What Do You Need to Immigrate to Canada as Transgender Person?

In this living blog, I go over the things I needed upfront to really consider immigration to Canada. Information here is based on moving from the U.S. to Canada pursuing permanent residency.

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Last Updated, March 22 - I have made the decision to make this blog a “living blog” which means I will be coming back periodically to update with changes to information. A change log will be listed below. Thank you for your continued support

Hey everyone! This blog is basically just going over key things I had to figure out in advance before I could even consider making the decision to immigrate to Canada. These are things like figuring out how much money I needed, what qualifications I had to have, and what documents I need to have in order, or my odds of immigrating to Canada as a permanent resident would not be in my favor. There's a few of these items that became quite a surprise for me as I worked to accomplish them.

Before I dig into today’s blog, I do want to give my appreciation to everyone who enjoyed the first blog and subscribed to keep reading more. I'm really hoping that the series helps a lot of you, but just remember this is just my story, and what I'm about to share here is not direct legal counsel. I am going to make sure to refer to a lot of official documents and sources that you'll need to have a better understanding of what you need to do should you choose to pursue any form of immigration to Canada.

First, let me very transparent and very upfront with you. There is no quick and easy way to get into Canada, even through paths of seeking asylum. This blog is to set the expectations on time, money, and effort that it takes to get into Canada. In past versions of this blog, some of you have gotten angry with me, and honestly that’s fine if you are angry because for anyone in the U.S. we are in a state of panic and concern for our own well being. However, I refuse to lie and rather set down the upfront expectations you’ll need.

To help set the scene, I am only going to talk about my path to immigration which is Canada’s express entry program. This is basically, the main path for anyone who doesn’t already have viable ties to Canada, such as family, and is not trying to escape a hostile country as a refugee. Even if you live in a U.S. state with passed or upcoming laws that would make your existence at risk, pursuing asylum to Canada would be an extremely difficult path. I am also only speaking from my experience and needs. I am a single, transgender female with no dependents. So, without any further ado let's get into it.

You Need Money… Lots of It

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I'm just going to go ahead and get the stupid hard part out of the way, moving to Canada as a permanent resident is extremely expensive and you need a lot of cash up front. You’re going to have to take evaluations that assess your language, get your education credentials certified, and possibly have your physicals. There are also going to be significant attorney fees for when you select an immigration lawyer which you really must have if you want to have a shot at being invited. Not to mention there is going to be lots of fees paid to Canada just to even apply. Here is what I have paid so far and what I am still expecting to pay.

• $2000 USD in immigration attorney fees… so far

• $300 USD in English language certification

• $300 USD in French language certification

• $300 USD in certifying my bachelor’s degree

• $1075 USD for the immigration application fee*

• $75 USD for getting my rap sheet

Unfortunately, that's not all. Canada, or any country for that matter, just doesn't want you to move in without being able for you to sustain yourself in their economy. So, on top of all the fees and expenses that you're likely going to have to be paying, you also need to have a lot of money on hand just so that you're ready to survive on your own. Furthermore, Canada requires you to show that you've had this money for some time, at least six months, so that you're not necessarily just borrowing it. The total amount that you need to have on hand is $14,600 CAD, which at the time of this article is roughly a little over $10,000 USD**. Note, they will be looking at your bank records when proving your funds.

This has not been an easy thing for me to even achieve or sustain, when I realized that I was going to need lots of money really fast, I started doing whatever I could to start saving it. Right now, I work a full 40-hour job, with many weeks getting as much as 20 hours of overtime. On top of that I've been doing a lot of ridesharing, Twitch streaming, and of course writing on Substack and Ko-Fi. So, there's been weeks where I've literally clocked in over 120 hours of work, and yeah, it's been kind of brutal. But the hard work is paying off, and I have the funds on hand, and now I am just saving up because I know there's probably going to be something that I've missed that I'll need to account for. But needless to say, you should have at least $15,000 USD before even remotely considering starting your pursuit toward immigration.

*Items with asterisks refer to expense charged in CAD so USD pricing will vary depending on timing.

**Conversion last checked on March 22. (0.69 USD to 1 CAD)

Preparing Your Documentation

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First off, before I really get into this part, I want to preface the fact that the United States current administration is making it very difficult, if not impossible, for anyone who is trans or non-binary to get their things like their passports or update their social security cards. Despite this, you will need to make sure that all your documents are ready. I do not know how complicated things would get with Canadian immigration if your gender marker isn’t matching your presented gender unfortunately, and I don’t think I will be able to directly get that answer since it does not apply to me.

