richfoz84

Hi all,
just signed up!

myself & My wife spent 2 years in Canada back in 2013 on an IEC visa. We returned home in 2015 but have longed to get back. We loved our time in the country!

So, looking into the avenue’s available to us to get back, there was initially no chance. we always hoped A way would come up, maybe after Brexit! But.. We didn’t possess a job which was listed on the immigration site.

however, I’ve recently started a job in the UK as a train driver. The training aspect is 4 months classroom and 8-10 months practical training with an instructor before I’m signed off. After that I’m technically on a new drivers permit for 2 years, but after that and passing everything I need to I’ll hold a European train drivers licence!

So, when I first applied for the train driver roles, I don’t know whether it was an in-demand job. However doing some research it seems a train drivers title in Canada is a Railway & Yard Locomotive Engineer.

ive been doing some research and it seems CN & Pacific Railway will need you to have railway experience with them at a lower grade before you can potentially move to a driver role. (I’m not sure about any other companies.)

it seems a conductor is probably a starting position You would have to enter the railway in Canada.. which in the UK, is probably 2 roles, a shunter & a guard (based on Compared job Spec’s).

so based on research; immigration.ca say I’d need Atleast a years experience so realistically 4 years in my current role from now. So once I’ve actually had a year as a fully fledged driver, then I can apply under express entry & the federal skilled worker program.

After all that waffle, has anyone on here moved to Canada with a railway career, and been able to continue on the railway in Canada? It would be good to hear from you!

Cheers,
Rich

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

You may not need to wait until you've qualified, what have you done previously, and what has your wife done? There isn't an 'in demand' list, so I'm not sure where you've read that previously, any skilled job counts (which is literally thousands of them, so chances are you already qualify if you score enough).

The key thing isn't your job, but your points score. Do you know what you'd be scoring on the CRS? It may be you could apply now rather than waiting.

richfoz84

Sorry when I say in demand, I mean a job that’s in the list.

my previous roles in car sales including sales manager & finance manager, aren’t listed. Prior to that we lived in Canada where I had seasonal jobs at ski resorts, but they were basic roles in customer service so again didn’t qualify. Prior to that I worked for the police as a dispatcher, but those jobs again aren’t listed and i would have needed PR to do any government role like that.

my wife is a swimming teacher and only has office job & lifeguarding history.

we have been looking into this over the last 4 1/2 years so done quite a bit of research.

I wouldn’t jump ship just yet, a driver role is very hard to get and I need experience and to save money to be in a position to afford to move and set up for me & my family

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

Please note that the website you mentioned in your 1st post is NOT an official site - it's an Immigration Consultants site, ignore what it might say - they want your business There are literally thousands of skilled or semi skilled jobs that could qualify you for immigration, including the jobs you have already done (bold) - it's all down to the points you score - or the nomination you might obtain from a Province, there is no magic list - although some Provinces might be looking for specialised roles, that's not the only way in.

Please go to the OFFICIAL website instead https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...te-canada.html

You should grab a cuppa and have a quick read over our wiki on the subject of immigration - there's a great post by Christmasoompa on the steps you will need to take initially to determine whether you will need to find a job or can come 'as you are' https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Quick...an_Immigration

christmasoompa

Not sure what list you’re looking at? There hasn’t been a list of occupations in demand for many years. But sounds like all of those jobs would be ‘skilled’ jobs so would have enabled you to apply for PR if you scored enough.

Can you find out your NOC codes for each job, and let us know your CRS scores?

richfoz84

I didn’t have enough points when I looked into it a few years ago.
if I’m honest I’m not quite ready to get the ball rolling, the post was more to see if anyone had left the UK railway and joined the Canadian railway and find out from their perspective how it is / how they found it.
i can’t post a URL yet as I’ve not reached 5 posts but on the immigration . ca site under federal skilled worker program it lists 347 eligible occupations on there, which one matches my current role, so has prompted me to start looking into it again 😄

Siouxie

As I mentioned already, please don't go to websites that are run by Immigration Consultants looking for business which don't have the correct information always! There hasn't been an 'in demand' eligible Federal Skilled Worker list in years!

Please use the official website if you need that kind of information.. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration...te-canada.html

richfoz84

Thank you. It says I’m eligible for express entry - that’s based on me having one or more years experience in current role & both of us having good scores on our English test

christmasoompa

That's fine, but even if you applied today you wouldn't have to move for about 4-5 years, so if you're eligible now I'd recommend you apply asap. At least then you've got it underway in case the rules change, or if the points threshold increases. As Siouxie has said, ignore the list you've found as it's incorrect. There are literally thousands of jobs that qualify for Express Entry, including all of the ones you've mentioned above.

Note it doesn't have to be a year or more experience in your current role, as long as you've got at least one year's full-time skilled work experience in the past 10 years, then you'd be eligible. So if your sales/finance manager or dispatcher roles were full-time and for at least a year, you can apply. You just need to check your CRS score, as that's the crucial bit. With your work experience in Canada, you're in with a good chance of scoring enough, depending on your age and education level. So now you know you're eligible to enter the EE pool of applicants, check your CRS scores (do it for both of you, in case your wife scores higher - again, swimming teacher is a job that would qualify as skilled).

For info on working on the railways in Canada, you'll need to post again in the main forum, the immigration section is just for visa related queries. If you search the forums you'll also find previous threads on the same subject, I know we've had quite a few about working on the railways over the years. You may find you could get a visa and move over soon, then train there, so avoid having to re-qualify or do any further exams/training to be able to work in Canada maybe?

HTH, good luck.

richfoz84

Thanks for the advice, greatly appreciated!

christmasoompa

No problem at all. Once you know about the visa side of things and if you'll qualify without a job offer/sponsoring employer, then the rest will follow. Hopefully you can move without one as you've got Canadian experience, it's a shame that you didn't apply sooner as you could have applied under the Canadian Experience Class but never mind, hopefully you qualify under the FSW program instead.

Once you've got your CRS scores etc, do shout with any questions and somebody will always try and help. Job hunting will be a heck of a lot easier if you're already work authorised in Canada, so fingers crossed for you.