Rowdy.100

Firstly my name is Kieron and after months of searching through the threads I can't find anyone in my line of work in a similar situation.

I'm 22 and a Structure Inspector (bridges, retaining walls, culverts ect.) I have a mortgage on a £150,000 house and a few grand in the bank, obviously willing to sell up when the time comes.

My company allow me to take a years unpaid leave as long as I'm not working in the UK, so ideally a years trial in Canada would be our starting point and take it from there. I looked into the holiday work visas but still a bit confused on what would be best for my situation.

I have been searching many websites trying to find jobs right for me and having no luck.

Myself, girlfriend (23) and son (1) have been considering making the move to Canada ideally Ontario but would happily consider any other areas. Our dream would be a family friendly area and not too far from a big city where we can raise our family. We have friends out there that do not have a bad word to say about the place.

I understand there are hundreds of people just like me but everyone has a different background/qualifications/needs ect. so any feedback would be appreciated regarding where to start or if anyone is in a similar line of work?

My family have also discussed if I had to go out alone for a period of time because we are not married that would be possible, anything to get our foot in the door.

Thanks.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

Best thing to do is start with the Wiki, and figure out if you're eligible for a visa.

If you only want to go for a year, then it sounds like the ideal visa would be the IEC, so have a look at that (it's a years open work permit for those aged 30 or under).

And you'd all be able to go together, assuming that you and your gf have lived together as husband and wife for a year or more (which would make you 'common-law partners' in Canadian immigration terms, so she'd go on your visa application or vice versa).

But as I said, have a look at the Wiki and then once you've figured out the visa route a bit, you can come back and ask questions about it.

Best of luck.

Rowdy.100

Thanks for the quick response.

We have lived together for 2 years and have always wanted to move to Canada, I will look into the IEC visas a year would be perfect so we could try it out. The only downside to it is that if we loved it we would have to go through the hassle of sorting out PR.

christmasoompa

Yes, but from what you've said you've got no route to PR without going over there on a temp work visa anyway (unless you have another way you haven't mentioned i.e. your gf's job, or as an investor etc), so however you do it, you'd have to go through that hassle. The big advantage of the IEC is that you're instantly employable so wouldn't need an employer to go through the hassle/cost/wait of hiring you on a 'normal' TWP.

Definitely worth a look, although the 2014 program has already opened (first batch of visas went within 20 mins today), so you'll need to think about it quickly if you want to go next year!

Good luck.