Also keep in mind, in Europe, there is a thing call Human Rights and Compassion and apply to anyone and all aspects of society. While in North America, in reality Human Rights is a privilege enjoyed by certain groups of people but not everyone.
For example, there is an EU-wide rule, anyone stay in any EU country legally for 10 years or illegally for 14 years, no matter what's the visa status, shall be eligible for PR.
Another example, in UK for citizenship residency requirement, if your absence exceed limit, Compassion rule will kick in, if just off a few days, it's normally discarded, if more but due to compassion reasons, it's also considered. While in Canada, many people were rejected after many years of waiting by 1 day off, sometimes even it's government's fault (such as CBSA officer put previous day's stamp after midnight), in my European values, it's very cold blooded.
That's why the mythology of making and enforcing laws is so different between Europe and Canada/USA. That's why the media in North America like to brainwash people about the "refugee crisis" in Europe and they don't like the European values of Human Rights and Compassion.