The Pakistanis who fled the country before the registration process have one thing going for them: there is nothing on their record against them. At a future date, they may be able to return to the United States if someone sponsors them or they obtain a business visa, and so on.

Those undocumented immigrants who stayed in the country to register are facing the inevitable deportation.

The great numbers of Pakistanis who fled the country for Canada are realizing that it is much harder to make a living in Canada. They must start from scratch all over again. An oft-repeated comment is that moving to Canada from the United States is like going to a village after becoming familiar with a city.

Though Pakistanis are nervous about Canadian authorities’ determination of their status, in the meantime they are legal. Refugee claimants are given temporary legal status. But everybody is nervous because they know that they are economic refugees, that they came to the U.S. for a better life and not because of political persecution in Pakistan. Yet, most are claiming refugee status as political refugees. It is true that if they were to return to Pakistan, having spent many years in the United States, they will find it very hard to adjust, but still Canadian judges do not give much credence to the term “economic refugee.”

No matter what you do as an undocumented immigrant—stay and register, leave the United States for Pakistan, or Canada—your future is rife with uncertainty.