We landed in January and my partner as a physiotherapist was the main one to win our PR based on being one of the 38 shortage professions. However, like many others in regulate professions she now finds herself unable to work for 6-9 months as a minimum but possibly even more.

See article below which explains more but basically you need to go through a long credentialling and additional training even if you have been qualified and worked at the highest level in your own country. We are meeting doctors and lawyers in even worse situation who are facing 5yrs+ retraining despite having gained access on their profession.

Canada is a lovely place but we also need to set expectations when people come to work in a shortage profession that you may need to self fund for some considerable time before being able to return to work

See link below

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/...-get-work?bn=1

Did you not look into this before you decided to move?

I am a lawyer. I requalified, the process took me 2 1/2 years. The whole process was a farce but I knew I had to do so before coming over.

I am a Midwife and it has taken me about 4 years to complete the process before applying for PR, there are others on here that have done the same.
Sarah

For those that knew, good for you but this post is for those that don't

Blimey this place is aggressive these days:

Some other links below:

http://www.thestar.com/specialsectio...-new-workplace

http://www.thestar.com/specialsectio...y-to-requalify

[QUOTE=Nibbles2005;8458835]For those that knew, good for you but this post is for those that don't

Blimey this place is aggressive these days:

Yep ur rite about that....

Perhaps you should write a page for physiotherapy for the wiki pages for occupations: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Catego...pations-Canada

Then it will be easy for future BE members to find.

Sarah

your husband would not legally be allowed to call himself an engineer without a degree. In the uK the local plumber can call himself an engineer-its not protected

Sorry if you have been offended, I don't think that people are being aggressive, for many this is part of the research when moving to Canada....

For those that don't know, sorry to point out the obvious but you should know, there are plenty of threads on here talking about people who have struggled because they did not have a Canadian/recognized qualification.

I am in the middle of researching working with Autistic adults over here, college courses, positions available. We are looking now as hopefully PR is around the corner which means I will be able to go to college and not pay international student fees. When I have done that I will add it to the Wiki.(Judy come back!)

For people with NVQ's they do not seem to be recognized here, most of my qualifications were either these or work based assessments. There is something called PLAR, this is an assessment that will see if work or studies completed can be put forward for credits on a course.

Charlie

Err, I think I had already mentioned that.....

There is a disconnect between the list of occupations that the country states it needs - and the recognition of those exact qualifications that allowed you into the country in the first place.

"Oh, great - you are a qualified physiotherapist/solicitor/plumber/whatever - here, have xxx points towards your PR application - lovely.
Oh hang on, sorry, you can have the points 'cos we recognise you are well trained and qualified - but actually, now you are here, no-one else will recognise your training and qualifications"

I don't know the answer. Perhaps it should be mandatory - or even just advisable that you make moves to get your qualifications recognised by the actual employers before you come here. That's not always practical and you still need on the ground experience.

We all found britishexpats.com. Most of us read the warnings. But not everyone does - and perhaps there should be a more official way of telling people the reality of the situation.

It is what it is. Not to say that's it right though

I think that the Australian system is the better one: As I understand it, one needs to have one's credentials assessed by the regulatory body and confirmed that they are OK before one is allowed to claim the points for them. On such a system, I wouldn't have been able to come to Canada unless I had my arse in gear before arriving (it is possible for lawyers to write the transfer exams in England).

However, being the cold hearted bassa I am, I do have little sympathy for those that arrive expecting their credentials to be accepted. It doesn't take much effort to contact the regulatory bodies to ascertain what the position is and lots of people post to find out about things such as "will my DVDs work in Canada" (I am not saying that the OP was one of these).

When I looked at making such a decision, it was the first thing I thought about.

Food for thought

Better, though not perfect. I applied to emigrate to Australia and went through the credential assessment process and PR application submission based on reciprocal acceptance. Two years into the application process the Australian regulatory body changed their criteria and all previously agreed assessments became void. Saved an expensive move I suppose.

Bummer

A link which helps test if the role title of interest may be regulated or not:

http://www.jobs4immigrant.com/link_r.../www.cicic.ca/

Perhaps I should be more clear.

My partner has three bachelors degrees and a Masters Degree gained in the UK, has practices for twelve years and was a clinical director before we moved.

We knew she would have to go through credentialling before we came here and that may take 4-6 months but that process in reality is much more process laden than you think and even after that 6 months you may have to go back to university and then go through the process again before working. Even then there is a massive emphasis on canadian experience so she is looking at doing volunteer work while going through the process. However if you read the may published statistic the chances of immigrant selection over canadian nationals means there is only a 1 in 10 chance she will be selected at interview stage even if the best candidate.

Bridging and intern programmes are not valid because it is a regulated profession and if you read the statistics on this for any immigrant professionals it takes an average of 2yrs to find a job, only 31% end up working again in their profession once in Canada and 68% earn less than 50% of what they earned before they came to Canada. As the other poster said the problem is the mismatch that we got PR based on my partner being in a shortage profession and now the reality is it will probably be at least two years until she gets a job and over 10yrs based on statistical averages that she will get back to the same level as when she left the UK. It isn't like she has an NVQ from Bongo Bongo she is a clinical director with three degrees from the top UK universities.

What I am saying is not we came blindly but that people have to take even research with a pinch of salt come prepared and know the reality on the ground as to what it is like to find work even if highly qualified. We also need to challenge the status quo because otherwise both Canadian citizens awaiting treatment and skills uk immigrants all suffer