So, what documents did I need? Well, I am only going to list the ones that I will need to prepare on my own as a single, transgender female. I will list some others that they may need if they have dependents, or they are married or divorced. Some of these I needed right away when I started the process, and others I will need down the road when the time comes for applying for immigration.

What I prepared before starting

• Passport with your current legal name (again, I don’t know how gender markers play into this)

• Birth certificate

• Legal name change court order

What I have prepared before applying

• Education certifications

• Language test results (English is done, working on French)

What I know I will need later on

• Rap sheet

• Bank records

• Reference letters from employers

• Additional Passport-Quality Digital Photos

What I don’t need, but you might

• Marriage certificate if you are married

• Divorce certificate if you are separated

• Death certificate if you are widowed

• Birth certificates for your children

• Adoption certificates for any adopted children

• Possibly others depending on your specific situation

For me, most of my documentation is in order, however there is one document I can’t get right away because the timing to my Canadian immigration application is critical. This document is basically my FBI rap sheet. This basically is a process where I must ask the FBI to look up everything about me to see if I committed any crimes. Needless to say, having to get this done with the current administration is very intimidating, but I have not been arrested or been accused of any crimes, so hopefully nothing bad will come out of it.

Thankfully my passport is ready to go, however, I have been so worried about everyone who is now in limbo trying to get their federal documents up to date. It's unfair and it's unjustified. If you find that your current U.S. documents are no longer in sync with each other, my advice is you're going to have to seek legal counsel on how to approach it. Most likely you're going to have to wait several months before even making a move on immigration via permanent residency if you don’t have your passport.

As for the others, well I will share in my story on how I got each of these prepared. For now, if you want to get details, head to the Government of Canada’s website to learn more on documents you need for applying for Express Entry.

Getting Scored

When it comes time to enter the Express Entry pool, you are going to have what is called a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score. The higher your score, the more likely you will be invited in a round of selections to apply for immigration. There are a lot of factors involved but major ones include age, education, language skills, and work experience.

Age is the one factor that plays against me personally. I am already middle aged, and my score goes down significantly every year, and I only have a few years left before my age will no longer contribute to my score. This is because you should be able to contribute as a skilled worker in order to immigrate as a permanent resident.

So, to make up for my age, I got to prove my worth in other ways, right now my education and work experience are my strongest factors. I have a bachelor’s degree which has been certified for a Canadian equivalent, and I spent the last decade working in the same job field. If you have trade-certified skills in medical, construction, or information technology trades, that can be a boon for you to boost your CRS score as those fields are in high-demand in Canada, though for many you will need to prove your skills through additional certifications and assessments and that unfortunately can take months if not years.

There are things I am doing that could help improve my chances. First, I am looking for a valid job offer in Canada. Granted this means the employer has to vouch for me which is a pricy and time-consuming task that not many Canadian employers choose to go for, however I am knocking on doors as much as I can. Another factor that can help is that I can proficiently learn French to a core understanding. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but being able to speak, listen, write, and read effectively can be a boon to getting qualified. Right now, I am still learning and hope to take my evaluation for French within the next month or so. So, consider all these factors in determining how successful you would be when attempting to apply.

To give yourself an idea of how successful, use the CRS calculator on the Canadian’s government website. A score of 500 or higher means there is a roughly good chance you can get in on your own merits, anything less than that, then you would likely need help from something like being selected for a provincial nomination program or the likes. If you think you are coming up short, don’t despair, but be ready to really put in a lot of work and definitely recruit a reputable immigration law firm for help. I’ll have more details on finding an immigration law firm in a future blog.

There are some things you may have that can be a boon to getting your CRS score boosted. For example, if you have relatives in Canada, then that is a huge benefit. Also having any previous work experience in Canada is a major help as well.

Wait… what about asylum? Can we apply for that?

I am going to go into processes of asylum in future blogs, but from what I can tell (and again, this is not legal counsel), asylum, at least to Canada, is not a quick and easy option in the current moment. The non-profit organization Rainbow Refugee, typically helps only 50 refugees worldwide get to safety in Canada. Unless you have something going on that risks you being persecuted or risking your own life, you are not likely to get into Canada. For those who are not U.S. Citizens, the U.S. and Canada share what is called a “third safe country agreement,” meaning they pretty well really won’t approve asylum claims from one to another. There are edges cases out there, including with transgender individuals, but right now none of the terrible things the new U.S. administration has done has come close to that.

