeah, I wouldn't disagree.

There's also a, you know, a degree of which we, we are seeing again with your Facebook group. 75, 000 people, people expressing interest, trying to figure out does it make sense? Should I make the jump? You know, some of those people are just investigating, whereas a number of them are actually making that shift in that transition. And again, I know I'm having conversations with clients who are curious and, and learning about it themselves, but the, the, the amount of individuals and capital and dollars and investment.

To go to, we'll call it greener pastures. We were on a conversation recently with Kim Moody, who's well known, writes a lot of articles for the Financial Post. Amazing guy. If you ever get a chance, tune into his LinkedIn. He's always got great articles there. And he talked about how many exit.

Exits he'd done for Canadians leaving to the United States final tax returns. And he said that in, in the pre. I think, I can't remember Jason, but it was roughly speaking, the previous five years kind of in that Covid, you know, 10 hour period of time. You know, for the size of his practice, it was like 450 of these. Whereas in the previous 30, 40 years of his career he'd maybe done 10.

Yeah, yeah.

So, so from a, from a, you know, exponential curve element, I mean, we want to talk about a hockey stick. That's what's taking place as far as people saying, I got to get out of here. And they're looking for where will their capital be treated and where will they be treated where they can have certain degrees of freedom that they've always wanted or they thought they had and maybe they're feeling that they don't anymore. Going back to the beginning Rock, you talked about sharing of articles. You know, it's a, it's a common joke. You know, sometimes people will just take a screenshot of the article that they can't share and then make a separate post about. Here's what this great article is all about that I can't share with you. If you really want to, you could go here to try to find it. But because I can't share it, thanks to the Canadian government, even I've done posts of that nature. And it's really quite astonishing to the degree that, you know, we, we can, you can be. I don't want to say the word. I guess the word oppressed is what comes to my mind around things like information and not even know it's taking place because it's being done outside of Your control, your element. And then something happens like a Facebook post, and it's like, oh, wait a second. The Canadian government basically saying, I can't share this perfectly good news article from abc. Why is that?

Yeah, that. That is perplexing to me.

Makes no sense.

It's quite clear what they're doing. I just don't know why Canadians aren't more upset about that.

You know, they are. It's. It falls on deaf ears, you know, as our. As our late mentor, R. Nelson Nash often said. And you just sit there and take it.

And that's part of the Canadian culture. We're nice people. You know, we. We're a land of immigrants. Everybody came from other places. It's a relatively young country.

Yeah.

And I think because we're all kind of kept separate, too. It's not a mosaic. Like, it's more of a mosaic as opposed to the melting pot. Right. Like in Canada, if someone asks me, oh, what are you? I say, oh, I'm Italian. My friends say, oh, I'm Portuguese. But we're Canadian. But we tend to say where we came from. Right. They don't do that in the U.S. that's right. I'm American.

That's right.

And if you probe, maybe they'll tell you where they originally came from. So I think because there's all these little subcultures, there's no. We're not united as a people to say, hey, we're not going to stand for this. And that's kind of been the culture from what I can remember growing up.

Yeah, me too.

Yeah. And it's probably still the same.

And I'm genuinely curious, you know, for your practice. So.

What does a well prepared client look like?

Do you want to take this client?

I mean, that's kind of hard to answer. People are coming. I feel that we can really help anyone, whether they're far ahead and they've already done some planning and they have some things already in place, or if they're completely green, they're like, where do I even begin? I kind of see people on all ends of the spectrum with that. So. But I would say a lot of them, a majority of them, they want to understand what the steps are.

Okay.

A lot of them have already. They're business owners in Canada or they've had a great career in Canada and they're ready to move that down to the US like my mom said, there were some. There are some newbies that we deal with who've never owned a business before, and they're a little Bit nervous about that. We, we help guide them through it. But I would say majority of people have already been business owners or, you know, in the corporate world and they're ready to really just take that down. And they just need to find out exactly what the steps are and kind of go with our guidance to make it happen.

