stuartm

Hi guys,

I'm new here and in desperate need of your help! The wife and i are going to Vancouver for the 2nd time in November, where we will decide once and for all whether to apply to emigrate. There are few questions we need answering though and are hoping you can help:

1. We are 30 and 31 respectively, no kids with good degrees (2:2) and a combined work experienc of 13 years. My wife has an environmental science degree and the market for science-based jobs looks healthy. Hwoever i ahve largely worked in local government as a manager withsome stints in Higher Education. Most of the jobs i could apply for are goernment -based and im in eligible as you need to be a canadian citizen - any advice for alternatives. I hold a fairly senior position within local government at present.

2. Can someone provide me with a breakdown of costs for the application process?

3. I suffer from Asthma - is this likely to go against me?

4. Can anyone recommend consultants / immigration lawyers theyve used?

5. Woudl you recommend (assuming we were successful) selling your house and pocketing a lump sum of cash, or renting so that youve got a home to come back to if things didnt work out? :scared:

Sorry for the essay guys, but youre help would be so appreciated by us both.

Thanks in advance, Stuart and Kerry Mackinnon, Wales - UK

fi_broon

I can't really answer all your questions but I can answer your question on asthma. I am asthmatic, pretty badly you could say. I take salbutamol on a regular basis, seratide twice daily and also sodium montelukast tablets daily. I usually have at least 2 courses of prednisilone twice yearly and have been hospitalised 3 or 4 times. My passport is currently with CHC getting the lovely shiny visa attached so I would say, quite confidently that your asthma won't be a problem.

Hopefully someone should be around soon to answer your other questions.

Fi

stuartm

Thanks Fi - thats a good start Im so jealous that youre off to Canada soon - where are you going???

Stu

fi_broon

We fly out to Toronto on 11th October and are staying with friends in Waterloo for a while. We were originally going to Vancouver, but I'm in electronics and the industry is much stronger in Ontario. We only changed our minds about 4 months ago, but I feel so much happier about the move now....really excited.

Good luck with your application.

Fi

Jingle

Hi Stuart - I am also a senior manager with a large Unitary Authority - we are hoping to be in Calgary early next year (AOR June 2004) and I have had some success in contacting municipal govs for interviews in October this year. Rather than bore everyone rigid about government work please feel free to PM me for any advice.

Good luck J

stuartm

Thanks Jen - you've got PM already !

Souvenir

I don't think the medical condition will go against you. You will, however, probably have to spend a fortune on medication if you don't have drug insurance (which you probably wouldn't be able to get to cover an existing condition).

You do not need a lawyer/consultant unless there is something very complicated about your situation. The fees are set out on the CIC website.

Do you have a large chunk of spare cash that you could bring with you instead of liquidating your house equity? You will need quite a bit when you get here.

You are not ineligible to work for federal or provincial government, except in some areas where security is an issue. It is, however, damn hard to get in. It's very much jobs for the boys. Many positions, especially in central government, are not advertised to the public. Where they are, the pecking order is:

people already working in the department
their friends
people already working in the ministry/agency
their friends
Canadian citizens (born here)
their friends
their pets
Canadian citizens (naturalised)
You

I worked for the federal government before I move to Canada. The department I worked for is a couple of miles away from me now. I know lots of people there. When I was still looking for work, I made a few approaches. The essential message I got was: "don't even bother unless you have citizenship; even then you will have to go for very lowly positions and try to work your way up". Then there is another problem. Many federal jobs are now contract positions. Internally advertised jobs are open to permanent staff only.

It's not much better with the Ontario provincial government. I had a couple of interviews with them a few years back. I gave up applying once I realised that adverts in the papers were just there for show.

Have I put you off yet?

stuartm

Nope !

Lonestar

Hi Stuart,I have applied and recieved my Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR) letter in july '05,I did not use an immigration lawery etc. I didn't even visit these forums for help during my application which I wish I had,comfort in numbers as they say...a visit to vancouver last september was all the motivation I needed.....all I did was download the guides,forms and london visa specific forms and guide and carefully read it and completed my application,so as long as you are prepared to approach the application with care and dilegence then anyone can do it on thier own,besides since youv'e worked for the government isn't about time you got your cuppance with all the dodgy forms us citizens have had to fill over the years...LOL....just kiddin mate I seem have to have done ok with the forms but then who knows...if you need help you'll most certainly get it here....goodluck

dbd33

We provide some bodies for the federal and provincial governments. That is, we have supplier numbers for the provision of contractors. What happens is that someone finds an opening with the government, usually through personal contact, but the government cannot employ that person as he or she is an individual and they are obliged to use only "approved suppliers". The person then contacts us and, for a percentage of the rate, we act as the approved supplier. Getting the supplier number is, of course, a matter of who you blow. So far as feds vs. Ontario is concerned I'd say that the federal processes are very much prone to politics, you have to speak French and if you can also be a multiple-minority candidate that can help (this, btw, is even more true of the US feds). In Ontario cash is king, you need the pimp who buys the most TVs, stereos and winter vacations.

Souvenir

I'd forgotten about the French bit. That's becoming more of an issue. A while back, it was possible to go in unilingual and, if you moved up the ladder to where bilingualism became necessary, you'd be sent for language training. These days, most of the jobs open to the public, particularly more senior ones, demand bilingualism from the word go.

stuartm

That is something i need to consider, however i do have a basic command of Chinese and given the asian population in Vancouver - would it be worth working on this as a second language??

Saying that i appreciate entry is into Canada and not the regions. Prseumably then it would be better to have conversational French skills rather than written????

Stu

dbd33

Ah. The central paradox of immigration is that two unrelated sets of qualifications and skills are required for entry and for living. French is valuable for the immigration procedure but not once you arrive. Chinese is valuable once you arrive but not for the procedure. Conversational French is no help as you have to be much better than that in order to get immigration points and, in Canada, no one converses in anything like French as learned in Europe.

proo

Well Chinese is not an official language of Canada although it would help in certain communities. Also it depends what kind of Chinese you speak - Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien etc. The established Chinese community are mainly Cantonese speaking.

stuartm

It woul dprobably be Cantonese, although the PRC are now pushing Putonghua (Mandarin) as the language of choice.

Am i likely to scor epoints with A' level french???

What about TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) as an additional attractive qualification?

Stu