Thread: PNP / Permanent Residency Canada

Hello

Looking to someone for advice or info please. I currently in the UK and I'm trying to organise permanent residency in Canada.
During the past 3 years I have spent a fair amount of time in Canada (Vancouver) and I have just returned home having been there for the last 6 months flight training and searching for employment and a sponser for permanent residency under the PNP.
I'm a fully qualified, experienced electrician and this is the field that I'm looking to find work in. I searched high and low throughout BC whilst I was there and I've had no luck. Now I'm back in the UK and I'm still searching including nationwide across Canada.

Please, does anybody know of any companies that might be willing to help me out? Other than Quebec I'm keen to go anywhere in Canada, it's a wonderful country with good people and I can't wait to begin my new life there. I've researched the process inside out and I read that electricians are in high demand but the economic climate is not very favourable at the moment.

I'd be much obliged for any info, thanks

Have you thought about coming as a self employed electrician? We came out in 2006 on a visitor ticket. We were asked why we had no return ticket and we said we were travelling around and did not know where we would end up so would buy a reurn ticket at the end of our " six week stay". My husband is self employed and we applied for our permanant residency, that took 3 years to process and now we are waiting for our citizenship to be processed.
We are living on Vancouver Island, propery is cheaper here, Vancouver is stupidly expensive, we love it and will never go back to the UK which is heading down the sewer at an alarming rate.

Hello Jane
I have looked into the self employed option but I don't have the finances to set up that way. So have you not had to leave the country since your arrival on your 1 way ticket and did your husband set himself up as an electrician and then apply for a work permit before applying for residency later on?
To be honest I can't wait 3 years, if I can find an employer who offers me a job, I can come back in 5 or 6 months and work for the employer under a work permit whilst the permanent residency is being processed.
Where are you on Van island? I've often thought I'd like to try out the island instead of Vancouver it seems so nice there. You're right about the UK, I love home but the quality of life is much better in Canada.

Hi Sparks,
We had applied for our landed immigrant status before we left the UK, got frustrared with the time it was taking, your application sits in a shelf somewhere for a couple of years, so we came on out. My husband is a cartoonist, illustrator and writer, not exactly a profession that's on the wanted list! We continued our application process from here having informed them we were now living in Canada the only inconveniance was the process once started in the UK cannot be transferred so we had some delays due to the time it takes postage wise. He applied for a work permit but was refused, then we found out that as he was working on his own at home and not employing staff he did not need one.
We are in Campbell River on the east coast, it is just beautiful here, we have Mount Washington behind us and the ocean in front. We took a chance coming out they could have turned us down and we would have had to leave. The main thing against us was our age, we were both in our 50's but we came with a good amount of money so we could buy our house outright and had some over to live on. I think that swung it they could see we were financially independant. But doing it the way we did is expensive, if you have a job offer you can come straightaway. I have been back to the UK three times, twice before we had our permanant residency card and there was not a problem getting back in. I just said I lived here and had applied for PR.
Your profession is needed here so I am surprised you are having a problem, maybe you need to spread your net and try other areas, once you are here and have your work permit you can move on to another part of the country, have a look online at the Island. If I can help let me know, good luck it will be the best move you make.........Jane.

I don't know about sponsorship in Canada (the route Jane and her husband took sounds a good option) but in Australia companies are reluctant to go through the expense of sponsoring someone from overseas and we find most tradie work you have to be self employed anyway.
Good luck Spark, hope something comes up, these days it's more of who you know not what you know.
Kate

You're right there Ktee about who you know rather than what you know, i do have friends out there and we keep in touch. Sometimes it's just a matter of right place right time too.
I will keep my eye on the island Jane it is appealing. I've flown up and down the east coast a few times, Victoria up to Campbell River and it's gorgeous! You're lucky to be there.
I do have another option in that I have a Canadian commercial pilot license and the school I trained with at Boundary Bay told me they are willing to help me out with a work permit if I train for an instructor rating with them, I could then work as a flight instructor. I'd need to be there around the turn of the year and I'd love to do it but the problem is that I'd have to borrow a large sum and that concerns me.
I am now looking in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba etc... for electrical opportunities so I'll see what comes of that. I'd appreciate it Jane if you could perhaps keep your eyes open for any local employers that might be interested. I'm 38 by the way.
I guess you've been out to Tofino? I hear that is a really nice place to visit!!

Hi sparks,
Yup been to Tofino it is beautiful but gets packed with tourists in the summer. We lived in Winnipeg before we came to the Island but Manitoba's winters are brutal but you are a lot younger and could adapt to -40 wind chill!!! I know I couldn't, also snow up to your armpits for 5 months of the year is no joke either!! On the plus side it is cheaper to live there and house prices I think are the lowest in the country. There has to be some consolation for living in the artic! In the summer the mossies are the size of humming birds and they always made a bee line for me!
The flying qaulification is another string to your bow use whatever means you can to get here once here you can always do something else. I know someone who came out as a teacher, had all the right qualifications, but once here never worked as a teacher, in fact she was fed up with teaching and never intended to go back to it, but it got her into Canada.
I will keep my ear to the ground for you. Best wishes....Jane.

I have emailed some people I know across the country about you and they are on the lookout for jobs for you as an electrician and a pilot. You could come out here on a student visa. Why not enrol on a course to get the electrician certification for Canada? The wiring as you must know is different here and then once you get the required qaulification you stand a better chance of getting a job.
Just a thought.......Jane.

Thank you for that Jane I really appreciate it :0)
The flight school I trained with would help me out with a student visa if I do an instructor rating with them. I'd like to head back out after chrimbo and do that. To get certified in Canada as an electrician there is a written exam to write and it's pretty straight forward, I'll look if it can be done online somehow but I think I'll have to wait till I come back and do it when I arrive. I've heard that Winnipeg has an extreme climate, not the most pleasant of places but I'd still go there if opportunity knocked.
If you hear of anything pease give me a shout, thanks

Hi Sparks,
I will keep eyes and ears open.
Jane.