The other thing we see a lot of is families where, you know, mom and dad are maybe, you know, my age, late 40s, maybe into their late 50s and they could stay in Canada. It's not an issue. You know, they've got a home potentially that's paid off. They're at the tail end of their career and a lot of them are afraid for their children. Yeah, they look at their kids and they think, you know, how are they going to own a home? How are they going to afford to create a life here? So we see a lot of clients who are making the move potentially for, to enhance their children's lives and, you know, getting into that too, like even for educational purposes. Like Florida is now a school choice state. So if you choose not to put your child in private, in a public school, you'll get just about 8, $500 paid towards either private school or an alternative type of schooling, which is great. Yeah, they have all kinds of, you know, internships available and there are all kinds of scholarships that are state specific where a child might get undergraduate tuition completely covered. I find that with the youth in America.

In Canada, the kids go work at Wendy's and they flip burgers in the summer, they get a summer job. And I find here there are potentially thousands of internships and kids get funneled into different areas of where they, they think they might want to have a career in. And so these kids are working in big businesses and small businesses and different professions over the course of the summer. They connect them to these internships to help foster them in their future. And I think the schooling does a really good job. They're very community based. Parents get involved, sports teams get involved and there's academic opportunities for academic.

Challenges and competitions. And I just, it's completely different when it comes to that. So any parent who understands that this is the opportunity that I can give to my children, it really propels them into doing that. The other thing that I've noticed too is we have a lot of Canadians who have big businesses in Canada and they're not quite ready to sever Canada for the U.S. and what they're doing is they're opening subsidiary in the United States. That's what we did right and what they're. And through E2, you can file for E2 employees from Canada if you want. Some of them are taking key employees from their Canadian operation, moving them to the US and they're starting to build the US Business. And then I think down the road, once that, you know, kind of gets to where they want it to be, potentially, they may, you know, shut down the Canadian operation and just roll over into the US one. So we're seeing a lot of that happening as well.

A bit of a phased approach to exiting, I guess, over time. That makes a lot of sense. And I'm curious, I don't want to.

Like, cut and there's nothing.

Right, Exactly.

Let's get this baby going. Let's see what happens. And then at some point they'll trigger the, let's get out of here and go there.

And as far as, you know, the comments you're getting from people recently, I mean, at the time we're recording this here, we're a week ahead of the Canadian election. So by the time this airs, it'll be post election. We'll, we'll see what the comments look like once, once we find out what's on the other side of the federal national election coming up here. But are you seeing a lot of commentary, conversation, Are you seeing an uptick in inquiries leading up to this election since the announcement happened? What's kind of going on for you guys relative to your practice? Because you're, you're exposed to a large volume of Canadians who are either already in process or seeking it. And I'm just curious as this tip the scales for them towards making the jump a little bit, you know, putting things into motion quicker and sooner than anticipated.

Yeah, I mean, we've, I mean, in conversations I've had, and our team has had, a lot of people are getting the information they want to be ready. And I've heard this statement a million times, depending on what happens on April 28, if it doesn't go the way they want it to go, which means if the Liberals get put back into power, then that's it, I'm done. Like, I just can't take anymore. So they're preparing. Other people are like, doesn't matter who wins. The damage is so extensive that I'm not, you know, I don't have 30 years to wait for it to fix. You know, I, I got, you know, I'm at the point in my life where I got to get out of here. And so, and they don't feel that any government can fix Some of the things that have happened are, you know, irreparable. So those are the types of conversations I think. Men. Are you seeing anything different? No.

I would agree with you.

I'd love to. To hear from you both. What is. What is the most rewarding part of what you do?

Oh, the win.

Oh. Oh, yeah.

I think for me, and I think she probably has a similar answer, but we'll see what she says. For me, it's meeting with someone who's scared, who doesn't think they can do it, inspiring them, bringing them to the finish line, and then seeing them get approved. That's what. And then that approval day is just, Ah, it's a relief. And I'm so happy for them and their family that they're able to do it. That's what it is for me.

Yeah. That's amazing. It's a great feeling.

I'm able to offer guidance more on a business side.

