frankieforehead

Where I work there are quite a few immigrants, from Russia,the phillipines, India, UK, and other European Countries.

I have been amazed by how many of them have tales of woe, all of them have said that they struggled when they first came to Canada.

The main reasons seem to be that their former qualifications are not recognised...This in turn has led to many taking 1st year apprentice work at around $12 an hour, until they can challenge an exam, or in some cases, they have had to undertake apprentice training again, because they are unable to verify their hours from previous employers.

Most of these guys are mid thirties to early forties, and all have said that if they knew what they were letting themselves in for, that they would've stayed in their former countries.

Of course they have all decided to stay in Canada, as they have managed to overcome this hurdle...but it really sucks, especially when you read of people being turned down (immigration) because their qualifications are not up to the specified level.

I personally think that if you are planning to come to Canada, Go down the work permit route, Get a decent Job, and then apply for PR.....I myself did a couple of Cr*p jobs first off, but patience and hard work have paid off and I've got the break I was looking for...I would say that the Grass is definately greener on this side, but its brown at the moment.

Anyway before you Jump over here Look...Yes there are plenty of Jobs here...try applying for some and see how many responses you get....If you get a reply Contact them and be honest with them....Then you might see for yourselves, how poorly paid you may be for your skills.

Anyway Good Luck....I love it here.

scimdarren

I tend to agree, a Journeyman (Canadian term for fully skilled tradesman) can earn good money, but from an immigrants perspective, there is little vocational help to allow you to hit the ground running.

Another thing I have encountered is that there is no way of entering your trade as say a 3rd or 4th level apprentice, this I feel would be the ideal scenario for a skilled immigrant to work, gain the experience and take the exam when ready.
I have seen my apprentice branch and I am eligible to challenge my exam, but it is a shame that at the same time they could not classify me within the apprentice levels.
.....and then of course the Canadian Experience 'chicken and egg' once you pass your exam!

Darren

PS I am speaking from an Electricians perspective, where the trade differs greatly between North America and Europe.

Voyager970

Frankie thats the way I plan to enter canada, via work permit option.

Sod the 30 month wait, far to long !!!!

I am looking at coming over in the next few months to sit my welding exams to get re-certified to Candadian welding standards, get me ticket as they say, non pressure and pressure welding ticket.

If all goes well and I pass welding tests, the job market is an open door with regards the money I can earn, having researched for months there is a very high market for certified welders, salary ranging from $25 and upwards which I believe is good money in Canadian terms.

Eddie

DanielH

I spent a month of august in Winnipeg and found that by door knocking with my CV in hand many companies would not even let me past the front door mat...but the few that did ...wow I met with " you been an machinist for How LONG?" I have a full cv from the age of 16 until sept 04 and most took my CV details of work done as a good indication of my ability. I got Two very good offers which I was going to use to go down the PNP route but my financial situation took a dive and so now I need to try Work permit route. I was offered a good start rate with honest promises of rapid rises once they see my ability for real. So I'm not sure if I was just lucky or this is a positive trend. GOOD LUCK to all who are looking to start out in Canada... and remember......
Happiness is the place between too little and too much

Oxford

Hi Daniel H
Was interested to read that you were going to down PNP route, but then alarmed at your 'financial situation took a dive' part?! What do you mean, does it cost more to get in on this route, so far we've not read this, but...if you can clarify I'd be grateful - do you need a certain amount of capital for this route then?
Thanks.

annie3-4

hi eddie,
Do you need to be re- certified? my hubby is a welder ( coded ASME1X) We have been on several recce trips to toronto area and he was told (by people at employment agency) that once we have pr, hopefully sometime this summer to contact them for work, they said he wouldnt need any retraining, has he been spun a line? where are you headed.
Cheers Annie

philcUK

Yes they will find you work, but not the work you want. Do not take what agencies say at face value, the agency will quite gladly take you on their books but someone else has to employ you through the agency.

I would follow Eddie's example and verify your qualifications with the governing body in Canada and not the guess work of an agency. Even if they do sound like they know what they are talking about.

annie3-4

How do you go about veryfying qualifications,and who would the governing body be. sorry to be thick, but I don't know a great deal about the welding profession and hubby is not here at the moment. anyadvice much appreciated.
is it different rules for different provinces?

philcUK

Read through this website:-

http://www.passtocanada.com/en/work/trades/welder.aspx

You can contact the addresses shown and they will have all the details you require.

EDIT: This is only a website giving some background information, contact and verification should be done with the training authorities for your selected province.

Grah

The bit about qualifications and experience is true, then there's the other reason, what is it about 40% of immigrants return home or move from 1st place of landing. so it's a bit risky taking on some one when they have no ties to an area and aren't even over the homesickness period.

Look at this site how many people have left and gone back from here, full of I got a job but didn't like the school water area ... . . . there's even the complete career changers example Helen Police to Real Estate ( Thanks Helen ). There is a lot of risk from the employers point of view as well.

But keep coming because you maybe the lucky ones who get something fantastic out of it. like finding out about yourself and what you really want and need, be it here there or somewhere completely different.

Enjoy the Destiny ride.

Voyager970

Annie

Not to sure if your hubbies ticket is still valid for ASME work in Canada
Is he currently welding pressure vessels, pipe lines etc !!!
I have looked into this since about the end of 2003 and all things are pointing to having to get re-certified to CWB ( Canadian Welding Bureau ) standards and also to TSSA standards. I think they cover the pressure side and the CWB covers, buildings and bridges, non pressure work.