Now in the weeks following Trump taking over the U.S. Government, his administration has actually started to take actions that may impact certain individuals. Notably those who are supporting trans youth are now at risk and there may be specific state legislation that may impact families with trans youth. A lot of these cases are being legally challenged and will be stuck in limbo for some time. For now, most trans individuals in the U.S. would find it difficult to seek asylum to Canada, but if you know you are specifically being targeted, then you should be taking all efforts to act on that. Details to come in future blogs.

The Window is Closing, but Won’t Entirely be Shut

The last factor I want to briefly cover is that things are really hard to get into Canada now, but they are going to become even harder in the years ahead. Canada for years following the pandemic had a huge influx of immigrants which today has left the population reeling with the housing market, availability of jobs and goods, and the health care system incredibly overwhelmed.

At the end of the year, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau basically pushed through changes that slow down the total number of immigrants coming in starting in 2025. For the next three years the total number of new immigrants to come in via Express Entry will be significantly reduced each year and will stay low until the Canadian market feels it is ready to support more when more housing, jobs, and health care is made available, which could take several years to rebalance. On top of all of that, there are politics in play and a snap election trigged by current Prime Minster Mark Carney will be taking place sometime in April or May. Originally at the time of this blog’s initial publishing, the Canadian Conversative party was likely to take over and their policies would likely have slowed down immigration even more. Since then a lot of things have changed, and now the outcome of an election is really anyone’s guess.

In future blogs, I go into details on all of this in my review of Canadian government and politics that are currently impacting immigration. In any case, I am considering 2025 to be my do or die year to pursue immigration to Canada. If I don’t succeed, I will have to seriously revaluate my options based on how things turn out in the United States.

Be Patient, This is Going to Take Time

One thing I am going to emphasize, pursuing immigration is going to take time. There is no magic path, and unless you have family in Canada or in a high-skill trade, the ability to immigrate is not certain. I have been pursuing immigration since July 1, after that fateful U.S. Supreme Court ruling, and so far while I have had a lot of obstacles thrown my way, I still feel this is the best path for me.

If you feel you are in a U.S. State that leaves you at risk for your own health and wellbeing, you may need to first consider moving to a state that does have reasonable protections for transgender individuals, states like Washington, Maryland, New York, Colorado, Maine, and California are reasonable options for now. Whereas in my opinion, states like Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Idaho, Iowa, and Texas are extremely threatening right now to be in. Trust me, I get it. I used to live in Wyoming before coming out as trans and I felt the hate and division there, which is why I moved to California. If you need financial help getting to a safe state, Keshet and the Hebrew Free Loan Society are providing financial aid of up to $10,000 to help U.S. LGBTQ+ persons to a state where they can be safe for the time being.

Choosing Your Path and Not Losing Hope

At this point, now is a good time to sit down and start doing your own research. You may decide that pursuing a path to Canada is not a viable path, and if that is the case, great, that’s another step to getting to safety. It just means your destination may take a different path than mine or anyone else’s. Canada is not the only option, and I will be writing about other countries in future blogs that I am considering.

For me, I believe this is still the right path for me, but I acknowledge that success is not guaranteed. In fact, I am considering other countries with a lower cost of living that I know I can survive in at least temporarily. There can also be a dozen things outside of my control between now and when I get the chance to apply, where things could go wrong. Even if that happens, I won’t lose hope. I will do what I can to stay alert, look for other opportunities abroad, and at the very least, do what I can to survive. Survival is the resistance against the oppressive hatred that Trump and his miscreants are trying to oppress on the U.S. and the world.

How we each choose to pursue our survival will be different from one another, and that’s a good thing, because it actually means the transgender community in the long run will survive. So, if pursuing immigration to Canada is not for you, that’s fine. It just means that you already see your path turning in a different direction toward this shared goal.

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Sources for reference:

• Canada.ca - Immigrate through Express Entry - Government of Canada Website

• Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement - Government of Canada Website

• Why Canada’s changing its immigration system – Justin Trudeau’s YouTube Channel – Nov. 17, 2025

• Canada's next election will take place on April 28: sources - Benjamin Lopez Steven of CBC News - Mar. 22, 2025

• Keshet-HFLS “Move to Thrive” Interest-Free Loan Program - Keshet-HFLS

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Change Log

• February 8 - Updated information about recent presidential executive orders

• March 22 - General update reflecting current information about Canadian and U.S. political stances, and elaborating on asylum information.