If you have not worked in drafting for the last 10 years then you will most likely NOT qualify for immigration.
Retail assistants at wal-mart are not considered to be skilled workers.
Here are the details.
You have two choices
In both cases You will need to get an FBI police security check from FBI HQ in Virginia. You may also need to get police checks from every state and country you have lived in since the age of 18. Definitely get the international ones. The state ones - sometimes CIC asks for them, and sometimes not - so its best to wait until you are asked.
1 - federal skilled worker
You need to have at least 1 years work experience in your chosen field before you can apply. 4 years is better - gives you more points.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp You must meet the following minimum requirements to apply as a skilled worker:
You must have at least one continuous year of full-time, paid work experience or the equivalent in part-time [1 year full time - 2 years part time]. continuous employment. Your work experience must be Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC).
You must have had this experience within the last 10 years.
If you have work experiene and skills for any of the following occupations, then your applicaiton will be fasttracked and processed faster than other applicants.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who-instructions.asp#list occupations in demand
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/assess/index.asp assessment test - you must get 67 points to qualify.
You will need at least $10,000 saved up - more if you have family - before you apply as you will be required to show this proof that you have this money when you apply.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/funds.asphttp://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/international/02a-skilled-fed.asp application processing times in Skilled worker category
Currently taking 2 years from USA. And then after you are admitted to Canada, you MUST live in Canada for 3 years before you can apply to be a citizen. That is currently taking about 12 months to be processed, so altogether it takes you 6 years to legally become a Canadian citizen.
2 - provincial nominee.
If you speak french then you can apply for Quebec,. IF you do NOT speak french, then apply for another province (Ontario, BC or Alberta are the best) .
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/provincial/index.asp provincial nominees
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/quebec/index.asp Quebec selected skilled worker.
If you do emigrate under the provincial nominee program, you are required to stay in that province for (either) 2 or 3 years before you can leave.
Provincial nominee programs can be processed faster than the federal program.