It's a great time to be a Canadian immigration lawyer, with many Americans suddenly ready to make good on their intent to move to Canada in the event of a Donald Trump presidency.

Immigration Canada's website actually crashed on Tuesday night from all the American traffic coming its way following Trump's victory. The Canadian government says approximately 100,000 users accessed the site from the U.S. around 11 p.m. That number doesn't even include those who visited the site and faced an error message after the crash.

But as several lawyers from across the country point out, moving to Canada takes a lot more work than simply packing up a U-Haul and driving north.

"It's not an easy process 鈥� it's a time-consuming process," Damien Barry, an immigration lawyer in Sydney, N.S., told CTV Atlantic. Barry says he's received a flood of emails and calls since the election results became official, and he's told everyone that moving to Canada is not something to be taken lightly.

Rudi Kischer, an immigration lawyer in Vancouver, echoed those sentiments in an interview with CTV Vancouver. "Some Americans are a little surprised at how defined the border is and that they actually have to go through an application process," Kischer said. "It's actually fairly difficult to move to Canada."

There are a number of hurdles to moving to Canada, and even more if one hopes to stay. Canada has set a limit for accepting 300,000 new permanent residents in 2017, of which 40,000 will be refugees and 80,000 will be family members of existing Canadians. The remaining 180,000 new permanent residents will mostly be skilled workers who have likely already applied to enter, and are awaiting a years-long paperwork process.

The country also has an Express Entry program, but that process can be challenging if one doesn't have a job offer waiting for in Canada.

Both Kischer and Barry say the easier approach is to move to Canada as an international student or a temporary foreign worker, then apply for permanent residency down the road.

It's either that, or getting hitched to a Canadian.

Marry a Canadian

Joel Goldman, founder of a Canadian-American dating site called Maple Match, says the service saw its user base double after Trump won the election on Tuesday. "The unfathomable horror is here, but we've got your back," Goldman told CTV Calgary.

Calgary-based immigration lawyer Raj Sharma says he's been inundated with calls from Americans, especially Mexican-Americans, who are interested in moving north. He says marrying a Canadian would cut out some of the legal hoops one would otherwise have to jump through. "It's got to be clear that this is not a scam," he pointed out to CTV Calgary. "This is not a backdoor way into Canada, and we do investigate marriages."

He added that dating sites such as Maple Match are a great way for Americans to start hunting for some true patriot love in Canada. "I wish I had come up with that idea of matching Americans to Canadians," he said.

Rob Calabrese, founder of the website 鈥淐ape Breton if Trump Wins鈥�, says his own bright idea has been getting a lot of attention since that "if" became a certainty. Calabrese told CTV Atlantic he's received hundreds of emails from Americans eager to get out of their country before Trump takes over the White House.

"There's a sense of urgency with the contacts," he said. "Now people are saying Trump is president and we don't feel safe anymore."

Calabrese adds that he's glad his website has drawn international attention to Cape Breton, although he may have to change the name in light of Trump's victory.

"The 'if' is no longer applicable, so I'm open to suggestions on what to name it," he said.

With files from CTV Vancouver, CTV Calgary and CTV Atlantic