Aha - you probably work at my old tea stop then - Portsmouth n Southsea Rail Station lol
(many many years ago)
Dread - x

I work over the other side of the county, Pompeys biggest rival city!

Aha - what the Pompey muppets would call a scummer then lol
Isn't it just such fun when the two cities have a local football derby - not !!!

Dread - x

Something of the past now they are in different leagues - woo hoo!

Hi everyone.

I can't believe I've been searching the Internet for days and just found you.

Basically I'm a serving officer in north Wales and am really wanting to move to Canada. As you've already said the program's to bring over officer appear to have stopped for the long haul now which is a shame.

I'm currently in a hi tech crime investigation role and have been for 3 years. Part of me is thinking that it may be easier to ditch my officer status and immigrate as some kind of IT person but don't really want to. I don't even think your short of computer/mobile phone examiner to apply as a skille worker. The whole immigration thing confuses the heck out of me :-( so any advice is most welcome.

I don't mind where in Canada I move to either if that helps.

Thanks everyone in advance.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I was in North Wales too, left 2 years ago, been in Edmonton Police for just over 18 months, North Wales for 14 years!

Feel free to send me a Pm

Nige

Hey Nige,

Thanks for the reply and so fast to! I'll drop you a PM soon. The site won't let me send you one yet as I'm a new user to the site.

Small world though, I would probably recognise you as I was around the force from 2002. I hope your enjoying it over there your so lucky!

Rob

I was over in western or all 14 except 3 in SB.

After a few posts you should be able to PM

Nige

Hi Rob

After 3 posts you will be able to send and receive pm's.
Welcome to BE too

Dread - x

Hi

I haven't been this site for an age, hence the lateness of the reply, and I guess it depends where you end up.

I work for the CPS(Calgary) and it is better in almost every way you can imagine, having worked in the MET (Edmonton).

But don't come for the job, come for the place,

And I can only echo others on this site, who have previously stated, that they just could not imagine returning to policing in the UK.

However, it is now bloody difficult to get employed here as a cop without PR or being a citizen, and I believe it is now becoming harder with changes in immigration.

is it worth it - yes...... no matter how difficult

And good luck

laters A

Hey thanks for the replies.

To be honest I would be quite happy to give up the job 'status' and would be moving for the better life for my family and I.

As long as I can get PR status I will apply for jobs in IT or policing in a civilian role. I just don't quite know where to start with the immigration.

Can I apply for PR whilst living here in the uk to help with the job finding one the house I sold ?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Rob

There is a thread called Canada- the list, read it and it will give you some answers.

The short answer is if your chosen profession is not on that list, you will need a job offer, police were never on the list, most guys who came across outside the big recruitment drive did so by applying for and having PR in advance , or came across on a working visa in another field, or their partners job.

A working visa can be a quick way to get here but there no guarantees of being able to stay long term unless you get PR. A nurse for example could get a job offer and come across on a working visa, then apply for PR while living here, PR then comes through and all is good - there is risk attached to this though as a person may not get PR.

And I know you are aware the PR is needed to become a cop over here as a minimum.

I had an application for PR in for two years while still living in the UK, when I got a call out of the blue to come across and do the tests etc. Then they sponsored me via the now defunct PNP, this allowed cops to get PR in 6 months, the application was driven by the employer.

You will see that skilled workers program has been temporarily halted while they re- hash the system, this may be a good thing as the waiting lists for PR are about 4-5 years ( or it was when I last checked), I believe it a lot shorter waiting time for PR if you are living in Canada.

So this actually may speed up the process in the longer term. I don't know your skills, have you looked into working in Canada in another field, you mention IT - will the employers recognise your quals - is there work in your field - Alberta seems to have all the jobs and a massive shortage of certain skills, mainly in the oil and gas.

Sorry I have probably created more questions for you than answers- the best advice I could give you at the moment is to read the threads on this site and also go on to the official Canadian immigration web site.

hope this helps Allan

Possibly. Have a look at the Wiki (blue bar at top of page), grab a cuppa and get reading. That will tell you all the available visa options.

Doubtful, given that 'the list' is suspended at the moment! There are major changes coming to Canadian immigration, which won't be implemented until Jan 2013, and 'the list' will be changed for that, so it's no longer really relevant.

Not necessarily. There are over 50 routes to PR, and not all of them involve a job offer. I don't know where Beedhamrobert wishes to go to, but perhaps something like the Nova Scotia PNP (Community Identified Stream) would be an option? No job offer required for that, or for similar PNP streams such as in Manitoba.

The wait for PR was 4-5 years back before 2008, but it's speeded up a lot since then (when 'the list' was first introduced). A year or so is the norm now, or even less - we've had people in the Canada forum who've had PR in 6 months via the FSW route.

I'm confused. I was looking on the canada immigration website last night. As a police officer it looked to me that there was no way of me getting a PR visa unless I had a job offer or was already living/studying in Canada. What type of visa's are people applying for. I might have just read it all wrong but it looked to me that unless you are living in Canada as a student etc or your occupation is on the need's list your cant even apply for a PR. (the other option was that you were a master of arts or music etc).

There are other routes, but without knowing everything about you, it's hard to say what you might qualify for.

Did you look at all the PNP's? There are at least two PNP streams that don't require a job offer, or a certain job on a list - as I mentioned in my reply above.