See these sites for all info

http://www.tssa.org/regulated/boilers/default.asp for TSSA info

and also

http://www.cwbgroup.com/tal/26431462558232344066.asp for CWB info

These are the two regulating bodies in Canada, that oversee all certified welders in canada.
From what I can gather the CWB testing that is required is a 3G and 4G plate test, but I cannot find any info on any welding sites in Canada on these tests.
It all seems to be very secret squirrel stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From what I have researched and looked into you need to be licensed through these bodies before you can weld anything
Now I am not sure if your hubbies ticket can be transfered over, but going by previous threads, they dont recognise UK skills and certificates, although it is an ASME ticket !!!!!
My ASME ticket expired many moons ago this is why I have to get myself recertified. I was a high pressure boiler welder, and later progressed onto pipe welding, working in the heating trade. I have been away from welding for many years now so I have to retrain.
Dont get me wrong you can get a job welding, but going by your hubbies ASME ticket I would say that the pressure side of welding is where he wants to be as the money is really good, $25 to $30 is about the going rate

I would e mail anyone in these sites and ask them.
I have also sent my CV to employment agencies and they have guaranteed me work, only catch is that it is once I arrive which is a few years away

Annie please e mail them, ask them if your hubbies ticket is valid in Canada

Any more questions feel free to PM me or carry the thread on

Eddie

PS we are hopefully heading for a place south of Toronto called London, about 2 hours drive south of Toronto

annie3-4

thankyou so much. All info is very useful to us. will let you know how he gets on..
Thanks again.
Annie x

Lenmil

It's that Canadian experience thing again. I was offfered a job in Victoria (after flying over with the family) and asked what i wanted, when i said $30 a hour they said sure that's fine, no problem. Great i thought then heard nothing. Check's out their web site and there they have taken on a guy from Mexico. I then finds out from a guy working there that they used me to scare a former employee (from Kamloops) to come back to his job otherwise this Brit will take your job etc. It worked. I then finds out that this poor Mexican bloke gets payed LOW wages and sleeps on the floor in the basement of the shop. Then the guy who told me this got sacked as he was too expensive compared to the Mexican guy. Now it's illegal to give a job to a foreigner at the expense ofa Canadian i think. And the boss who has a big name there thinks he is the best (don't they always) and i was shocked to find out that most of the stuff they made was sent out to others. My skills were higher than his (i was told on the quiet by another employee) so that also went against me it seems. So in my experience of Canadian employers is that they all think they are better than us Brits, but what i have seen from my own experiences (in my trade that is) was the opposite (and i don't mean any offense either) I just think that there is a menatallity there to kick you down to make them feel superior to you. I even stayed with a family for a couple of weeks and had to endure constant "we are the best country in the world" and anti American slagging as well as Europe. I hope that this is not a Canadian standard but i have to say i had this several times. Just remeber your in their world, their rules and whims, and that people are people tha same all over. Just because they are friendly to your face does not mean that they are. Same in NZ, been there done that.

dbd33

Give your head a shake. If you, an immigrant, are not cheaper then the other guy, another immigrant, why would the employer take you on ? If you're not very much cheaper than someone of the same background as the employer, why would he take you on ?

Early in my time here other immigrants on my team came to me and said "slow down you're threatening our jobs". "**** you" I responded "I'm getting $18/hour". My proudest moment in Canada was when the boss laid the pair of them off and allowed me to work Saturdays. A steady 60 hours a week at $18 was good money in 1981.

Now I "employ" people, immigrants, I sit around and post and they do the work. Rates are higher but the idea's the same, the job has to be done as cheaply as possible and, if someone who can speak English proper will work more cheaply than a current employee I'll give him or her a go. The new person has to much cheaper though, as there's some advantage to keeping the existing employee rather than having constant churn.

Gezza

You are absolutely right with your observations of Canadian Employers. I myself witnessed the attitude: Do not take Brits because they know the job too well and will show us up. An very experienced English Teacher from U.K. in Vancouver was told she applied for that she: has not got the right qulifications, has to start from the bottom,. Ended up working as PE teacher.
While their English teachers did not even speak English as 1st language!
Generally they avoid Brits because they give priority to 3rd world candidates maybe building Left wing majority - someone said. The best way to get on is to say "great" to every crass jobtask they give you and avoid saying that anything could be done better another way. I made this mistake and although did well in the job untill I left ended up working with other foreigners or in complete isolation becuase Canadians would not want to work with me on joint projects. Just say you guys are clever and solution you use make a lot of sense..! including the roof guttering (which I thought was rubbish!)
Another interesting fad is that they like to make a fairly simple work complicated in order to inflate the importance of their role. The idea that for the willing things are - and should be - made easy is not that popular.
Also it helps if you say that you hate England and English culture.
I had difficulty with that one. That's why I am back. Also avoid reminiscing about life in England with other Brits in public or bring English papers to the office. All such elemnts will drive every Canadian away. If you think about it is not unreasonable. Every country has its pride. I am sure being say Greek and working in U.K. is the same, or worse.! .. Oh their beer was awful.Like that "Okanagan" lager! Dear me! ....not quite!