Because I had businesses in Canada, and a lot of our clients don't know what questions to ask because you just don't know. And so because I know what's happening in Canada, my experience there, I can help guide them here. And Men is right. Like, we have some of the most amazing clients. Like, they come into town, they'll drive into Florida, they'll stop in Fort Lauderdale to see us first before they get to their final destination. We've had them send us gifts, take us out for dinner. I've made a lot of friends.

Friends that are very dear friends now who started off as just an initial call and just the, you know, putting everybody together, helping them when that phone call comes in that they've been approved, you know, the whole office applauds and cheers. And being the catalyst in a beautiful change and a wonderful journey is just very, very rewarding. And I love that part of it.

That's amazing, Rich.

Yeah. Absolutely fantastic. Guys. We appreciate what you're doing and how you're helping support so many amazing individuals on making that journey, that transition. And while being here in Canada and seeing the money leave, knowing that that's not the greatest thing for the nation, I gotta respect people that make the choice because they know it's the right thing for them to do. And they need quality individuals who care and have gone through the hoops and the experience to be able to show them what's on the other side. And so you bring a really unique perspective, being that you spent a lifetime in Canada, made the transition, did it all yourself, and then you're really just filling the gap and the void providing that value add service for other people. So I would love to maybe start. Rocky, I'll start with you and then we'll, we'll swing it over. What would you say? Who would you most want to be a hero to?

I think if a family gets over here and their kids have an incredible school experience and that teenage. Because I watched my son. Mana was already older when we got here. I watched my son at 13, you know, go through that whole high school, college. I would love to be able, I, I love helping families and having them experience.

The wonderful life they're going to be able to provide to their kids. I think for me that's a real soft spot. So I'd love to be. I want some kids to say thank God Rocky told us to move here. I'm so happy that my parents, you know, went, went forward. So for me that's really important.

I'm not surprised by your answer. My mom used to be an elementary school teacher. So. That makes sense that you want to help the kids.

Yeah, they're gonna have a great time here. It's gonna be wonderful.

Yeah. For me.

I think it's when I have a client who's come from another attorney and they feel fed up with working with attorneys or they're a little bit disappointed by the profession and then getting that positive feedback and being able to fix whatever problem they encountered, that's who I'd really like to be a hero for. And I've done that a few times. I've had clients come to me and some in tears. I even sent one of our clients a piece of, to her house. She was so upset and so being able to kind of be their, their shoulder to, to, to lean on and reassuring them that everything is going to be okay and then actually being able to deliver on that promise really means a lot to me.

That's amazing. And I agree on the emphasis on kids too. My, my oldest daughter is actively in.

College recruiting and for volleyball.

Nice.

And so the Southern California Volleyball Association. She attended a tournament there. She was invited to go and it was amazing. And then she has been enrolled in a system where she has a coach and she's provided a list of 26 colleges and she's being interviewed by the coaches and the faculty and, and she hasn't even turned 16 yet, but she's in the draft pool. And so.

And think about what that's going to do for her confidence and her self esteem, you know what I mean? Oh my goodness, what an incredible accomplishment. Right. It'll just propel her through everything else in life.

Well, and I shared with her, I said, you know, it's not a coincidence that you've been invited. She's got two training camps this summer in Florida, in Miami. And she said, well, I'm not really sure where I want to go. I said, well, I mean, you can go wherever you get accepted in Florida. You can make that decision on where you want to go. Florida. And I was kind of planting these seeds, and she's like, okay, dad, Florida.

I get it, I get it, I get it.

But anyway, this was amazing. This was great. And to all of our clients who are listening, the clients we have and folks who are the clients we want to have, and you become clients, and you're ever considering investigating this option.

This is hands down going to be the team that will take great care of you. And so take a closer look. You'll be glad you did. This was amazing.

Thank you.

And to all the folks on the YouTubes, if you're seeing this, another video just appeared. And that's our way of encouraging you to continue your journey of learning. There's no such thing as having arrived in knowledge. We'll provide in the show notes how to get in touch, how to stay connected, perhaps even get in one or more of the Facebook groups. And ladies, this was amazing. Thank you so much again, have an outstanding rest of your week.