Hi to all
just joined this site today & would like to say i think its brilliant , the amount of information available is incredible.
My family & i wish to relocate to calgary , we have visited friends thier several times & love it. We understand probably the quickest way to get over there is by the PNP / job offer + work permit route and then apply for PR once over there (rather than wait in line for 5yrs on the skilled worker list)

I have sent quite a few resumes for jobs advertised online in my trade - maintenance fitter (millwright) but no joy yet . Does anyone recommend any recruitment firms ?
Also would it be better if my wife applied for jobs as she is a registered psychiatric nurse (are they more in demand than millwrights?) and therefore became the main applicant for a work permit.

I have heard in the last few weeks from people who have got job offers over the phone....... and they were nurses. I am sure I even read a thread on this site where the wife got the visa who was nursing, try some search threads. Nursing is the way to go.

The link to the thread about someone moving over is

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=calgary+nurse

Read it and perhaps pm them for advice and how they did it.

Helen has given you good advice, but here is some additional info.

Both nurses and people in the skilled trades are in demand in Calgary, so I would say both you and your wife have an excellent chance of getting work permits.

Another thing I think (but that warrants checking) is that if either one of you got a work permit, the other one of you would be entitled to a spousal open work permit. That is, the spouse of a work permit holder who is in the O, A or B Skill Level on the National Occupational Classification can get a work permit that permits him/her to accept any job, with any employer, in any part of Canada. This, in turn, means that the holder of the open work permit can skip the Labour Market Opinion part of the process.

Neither you nor your wife needs a spousal open work permit, because each of you has a good chance of qualifying for a regular work permit in your own right, but it would reduce the amount of bureacracy a bit if you could get an SOWP.

About your job search ....... You need to Canadianize your job hunting approach. I suggest you read the BE Wiki articles on job hunting in Canada.

I don't know what you need to do to receive accreditation as a millwright in Alberta, but the Alberta government's Trade Secrets website should help. I suggest you also read the BE Wiki article on Skilled Trades.

Hope that helps.

thanks helen - will do , much appreciated

Hey Wickerman

Welcome to the board, I cant help with you trade but my wife is a nurse and we are going on her as the applicant. She has a provisional job offer from Calgary Health and we are flying out on Friday for our first recce to Calgary.

I'm not sure if you can PM yet but you probably want to talk to Boxerdog03(Sharon), Sharon is heading to Calgary and has her LMO she is a mental health (psych) nurse. My wife is a regular nurse so not sure how the process of licences may be different.

OH sent her resume and got a phone call back within 2 days, we only sent it on spec but they have a job in mind for her with her choice of hospitals depending on where we want to live and lots of other good stuff.

We are going on a temp work permit for a year and then they have said they will nominate for Alberta PNP. We have no house to sell so we migh be out in calgary in teh early part of next year all being well.

Hope that helps and would suggest putting your wife in touch with Boxerdog03 to get the specifics on mental health nursing.

I am still a bit of a noob at all this but if you think I can help just holler.

cheers
Tom

thanks tom
i cant pm yet (need 3 posts) but will try & talk with boxerdog03 as soon as i can pm, it seems the way to go forward with my wife being the main applicant.
cheers colin

thanks judy all information is gladly recieved , we will look at the sites you recommended.
cheers colin & jackie