when i did it a few years back. there was a fast process done out of quebec and it took me just 1+ year to get in. The only catch is you have to land in quebec, the first time you come in and then you are free to go anywhere.
im not sure if this process is still there.

Just thought I bump this thread and see if there's any more people with opinions/experience...

Been feeling a bit disheartened that I could end up waiting 4+ years for a visa (not even applied yet) and even then I will probably struggle to find something and probably on a pathetic wage

Anyone have any more IT related stories? I would have thought the percentage of people applying for visas for work in IT would be high - so must be some more people on here in IT?

Canada doesn't really have the population or infra-structure to support much of an IT industry. However North America as a whole has a thriving industry despite some offshoring, not much of the industry is in Canada but then not much is in Maine either. I think we see much the same in Europe, someone wanting to move to Europe to work in IT probably wouldn't be able to find a job in, say, Portugal. If you want to work in IT in NA I'd suggest that it makes more sense to go to the US.

I wouldn't mind living in the US - particularly San Francisco - excellent place and lots of IT too..... however, they don't like letting us Brits in for some reason

San Francisco is brutally expensive and full of British illegal immigrant computer executives, lovely place though, yes.

Case in point - they're illegal because they can't get in through the legal route!

I work for a very big US IT company here in the UK and I could maybe get a L-1 inter company transfer visa, but then that would only cover me for 7 years - wouldn't be a lot of point of me moving the family out and then coming back again....

Sooo.... back to my original point, it has to be Canada really....

You could live in Canada but work in the US. That's common practise. In fact, that window over on the right of my screen is in Cincinnati while the one behind it is in Indiana (all computers in Indiana are worked on remotely as, Lord knows, no one will willingly go there).

Could be an option - how does that work, do you get paid in US dollars and then have to exchange them to CDN?

Yes. I bill in US$ even if the job's in Canada.

It's worth considering then, if there is so little work actually in Canada....

I find it funny when people talk of wages which work out around £40k and think of them as pathetic! What a money orientated world we live in!

The equivalent of £40K would be perfectly acceptible - however, as the previous posts have stated, new immigrants are likely to get far less than that and even then find it difficult to find something....

Iv'e said it before and I'll mention it again. I have not witnessed the new immigrant thing in engineering, but then again, I'm in Ottawa, maybe that's the difference. Anyway, The PEO mean (Professional Engineers of Ontario) for a 7 year SW engineer is $68 with 25% of those above $73. It is all based on EYG (effective year of graduation) A 7 year'er is considered to be still a little green and would seldom hold a senior position in a large company and command $100k+. Contracting is different, but you have to be good to succeed. Canada is full of degrees, it has the highest percentage of degree'd adults of anywhere else - I think I heard this on CBC recently. There are also many types of degrees that may play a part in candidate selection. Electrical/Computing (ringed BEng) engineers, Computer science (Bsc), Math, Physics etc etc. They are all working in the IT industry.

Thanks - useful info..... I'm coming up to 7 years after graduation, but that would be more like 11 or 12 after the immigration process!