Bainesy36

Hi again everyone,

Haven't been on here for a bit and was just wanting to ask a couple of questions about getting our TWP's. My Girlfriend Sophie has been offered a job as an Operating Room Nurse with the Calgary Health Region after our visit to the Working in Canada Expo in Leeds this June, which is great. She now has to complete the forms - 'Internationally Educated Nurse Application For Assessment' - before the Calgary Health Region will proceed with her TWP and subsequently one for me.

My question is this. Is this most definitely the best way for both of us to get out to calgary and start working and if so, what would the timescale be likely to be if Sophie gets her application sent off in the next couple of weeks?

The reason I ask is that I feel like we're sitting here doing nothing, which may prolong the move we're so looking forward to. I have sent resumes off for a number of positions myself, but the main problem appears to be that I'm not legally entitled to work in Canada yet. I'd like to have work lined up prior to getting on that plane with our '1 way tickets'!

Through an old work colleague who now lives in Calgary, I have lined up a visit to the company he works for (Enerflex) to drop off a resume and 'have a chat' on our Recce at the end of September? Maybe this will help, aswell as visiting some other prospective employers.

I know there will be a lot of waiting and wondering, just wanted to get your valued opinions.

Thanks in advance,
Nigel and Sophie.

PMM

Hi

Just remember if she is your "girlfriend" and you are NOT in a common/law relationship, you cannot piggy back on her TWP. As she will require a medical, she is probably looking at least 3 months, 6 weeks for the TWP and about a month or so for the medical.

Bainesy36

Thanks for the reply PMM,

Sorry, we are in a common/law relationship I guess as we've been living together for 6 years+ and have joint accounts/mortgage etc. She was also told at the Expo when she got the job offer that they would sort my TWP out aswell.

That timescale is presumably after her Application Assessment has been approved, which we believe could take up to 6 months?

Hope this clears things up a bit.
N & S.

Judy in Calgary

Nigel, because of the skill level of Sophie's occupation, you'll be eligible for a Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP).

This will allow you to accept any job with any employer in any part of Canada. This should be attractive to a prospective employer, because it means they won't have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to hire you.

However, the SOWP will not just automatically be issued. You need to apply for it. You should submit your application for an SOWP with Sophie's application for a temporary work permit (TWP).

Follow the link I gave you, above, as the article contains a few more details.

You're already on the right track, but I nevertheless suggest that you read the Canada section of the BE Wiki (if you haven't stumbled on it already).

The subcategories that probably would be of most use to you now are the ones on Job Hunting, Moving Logistics, and the nine articles on Calgary.
x

Bainesy36

Thanks for that Judy, great help as always.

Anyone have any experience of the timescale recently for the Nursing Application?

Preetha PA

I have just filled in my applications to be sent to CARNA. Hoping to Courier it tommorow. I do hope i have not missed any papers. It would be nice to hear about time scales.

preetha

fozzy33

Hi Bainesey36,

I am also a nurse, but I'm going to Edmonton,
Sophie will need to apply to Carna for eligibilty for a nursing Licence, www.nurses.ab.ca ,this can take about 3 months, after which you then start your TWP application, to which Sophie will need to attend a medical, this is the stage I am at, the moment, have had the medical about two weeks ago and am waiting for permits to come through. fingers crossed.

Bainesy36

Thanks Fozzy33,

In your opinion (or anyones for that matter), should Sophie send her application for eligibility complete, or send part of it now and the rest in a couple of weeks when she can get her University qualifications confirmed etc?

Glad to hear it's more like 3 months than 6 for this to go through at present.

N+S

Chi_Nook

My sister-in-law, who is a regional nurse in the UK, and her family (husband and 2 children) have visited with us a couple of time in the last 3 years (once in winter and once in summer) and like Calgary.

Accordingly, after a family discussion, my sister-in-law made an employment application in late March of this Year to the Calgary Health Region (CHR) .

After her work experience and resume was reviewed and a personal interview was conducted, she was offered a position with (CHR), however all applications have to be approved by CARNA (Nurses Association). Now that's where a problem arose because apparently in the past, CARNA rarely has completely approved anyone from abroad, for a nursing position in Alberta (and my sister-in-law has a BSc).

To cut a long story short, because of the shortage of medical personnel in Alberta (and every other profession or worker too!!!) CARNA was required (I believe by the Government) to examine nursing applications from abroad (the UK and US specifically) and if only 2 or 3 areas required upgrading, CARNA had to issue a restricted permit to allow the applicant to obtain employment as a nurse in Alberta, as long as they agreed to take the upgrading identified by CARNA (I believe CHR will pay for these course too).

As far as I know, in speaking with my sister-in-law, this requirement on CARNA was only implemented on June 1 of this year (2008). Before that if you needed to upgrade your nursing skills to meet CARNA's standard, even if you had a job offer from CHR, the only option available to you was to come to Calgary or Edmonton and write the exam, then go home and after evaluation CARNA they would recommend a specific 6 week course for you to be completed at Mount Royal College (Calgary). You would have to do all this at your own expense and you couldn't work while you were here taking the upgrade course either. Needless to say, not many people were prepared to do this or able to do this financially, even if they wanted.

So where is she now? She received a restricted permit from CARNA in mid June (after I called them repeatedly and bugged them to get moving on her file), identifying one area she needs to upgrade. I believe that needs to be completed within the first year of working as a nurse in Calgary (she says its a simple 6 week course). She can then sit the provincial nursing exam (which she doesn't see as a problem either) and then she will be a fully accredited nurse in Alberta.

All immigration documents have now been sent to the CIC and she had her medical examination (requirement for nurses even on a WP) about 2 weeks ago (apparently the Doctor conducting the medical told her it takes him two weeks to get the results in the mail to CIC and she's no idea why it takes this long in the UK).

She hoping to be in Calgary by the end of September, although personally I think that's a bit optimistic and it may be more like the middle of October. CHR have been extremely helpful to her with all things and they have said they will help her and her family apply for the fast tracked PR as soon as they arrive in Calgary.

I believe her salary offer from CHR is about 20% higher than her current UK salary. She and her family are very happy and are excited to be moving to Calgary, as they are all avid skiers and her two boys used to play hockey until they closed the ice rink down in Altringham. The only problem they now appear to face is in the UK and because of the downturn in the housing market, they have been unable to sell their home and have instead taken out a second mortgage to finance their resettlement and will now lease their UK property instead and have to rent a home in Calgary until the UK housing market rebounds and they can sell their house.

One thing though, dealing with CARNA can be a bit frustrating, not because they are awkward, incompetent or anything of that nature, its simply because this is a new process for CARNA (issuing the restricted permits) and I have personally spoken with them and been told in all honesty that they have literally hundreds of applications from overseas nurses who want to move to Alberta and like everywhere else in Alberta these days, they are short staffed and trying to do their best.

I hope this may help people better understand and appreciate the process of moving to Alberta as a nurse.

Good luck to everyone.