US slowed economy - what effects does it have on visas?

Are there any correlation to the slowed US economy to work visas?

Are less people interested in moving to the US?
Is the US giving out less visas? TN permits?

Thanks in advance.

It'll be more difficult to find an employer that's for sure. Even those of us who are already here legally with employment authorization can't find jobs

There has been a massive slowdown in immigration, or at least people applying for LPR status which would seem to indicate less people applying at some point or another for work authorization. Takes several years for it to all filter through so it's hard to say, but the central bank of Mexico has noted a big drop in remittances from the US.

An absolutely huge proportion of LPRs with sufficient residency status applied for citizenship because of all the paranoia about immigration a year or two ago, most of those apps have been processed now so the number of people left in some sort of immigration status has dropped very sharply.

The combination of the recession plus the DHS crackdown is going to drive it down to the lowest levels since the 1960s, I reckon.

The effect on Canadians is fairly limited, however it will get significantly harder (and has been for some time) for Canadians to work illegally in the US. The introduction of time-limited SSNs had some effect, and the increasing use of E-verify will also make it harder. The other thing is the recording of departures of Canadian visitors from the US which starts in a few days time, although it will be several years (2014) until it is fully in place. This will make it harder to overstay or frequently cross the border without anyone questioning it. The new record-keeping requirements introduced in January at the POE also made it harder.

I have to say it will be interesting to see what happens when they start enforcing all of this. The Bush Administration theory (bear in mind Bush was strongly in support of immigration reform, although his party isn't) is that once all of these walls are built and everyone has RFID-enabled ID and USCIS is keeping track of everyone crossing the border, then all the cracks in the immigration system will be painfully apparent and Congress will be forced to make significant changes, even though they don't want to.

Given the recession though I suspect xenophobia will likely take over for the next few years, especially if Obama gets elected as he clearly is a protectionist, the way he goes on about closing "loopholes" that move jobs overseas (I'm still waiting for him to provide an actual example of one of these loopholes) and renegotiating NAFTA (I think this is the "loophole" he's on about).

I think what it will take is an endless series of really bad hard luck stories, so and so got married to an American and never got the papers so now her daughter is getting deported, etc. to really change public opinion in the US.

At the moment the mindset is: "let's get rid of all the nasty immigrants": http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 138J6P.DTL

I would assumed less Canadians would want to visit the USA, therefore reducing the demand for visas, making it easier to get one?

Visiting the US and trying to get a work authorized visa are 2 completely different things however. Canadians do not require a visa just to visit.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7647132.stm