04vancouver

Happy New Year to you all!
My husband is currently working a late shift so am at home with our 18 month old! (Police widow again! Happy New Year! )
I have been searching the web and have come accross this forum which looks wonderful for information - not much about Vancouver though!
We visited Vancouver this Septemeber and have decided that we want to start fresh routes for our family there. As my husband is currently serving in the Hampshire Police force we have been trying to look into him joining the BC police and are really at the beginning of our application process.
If there is anyone who could please shed any light on the best way to go about this then we would be very grateful! Is anyone else going through this? Appologies but very new to this!
Thank you very much for any help you can give. You are all probably enjoying New Years Eve celebrations but you never know!
Many thanks.

chan_konabe

I heard in the news a few weeks ago that the Vancouver Police plan to hire many new officers in the build-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. This could be good timing for a move. I don't have any more info to share, but I'm sure that a web search could turn up more. Good luck!

04vancouver

Thank you very much! I shall do some research today!
Happy New Year.

CathynPaul

Hi we are in the same position I am hoping to go out with my nursing but as my husband is a police officer we worried about whether he would get a job .We went out in the summer and through contacts found that GVTAPS are heavily recruiting they are a new police force in Vancouver and are set up for the transport side I can get my husband to find out recruitment contacts but he is also at work, are we allowed to contact each other by phone although I dont want everyone knowing my phone number probably best to do it like this.Your husband would have to fill in a LARGE application with lots of strange questions which we have had help from serving UK officers he then has to do a physical a polygraph test and varoius other entrance exams. Calgary are also recruiting UK officers at present .Hope this all helps

04vancouver

Hello - thank you so much for your reply! That is so helpful thank you! Be lovely to talk to you!
Any help would be wonderful as we are at the start of this process and have thought about a few different ways of applying - I think one of them would be as a provincial nominee with my job but we need to look into that also!
Would be lovely to hear from you and ask a a few questions if possible!
Thank you again for your response!

04vancouver

not sure if my last reply was posted or not?

04vancouver

my e-mail is<<snip>> - please feel free to e-mail me there. Thanks.

ann m

If you are able to edit, I would suggest to remove your personal email from a public forum. You guys can now send each other Private Messages (as you have made more than three posts) - click on the person's username and the option to send them a message will come up ....

kws

Just for you out there that are thinking of applying to BC forces (Vancouver area). Each force has it's own recruiting criteria and all depends on where you go. I moved from the UK to Victoria BC and started applying to various police forces there. On the whole, they will accept applications from UK members (Except Victoria) but will not give you any credit in terms of starting salary etc.. So you would start at the $49K mark and work your way up from there. Normally 5 years to 1st Class cst. Furthermore, they will not be able to help you with your immirgation process, so unless you are already well down the immigration road, expect a long wait. I think HC were quoting 48 months when we got ours.

Once you have been accepted by a department, you will have to attend the Justice instutue near Vancouver where all Bc forces send their recruits for training. You will have to pay for the course yourself, at the time I was there it was $10,000. Some departments will help you by lending you the money and taking it out of your wages others won't and you will be expected to stump up the cash up front.

I found that the smaller departments were the most helpful but then they don't have the places, so after 18 months I was still no further forwards. Vancouver were unhelpful and I really had to chase up their recruiting team to get any sort of answers. Victoria are a no go. There were 3 of us ex Uk cops there at the time looking to join and we all ended up in Calgary. There are some guys who have managed it but it's a minority.

Best of luck to all of you going to BC, it's a great place to live and I may someday head back that way but it's not the easiest place to get work.

faraday

Hi

We are also looking at moving to the BC area. Calgary appears to be the simplist area to get to for police at the moment. Different areas in BC have very different policies with regard to employing cops. The biggest problem is obtaining landed immigrant status. To obtain that through the skilled immigrant process takes at the moment three and half years. If your employer willing give a written offer or apply through the PNP system this process is cut to six months to a year!

I haven't worked out why BC are so reluctant to do this. If you can get a job offer your husband should be able to get fast tracked through the family immigration process. It may also be worth considering things like transit police and campus police. Probably not as well paid.

Cheers

ann m

I'm guessing they are not struggling to attract recruits yet ? When they get desperate, they will look at other means, I am sure ...

faraday

Hi

A number of areas in BC will take you on as a Constable 1st class dependant on your length of service. They do not all expect you to pay for your training. Generally the larger departments offer better conditions. Having said that I have not found any that will consider PNP or give job offers.

This means that you will have to obtain Landed Emigration Status before you even apply to a department this process at the moment is taking three and half years!

If you can get PNP or a written job offer this cut the emmigration process to twelve months. I haven't managed to get a straight answer as to why departments are not willing to give job offers or to use the PNP process. The only assumption I can make is that they are not really that keen on international recruitment and it is easier to recruit internally.

If you are plumber or plasterer you should be able to get to Canada with-in twelve months!

Cheers