Has anyone managed to join the CF directly from the British Armed Forces?

Emma.Giles

My husband did 2 years ago. He was in the RN and came over on exchange which helped him with contacts etc. But I think they have made it harder than ever, or even impossible.

I accept that it won't be easy but I would be interested how your hubby did it

You have to have citizenship, so he had to have a 'waiver of citizenship' letter first and then an AEO (basically an offer of employment for the CF)
We then applied down the skilled worker route using these with it.
Once we had the PR, he was then given a posting to go to.
He had to prove he had left the RN before they let him sign on the dotted line for the CF.
He kept his rank (Lt Cdr) and his seniority, so he was lucky.
But it took a lot of pushing and phone calls and there were times when we didn't think it was going to happen.
Timewise it took 2 years for all that.
He would be able to tell you more fine details if you would like to DM me, I can ask him...he doesn't come on here!
That was 2006, there were a few others in the RN that managed it around that time. But I don't know of any that have done it since. Hope this helps.

There are posters on this site who did it donkeys ago, some more recent and folks moving over now.

Just sent you an overview.....joining the CF has always been a tough nut for Expats without citizenship to crack right and that remains the case.

That being said, if you have critical skills applicable to a trade with shortages then it remains possible.

Lots of support here if you need some.

Many thanks for all your advice, assume airbornesapper you are ex 9 Sqn and spent much of your time in the Peggy?

I'm in a critical shortage category (Naval Combat Systems Engineer) and submitted a formal application to join the CF with supporting CV in June this year. I got the contact details of the desk officer in the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group who deals with overseas recruitment from someone who had already made the switch, and gave him a call in July. Whilst he was very helpful, he told me that because the CF are close to their manning limit, there are plenty of people wanting to join and discharge rates are low, the number of non-Canadians being recruited have dropped significantly. If fact, the individual services often don't even bother to respond to the CVs of non-Canadians sent to them by the CFRG. However, he said that engineers would always be looked at and sent mine to Ottawa.

I emailed him again in September to see if there had been any progress. He reiterated that the Canadian Forces have surpassed their personnel objectives and are working on ways to balance pay checks and people. One variable under review is the recruitment of non-Canadians. Some continue to want to enrol non-Canadians to fill positions vacant in the middle of the manning slate, while others do not want to hire non-Canadians while they are turning Canadians away.

When I emailed him October, he told me that my application was awaiting review by a Naval desk officer in Ottawa. I have heard nothing since and it nearly time for my monthly email to the CF!

Not wanting to put all of my eggs in one basket, I have been looking for work in the Canadian Defence sector, where I am having more success. Within a month of sending my CV into one Defence Contractor I have had 2 telephone interviews, they have consulted my references and I am hoping for a job offer in the next couple of weeks. The irony is, they are looking for people with my skills because the DND/CF doesn't have them and they have gaps throughout their support organisation that they are using contractors to fill.

The CF may be an option if you are in critical shortage category, but it is a slow process and I wouldn't want to rely on them.

The latest scuttlebutt (opensource):

"R 091503Z NOV 10
FM NDHQ CMP OTTAWA
TO CANFORGEN
BT
UNCLAS CANFORGEN 225/10 CMP 099/10
SIC WAV

SUBJ: UPDATE ON FORCE EXPANSION AND RECRUITING
BILINGUAL MESSAGE / MESSAGE BILINGUE

REFS: A. CANFORGEN 072/09 CDS 012/09 221848Z APR 09
B. CF MIL PERS INSTRUCTION 03/08

1. EARLY RECRUITING SUCCESS AND AN UNFORECAST DROP IN ATTRITION HAVE RESULTED IN A REGULAR FORCE STRENGTH OF 69,000. THIS MESSAGE RECAPS MEASURES BEING IMPLEMENTED TO BRING REGULAR FORCE STRENGTH CLOSER TO VCDS TARGET OF 68,000

2. IN MID-AUGUST, IN CONSULTATION WITH OCCUPATIONAL AUTHORITIES, A
HOLD WAS PLACED ON RECRUITING FOR OCCUPATIONS AT OR ABOVE PREFERRED MANNING LEVEL AND ON OCCUPATIONS THAT HAD SUFFICIENT PERSONNEL IN THE TRAINING PIPELINE TO MEET FORECAST TRAINING REQUIREMENTS.

OFFERS OF ENROLMENT PREVIOUSLY MADE TO CF APPLICANTS TO THESE OCCUPATIONS WILL BE RESPECTED BUT THESE OCCUPATIONS ARE NOW CONSIDERED QUOTE FULL UNQUOTE AND RECRUITING TARGETS HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY.

NEW APPLICANTS FOR THESE OCCUPATIONS ARE BEING ADVISED TO RE-APPLY IN JANUARY 2011 IN ANTICIPATION OF NEW INTAKE TARGETS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011/12

3. ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE REMAINING OCCUPATIONS HAVE ALREADY ACHIEVED THEIR RECRUITING TARGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 10/11, CFRG CONTINUES TO RECRUIT FOR PHARMACISTS AND SOCIAL WORKERS. MEANWHILE, COMPONENT TRANSFERS AND RE-ENROLMENTS OF SKILLED PERSONNEL WILL CONTINUE TO BE PROCESSED FOR DISTRESSED OCCUPATIONS. FOR OTHER OCCUPATIONS, APPLICANTS FOR COMPONENT TRANSFER OR RE-ENROLMENT WILL BE GIVEN PRIORITY CONSIDERATION IN THE NEW FISCAL YEAR.

WHERE PRESSING SERVICE REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS UNIQUE SKILL, RANK AND/OR EXPERIENCE DEFICITS WARRANT, EXCEPTIONS FOR TRANSFER OR RE-ENROLMENT IN THIS FISCAL YEAR WILL BE PROCESSED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS

4. AS A FURTHER MEASURE TO REDUCE REGULAR FORCE STRENGTH, RELEASE PROCEDURES FOR PERSONNEL ON BTL AWAITING DISPOSITION ARE BEING STREAMLINED TO ENSURE THAT MEMBERS SEEKING OR BEING RELEASED FROM
THE CF ARE PROCESSED WITHOUT DELAY.

5. DETAILS ON THESE AND OTHER MEASURES WILL BE PROMULGATED IN
FOLLOW-ON MESSAGES. MEANWHILE CMP WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH
OCCUPATIONAL AUTHORITIES TO ALIGN REGULAR FORCE STRENGTH WITH VCDS ESTABLISHED TARGET

6. SIGNED BY RADM A. SMITH, CMP".

Madhouse has presented the situation as it is for many....a slow and painful experience with the CF failing to capitalize on recruiting some highly skilled and likely exceptional personnel.

That being said........as I have said before, the code can be cracked.

Good luck to all with the patience and desire to give it a go...

Thank you so much for all your help and advice. Will keep you all up to date on what ever route we take.

Emma.Giles

Look out for joepublic, if you haven't found him already. Do a search of his username.

To reinforce what airborne said. My missus works in the CDS shop. She knows what's going on. She told me a while ago that general recruitment had pretty much stopped.

Been there and done that .