Hi there,

I live in Leeds with my partner and 2 children, 8 and nearly 3 and we are looking to make a move to Calgary.

I currently work for a multi-national in IT and Security, in the Government sector.

Unfortunately (and rather embarrassingly too) I have some non-custodial convictions dated in 1991, which incidentally has not impaired my UK SC clearance level to work with protected government content.

So, is my immediate priority is to successfully apply for an 'application for criminal rehabilitation' before I can apply for any work/residency visas?

Can this application be done in parallel to any other applications or is it best to get the rehab approved upfront?

Thanks in advance
Jay

Hello, Jay, and welcome to the BE forum.

I have responded to you in this thread.
x

Hi Jay,

We see you are getting advice on your other thread so all we will do here is to give you a very warm welcome to BE!

Out of interest, why does Calgary appeal to you. We're in one of the satellite towns around Calgary (Okotoks) and it suits us very well...have a look at the blog (link in the sig line below) for how we live out here.

Hope you can make your plans come to fruition.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

Thanks for the warm welcome and replies.

We are attracted by the climate and size of Calgary (and increased chance of employment), but are not dead set on it...I'll take a look at Okotoks, thanks.

One of the things we like about Calgary is that it is a big city and has a everything you need, but given there are only a million people here, it never feels that difficult to get around. Also, having the Rockies in such close proximity to Calgary is excellent.

Whereabouts in Leeds are you. I (Eamonn) lived in Morley and worked in Headingly for BT for a time.

Eamonn & Janet.

Yes, if I can get into Canada, we will be so happy.....just seems such a daunting task ahead of us.


We live in Alwoodley/Shadwell....and I work for a rival Telecomms company....small world aint it

It does seem daunting at the outset but do some base reading on here and the pieces of the puzzle will begin to make sense. Certainly, the developing consensus appears to be to get here with a job...accepting you also have the rehab thing to figure out.

Alwoodley is very nice, as I recall.

A competitor to BT eh...I should withdraw all offers of assistance immediately. Seriously, when you say IT & Security sector, what's the nature of your role...Sales, Account Management, an IT specialism???

Eamonn

Yes, I've got to say we are in the better part of Leeds.

I work in R&D in the application and security sector, basically I develop standard products into government and commercial offerings for the business to sell. it really can range from anything from Cisco Telepresence and IPCCTV to VMWare, MySQL and Web Portals....I've got a long and broad range of technical skills and experience.

I'm also the team lead for the dept.

Prior to that I did 5 years of technical project management for hosting at the same company and I'm Prince 2 certified.

Do any of these tie in with your skillsets?...
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/special-tech.asp

Eamonn

Hi,
Apologies for the delay in responding.....I've been filling out my rehab forms

Yes, the role listed as

Software Products Developer (NOC 9990.6)

is a very good fit to my current role.

Good...that's a barrier removed for any potential employer who might be interested in taking you on board.

You've probably already found this thread that has been running for months. Probably worth a delve through to see the experiences of others.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=514167

I'm also in touch with an IT guy who is coming over here (Calgary) in a few weeks to see if he can drum up some employer interest for himself. Will let you know how that turns out. Maybe it might give you a lead or two.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

thanks for the link, it was really interesting and should help in my job hunt.


I think I've got my head round the mountain of information now.

The plan so far is;
1.Get the rehab forms out of the way - this is the key to enable entry. Without it I can't consider applying for jobs.
2.Start a wholesale job hunt.
3.Secure a job offer and apply for a temporary work permit.
4.Either sell our UK house or if the prices are too low rent it out.
5.Apply for permanent residency.

I'm sure there is plenty I've not considered, but it's a start

Sounds like a plan!

Good luck. Keep us in touch with how you get on.

Eamonn