Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Hello all.

I am new in the forums as a member, however I have read various articles from here over the years, for various reasons, whether they be reassurance or what not.

Recently I have found myself completely disheartened & lacking all direction in my life with what seems a shattering end to aspirations I once had.

I graduated last summer with a 2:2 in Accounting, this wasn't through a lack of intellect, more so a lack of motivation due to two circumstances:

- I got accepted into CCSU for a year of study abroad, but when it came to the financing, because I have no contact with my mum, & my dad lives in spain, it took far too long with the whole processing of documents & I essentially missed my window at something I dreamed of.

- A relative (Grandfather) died going into my second year, the same time as I missed the opportunity for study abroad. Honestly my attendance that year was awful, 5% in some classes & I barely scraped through.

I live in a small town in the North west of the UK, about 30 minutes train journey from Manchester & after graduation, I just seemed to have little luck at getting job prospects, partly because I was applying to things beyond my CV, & some other reasons too.

I made a few big mistakes when I was late teens, (going to the wrong university on a course that was brand new, far away from home and living alone, and basically pissed it up the wall & quit at the end of the year, forcing me to come home & work as a lifeguard for 2 years & immediately sign up for University at Uclan in 2010.

Now my situation is this... I'm 24 years old, (25 in September), I have always dreamed of living in the US/Canada but obviously I the ideal dream is California/Vancouver however impossible. I have no attachments of any kind but at this point barely any money either. I am currently on a work placement for 8 weeks as an accounts assistant, but its really just been data entry and nothing else so far. There is a possible job at the end, which I am unsure if I will accept, because I have to travel 1 hour 20 minutes on 3 trains each way, waking up at 5 30 am everyday and having little downtime at night for basically no money right now ( Voluntary work placement supported by the job centre).

I have considered looking at ACCA or ACA (Scared of the limitations a 2:2 presents) But I am also afraid of committing 3 years of my life to something I have no idea if its the right choice, if im capable etc.

I have always been an intelligent guy, but especially in university type education, let things distract me, maybe sometimes got lazy and other things. So I am not 100% sure of my capability as far as ACCA or ACA goes, I think with effort I could definitely do it, but I am unsure whether my heart will still be in it 2 years down the line when I am still in the same small town with nothing going on.

My only real aspiration was living & working in North America, I never really thought about the ways I would make it happen apart from becoming a chartered accountant, but when I see that even when qualified its virtually impossible, I just do not know what to do, which way to turn & how to keep a positive mental state.

This 8 week placement right now is horrible & everyday travelling there I feel numb, but as times are tough, I figured I need to at least have some kind of experience to go on my CV.


Apologies for the long introduction, I am just struggling to put a positive spin on things, or motivate myself.

Edit: I should also add, that as I am being brutally honest, I have always had a huge interest in video games, & looking back maybe I should have pursued something in that field, but Video games are something I have played a lot since a young age & certainly to the detriment of my grades sometimes. I still have 320 Ucas points & a B in Maths, Science & C in English I think, with other GCSEs too.

There are plenty of local accounting firms in my area I believe ( Chorley), but Im so unsure with things in life at the moment, & afraid that I will waste years and watch them go by making no headway, never being able to even visit places I aspired to see. Travel is important to me & I want to be able to visit the 7 wonders, and many other places. But as I said, at 24... I feel like im always running out of time & that I have so much catching up to do.

Just a quick note on the current placement I am in, It is literally just doing things like posting invoices, doing bank & CC recs everyday, and other general things with Sage & I am listed as accounts assistant. My issue with it, is that it doesn't feel like it will be any benefit to me whatsoever, maybe I am just worrying about nothing on that though.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Hi, and welcome to BE.

That was an awfully long post, but my answer is short and sweet.

IEC!

You're lucky enough to be young enough for the quickest/easiest route to a visa, which will give you two years of open work permits, so more than enough time to try it out.

California however, will be nowhere near as easy so I'd focus on Canada if I were you!

HTH, good luck.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

:goodpost:

Good post christmasoompa. I will add to it by asking OP - do you have an Irish passport? As the Irish passports open more avenues to IEC up (the age limit is 35 vs 30 on the UK one I believe)

If you don't have an Irish passport, look into your roots. If you have a grandparent born on the island of Ireland (this includes Northern Ireland) you can register as an Irish citizen.

Example

As a dual Irish/UK citizen you can apply for a 2-year IEC under your Irish passport, and then apply for a 1-year one on your UK passport, which I think you would then be able to apply for TWP/PR after. That route is the quickest to PR/citizenship...

With only a UK passport you can apply once for a 1-year IEC, then again for another 1-year, only giving you 2 years, but with the dual passports you can apply for up to 3 years on IEC. The reason for this is, as an individual you can only apply to IEC twice in your lifetime. Not twice on each passport, twice per person.

HTH
:)

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

You sound a bit like me at that age! I was in an accounts job and started AAT with view to going on to ACCA but I dropped out due intense boredom. I could do the job easily but the course was rambly and boring! I believe accountants coming here its a bit difficult with the qualification transfer.

I would go with ChristmasOompa's suggestion of IEC. Good experience, possibility to apply for CEC after a year depending on your nominated occupation. The wiki has all the info and links for that. I believe there are no more IEC's left now til the next years intake. They go quickly.

Good luck and hang in there. :thumbup:

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Thanks guys for the replies.

Interesting responses, I didn't know anything about this IEC program. Is there some sort of huge drawback to it? Seems too good to be true really.

