Hello I have a plan to move to Canada within 5 years and I would appreciate the advice of anybody living in Canada. I want to do some training around my current job but having limited knowledge of Canada I'm not sure what I should do? Any areas where they have a shortfall?

I always wanted to be a police officer but getting in the force in this country is extremely difficult. One day I would like to think that would be possible in Canada but doing anything that pays the bills is fine with me.

If it helps, this is the current list of occupations in demand...............http://britishexpats.com/wiki/THE_LIST-Canada

Needless to say though, it may look very different in five years time! What do you do now?

Welcome to the forum btw.

Hi mate thank you. I am a Hospital Porter at the moment, I've done Groundworks and Construction and Insurance Claims Handling in the past. Do you know if qualifications gained in England are relevant in Canada?

They won't be. You would need Canadian qualifications and several years trade experience to have a chance.

So is there a way to gain qualifications with Canadian colleges and university's on a part time basis while I am working and saving over here? My partner is a midwife so it's not going to be much of a problem for her but I need to improve myself or I will be working for minimum wage.

If you were a Permanent Resident of Canada, then you can study no problem (as well as have the right to work in pretty much any job). The problem will be getting PR, but another option would be a study permit, although you could only work up to 20 hours a week on that.

Also, I wouldn't assume that your partner will have no problem as midwives are rare in Canada, and there isn't as much demand as say nurses (hence why they're not on the occupation in demand list unlike other healthcare professionals). From my understanding, they are needed in Canada as there are so few, but not understood as much over there. Most births are just attended by a doctor, unlike here. Might be worth doing a quick search of the forum to read threads on midwifery.

HTH.

Ok thank you for the advice. It seems a bit expensive to have doctors attending every birth, I'm surprised they haven't cottoned on to the cheaper option of midwifes. She can retrain as a nurse if she has to because midwifery is closely related and it doesn't take long to transition from one to the other. Is the job Market as tough as it is in England at the moment? Hundreds going for each job?

From what you say, I would think trying to come in with your wife as the main applicant would be best, then retrain or take what you can get after you arrive. She has the best chance of getting in. No idea if training as a nurse as well as mid wife is worth doing, from the little I know, it would seem to be a good thing to do.

I would not try getting a new career to get you into Canada. If you want a new career, because you like it, give it a go. Retraining then hoping to get in in 5 years is pretty tight and possibly unrealistic in today's work market, you would not have a lot of experience to offer after training. As has been said, the immigration requirements may well change a lot over 5 years, so no way really of knowing if you are even going for the right career to get into Canada. That would be a bit like chasing rainbows really.

Alberta health covers the cost of midwifery care now, and there is a chronic shortage of them - so much so, that it is almost impossible for those who want midwifery care to get it... The demand for midwives seems to be there, but there are just not enough of them to go round, which is the reason why a lot of births are attended by a doctor - because the women can't get a midwife to take them on so they have no choice BUT to go with a Dr even if they didn't want to.

One of my friends is in this position - she is 32 weeks pregnant, on the waiting list for a midwife if a position opens up, but realistically doesn't stand a chance of having one attend her birth. She was told she should have booked the midwife BEFORE she was even pregnant!

Really health care has lot of opportunities. One of the best career is in the field of sonography. The sonography career is in high demand as it has proved to be much safer and cost effective that radiology procedures. Hence more people are preferring sonography as compared to radiology. But still the availability of sonography technicians is limited as most of the people are not aware of the career path in this field. So it's definitely going to be a less competitive career. For entering into this field only a 2 years associate degree is needed, and then you can become a sonography technician. Another best part is that sonography techs are earning a healthy income. Following site would help you in getting the details.http://www.sonographytechnician.org/...y-technicians/ The employment is also expected to grow faster than any other field in health care.

Thank you for that mate I will definitely keep that in mind. I'm going to wait until I arrive before training, I think I will be better off staying as a porter for 5 years while taking part in voluntary work in my spare time. I can't wait to get out of this sinking chav pit.