JackBarraclough

Hi people,
I'm fresh onto this forum so hang in there with me! Me and my partner are thinking seriously about moving to Canada & applying for a permanent residency. (My uncle has lived there for 3 years and finally settled in Australia so I have nice images of what I could expect in Canada!) once my partner has finished university she will have an honours degree in midwifery, is there anything she would need to do with this prior to moving/applying for jobs in Canada?

Also I have a HGV class 2 license (UK) which I'm currently driving tipper trucks for plant hires (class 2 allows me to drive anything rigid bodied), would I need to do another test in Canada or is there a possibility of doing a straight swap so to speak? I'm aware a HGV 2 license only makes me semi skilled so i will be on my partners application in order to meet the required points for residency.

If someone could shed light on the class 2 license as I cannot find answers anywhere, Thanks in advance!

quiltman

Welcome!
Search the Wiki for info on Nursing in Canada and be prepared for some heartache! Generally, midwifery is not recognized as a standalone profession in Canada, but the Wiki explains what your partner would need to do.
Regarding your HGV class2 - think you will struggle also - very few driving jobs for non residents. Again, search the Wiki for HGV drivers Canada, there's pages on it and multiple threads. Others will doubtless be along with more relevant advice but remember both the time differences and the fact that many folks on here work for a living so it may be a little time before you get answers. Spend this time searching the Wiki then come back here with your questions it will doubtless raise!
Good luck with your dreams.

Aviator

Commercial licenses don't transfer, another test+air brake would be required. Also you don't mention what experience you have.

Upgrade to class 1 and get a few years under your belt. Trucking jobs here are on the downturn right now, along with everything else and the falling dollar. Experience is essential.

Not sure how your uncle living in Australia is connected to this.

Consider IEC if under 30, come for a working holiday and see how it goes.

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

For midwifery, have a look at the Wiki Midwifery-Canada : British Expat Wiki which has links to each Provincial Association as well as the main Canada one. There's been a couple of threads recently about it, so have a quick search British Expats - Search Forums and select 'posts' and 'Canada'

If you are under 30, as previously mentioned, the International Experience Canada (IEC) working holiday visa would be a good starting place, it would give you a 2 year open work permit.

Please feel free to come back and ask anything you need answers to...



For trucking, you may want to post in the trucking section as well: Trucking - British Expats

Tirytory

Midwifery is recognised as a stand alone profession and in fact it differs from the UK model of midwifery for this very reason. I had the midwives deliver my baby in hospital. Midwives usually have privileges to be able to deliver in hospital. In Ontario, care is usually provided by a doctor and the obstetrics ward staffed by RN's. To be cared for by the midwives I had to opt out of doctor led care which I was happy to do since this was my third baby and my husband is a doctor anyway.

In my local community, there certainly seems to be a clash or a fight for professional status between midwives and doctors largely led by differences in care. For instance, and this is aimed at your partner ... My waters break and I never go into labour, this has happened to me three times. The midwives were suggesting to me that according to their evidence I could be left 7 days before they considered medical induction which is frankly ridiculous. The doctors response would be induction as soon as labour didn't start. I opted to give it between 24-48 hrs time and sure enough I needed I.V. induction. The point is the difference in care. The doctors feel that the above is high risk and they have a point. To note I know that in BC Stinkypup speaks highly of midwifery care so I think it differs province to province.

I'm not sure how easy it is to transfer qualifications over to midwifery. Certainly the academic side covers fours years so I suspect there will be some catch up to make and your partner probably couldn't expect to work without undertaking some more education, but check out the links Siouxie provided. We don't have any midwives working in Canada on this forum so probably limited help.

Engineer_abroad

Welcome, Not wanting to put a downer on this but assuming your partner has just qualified i.e. no years of experience and with only a bachelors degree you are going to struggle to gain enough points (450-480) on the CRS system (Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) - tool) to qualify for PR without a job offer in Canada supported by an LMIA.

As suggested by others, if your under 30, get a IEC spend 2 years here to build relationships and find an employer willing to sponsor the LMIA and then apply for PR.

Juggernaut1064

Class 2 as stated will not transfer, No UK HGV transfers to Canada. Most here have a class 1 BUT if your piggy backing on your partners application you should be given an "Open" work permit so needing an LMIA wont or didnt use to come into play. Just so you know most class 1 drivers are away for around two weeks at a time, some longer. I would suggest you get your class 1 here so your covered for everything including all buses etc. Also a lot of trucks here have standard shifters or better known in the UK as crash boxes, Might want to ask around about them there lol There is a big move to auto shifters but its not guaranteed you would get one.
There where some significant changes to the immigration rules recently but im sure there is someone on here who could confirm whether or not you would be given an Open work permit, if you do get one that makes getting a job a whole lot easier.

Gozit

Re the Open work permit - if his partner applies via EE and gets PR and he is on her application than will he not just become a PR as well?

Siouxie

Yes, but they are discussing getting temporary work permits at the moment

Gozit

Oh? The OP said they were looking into PR.

Siouxie

If you read further into the thread, it was suggested that they may be better applying for IEC's in the interim - which is an open temporary work permit.

JackBarraclough

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies so far! We are in fact looking at getting PR but as I have been reading it seems it may be easier to come And do a few years on a working visa first. I spoke to someone on the phone who deals with the applications for residency etc and midwifery certainly is seen as a skilled profession in Canada and in their words most countries around the world.

They also advised me to "piggy back" on her application which would also entitle me to PR as standard if she was offered. I'm a little insure on some of the abbreviations you guys are using such as IEC's (sorry I'm new to all this) if someone could shed some light on this!

As to experience I have 1 year driving tipper trucks but my other half won't be done in uni for another 2 years yet anyway, she was thinking of getting atleast a years experience in hospital over here before applying for a works visa OR trying for a job offer in CA, how does this sound to you guys? Does trying a 2 year works visa before applying for PR sound best bet to you guys?
Thanks again

Aviator

Hard to know what imigration would look like in two years.
Spend the next couple of years researching and visit Canada.
Using an agent is only necessary in my view if you cannot follow written intructions or fill in forms. Even then they cannot charge to find you a job and you still do most of the work.
How much in demand a skill is, depends on local labour supply at the time.

Have a dream and don't lose sight of it.

Engineer_abroad

IEC is international experience Canada and allows people under 30 from the UK the chance to come to Canada and work on open work permits for 2 years. They recently changed the rules and this is now a lottery system I.e. No guarantee of bring approved.

In reality the only other way to get a work permit is with a job offer for which the employeer needs a labour market impact assessment (lmia). This is a long and expensive process for the employeer and they need to show you would not be taking a job away from a current canadian permanent resident or citizen. This may be hard if your partner is newly qualified unless there is a shortage of midwives on your particular area. You probably want to do a check on how many points you get on the CRS sysrem to see if you are likely to be selected for PR. You will need between 450 and 480.

Good luck with it all, the first part of the learning curve us always the steepest.

JackBarraclough

Thank you I will get on with that now!