Am I correct in assuming that using the steps with the Irish passport ( I think only descendants are Irish on one side of my family, definitely not direct grandparents) I can find work in a my desired city in canada (Say Vancouver or Toronto) & work/live there for 3 years giving me time to somehow transfer that into a permanent visa?

Just a few quick queries if you don't mind then...

How does one go about sourcing work in Canada from over here, with only a degree in accounting & little work experience (Granted that could change over the next 6 months). Do I not have to be qualified with a professional body first? or is that something I would pursue over there?

Also, I note it says you need to provide funds for 3 months before you actually go, So if you do not have a work opportunity upon leaving, is it possible you could end up running out of money before getting work while over there? Clearly not something I would want, but I guess I like to know the risk.

I see it says you can do a job in any field, but are you able to qualify within their fields over there? Or is it a case of more preparation in the UK to make it easier over there.

Thanks in advance for all answer & help, I suppose this will be something I will sit up at midnight 11/12/2014 ready to apply for. Maybe a goal for me is to rack up enough cash to make it feasible in the mean time.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

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Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

If you can find a skilled job (NOC classification of A/O/B) then you could apply for Permanent Residence through several different streams once you have a job offer; there are also streams for semi-skilled workers in some Provinces after working for 6/9 months - and some Provinces where there is no necessity to have a job offer at all. There is no need to leave Canada whilst in process or to apply (providing you qualify).

However, Canada is bringing in a new process from January 2015 - see this thread http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=830833 - which may make it more difficult to emigrate.

Have a read of the wiki to see the different ways of emigrating and then start saving, lol. http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Catego...an_Immigration

Welcome to BE by the way!

:)

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

IMO There is nothing more special about the Irish IEC programme - they still only get 2 years without another passport of another country - only differences is that those in Northern Ireland sometimes have both UK and Irish passports and it's less hassle for them as they don't have to apply for another year...

...saying that you never know if things might change for the UK quota this year :fingerscrossed::fingerscrossed:

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Ah there is though if you have dual passports - you can apply for 2 years on your Republic of Ireland passport and an additional year on your UK passport. Giving you a total of three years on IEC. :thumbup:
This is due to the Canadian law being that you can apply [as a person] twice for IEC. If you have dual passports, you could do one application on your Republic passport [2 years] and your second one on your UK passport [1 year] giving you 3 years. If you only had a UK passport you could apply twice, first time for one year, second time for another year, only giving you a total of 2 years versus three for someone with dual passports. Oddly enough for some reason I can't remember; there is a reason Irish people can't apply twice on their Republic passport giving them a total of 4 years IEC.
:)

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

I have a 2:2 in Accounting and Finance although I turned my back on the profession.

Most of my peers from Uni too. All of who enjoy senior accounting roles now 13 years after graduation.

My advice focus on what you want to do not what you have done.

Attitude is everything.

Finding a job in Canada is not to dissimilar than in the UK. I think getting those first early jobs in your career can be a little harder. When you do get one focus on the experience rather than the money and get a good 18 months under your belt. You'll find the job search easier beyond that.

Once you have 3/4 years work experience and a couple of good work references degree classifications and A-levels become irrelevant. I don't even put A-levels on my resume.

Time is on your side. You can do IEC at any point up to 30.

Good luck.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Well it wouldn't exactly be fair would it. Why should Ireland get 4 years and other countries only get 1 or 2 years.

Anyway 2 years is enough time to get the experience to go through PR through one of the streams - you don't need 3 years.

Some of use are not lucky enough to be have dual nationalities unfortunately. If I was Australian I could have as many IEC visas as I wanted up until I was 30...actually my auntie is an Australian citizen, shame I'm not entitled to it as it's always has to be direct relatives.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Thanks for the replies from everyone so far.

The IEC seems like something which I might plan for, and in my heart would love to do. The ability to be able to live in Canada for 2- 3 years with a chance of gaining permanent residency is alluring.

My only real worry is this:

- Assuming I saved money for it, & was able to secure a place on the program, would i even be able to train as an accountant over there? Or work towards gaining permanent residency for some form of accounting? I'd be very afraid of effectively abandoning the idea of doing professional accountancy qualifications in the UK for 3 years in pursuit of doing the same thing in Canada if its not even a possibility.


Today I actually went to the placement I was on & they had a chat with me basically asking how I thought it was going, and we got to the point where the kind of opportunities they could offer were not on the same path as the opportunities I believe I want. They could only offer essentially a bookkeeping role for day to day maintenance for the foreseeable future & I felt like it was going to help me get experience in the accounting world & an idea for what I could be doing & whether I really want to do it.

They suggested I walk into local chartered accountants and see if I could get even voluntary work to just get a feel for a different side to accounting, instead of internal accounts.

So basically I figure I will try that, hopefully I get some kind of place & enjoy it for now. Maybe while trying to save money for a possible IEC at the end of the year.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

Well I wouldn't say its exactly fair that Australians can have unlimited IEC visas, potentially up to 12 ! (ages 18 to 30) :eek:

Do you know if that's reciprocal for Canadians for an Aus IEC type visa? I'd love to live in Australia...

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

I don't know a ton about the CA Process in Canada, but I know you have to have a certain number of prerequisites to enrol in it. In the UK you can register for the ACA after any degree; in Canada you have to have a certain number of courses done in Accounting before you can register, so it would be worth looking into that.

Re: Looking for a bit of guidance.
 

I'd walk into Accountants looking for permanent roles with a CV and in a suit. That is what I did in the beginning.

Also try the public sector.

What you also want to to do is look at the Accounting bodies in the UK and in Canada and see what exemptions they allow from each other.

A friend of mine moved to Canada from the UK with the CIMA qualification and finding work seemed no issue at all.