savana1990

hi i was hoping for a little advice please, my uncle and aunt live in Calgary and have done for years now, my partner and I currently live in spain, but were looking to spend a year working and living in Calgary from december onwards, I was hoping that you could advise me on how hard it will be to get a visa, work what the pay is like for say a cook, barmaid, or waitress? hour etc? thanks in advance xx

christmasoompa

Are you both under 30? If so, your easiest and quickest route to a visa would be the International Experience Class, which is a year's open work permit - http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca...ex.aspx?view=d

The 2013 program is expected to open any day now.

HTH, good luck.

savana1990

yes i'm 23 my partner is 25 that link says we have to have physical evidence of having lived in the uk for 3 years prior to applying we have been in spain 5 years so is there nay other way we can get a working visa?

christmasoompa

Ah, sorry, I didn't realise. So you wouldn't be eligible for IEC.

To be honest, if your job experience is things like waitressing then you'd find it very tough to get a Temp Work Permit. This is because for a TWP, your potential employer would have to get something called a Labour Market Opinion, which takes around 3-4 months to obtain usually. For this, they have to prove that they have advertised the job across Canada and been unable to find a Canadian willing, or able, to do the job.

As you can imagine, not only is it going to be hard to find an employer prepared to go through the paperwork/hassle/wait of hiring you, but it will also be hard for them to prove no Canadian could do the job.

Do either of you have any other work experience, and what qualifications do you have?

Cooperwoman

How you checked out BUNAC?
http://www.bunac.org/uk/work-abroad/work-canada

PMM

Hi


Sort of pointless, Bunac no longer has an allotment of visas from the UK for Canada, you pay them to apply for an IEC work permit, which you can do yourself if you are eligible.

Novocastrian

I don't have anything to contribute except a wry smile at the title typo:

a dive on moving to Canada.

savana1990

ADVICE that should say

savana1990

I have only bartending and either waitressing or serving/preperation of food, my partner is a chef/cook, is there any possibility we could find work in Calgary or is it not likely?

savana1990

also we both have g.c.s.e qualifications, it's mainly work experienece we have not qualifications

christmasoompa

it's already been discussed above that the IEC visa isn't an option for them.

christmasoompa

I'll be honest then, I think your chances are next to none. Your partner does have skills in demand if he's a cook, but if he's not got any post-secondary qualifications or formal training in it then most Canadian employers won't give him a second glance.

Plus a LMO would be very tricky as he's not going to be more qualified than any Canadian applicant.

He could certainly try job hunting (get out there, with no qualifications the old 'personal contact' thing will be even more vital - have a read of the Job Hunting section of the Wiki), but realistically if you want to move to Canada you'll need to get some further education and more specialist skills. Or if you only wanted to go for a year, and it's not worth the hassle, then look elsewhere in the EU where a visa won't be required.

Good luck.

DandNHill

Have you checked whether there is any kind of "Spanish" equivalent to the IEC?

christmasoompa

There is, but the OP would need to be a Spanish citizen.

Siouxie

Would they be able to come over under the TFWP for lower skilled occupations, if they were able to secure a job offer?

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplace.../general.shtml

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplace...lowskill.shtml