mikek27 said:
Hi Kiwisteph, thanks for replying. Can I ask a few more questions ?
How was your year there and what city were you based in ? What field is your employer in and is it a small/medium/big company ?
How hard was it convincing them to go through the LMIA for you ? I have been hearing that with how hard the LMIA criteria is (adverts for 4 weeks + $1000 + paperwork), alot of companies are really hesitant on going through it.
Also, how long did it take for you to find this job or your 1st job in canada ? Did you start from home ?
Hiya Mike
Only just saw this sorry, and wrote a big reply then my phone crashed - typical!
We were based in Ottawa after travelling the west and my husband got work straight away in construction I struggled a bit finding accounting work mainly because I think of the short term 1 year visa and Ottawa is quite bilingual. A lot of office jobs needed french basics which I didn't have, also couldn't apply for. The govt jobs as I wasn't a citizen. I could have tried harder but I took the chance to have a nice break from accounting though and did odd jobs like working in a Halloween store haha! The pay cut was an adjustment but I just enjoyed not working as hard. It was a nice size place and we met some awesome people but work wise the bigger western cities or Toronto might have been easier. It was 2011 so the GFC didn't help the job search much either. Being close to Montreal was fabulous experience
We did apply for ski jobs in Alberta from over there and that was easy process, I got an offer for payroll office job but hubby didn't so we stayed in Ottawa as he was on better money than what they offered. Didn't use IEP or anyone before we left. Was pretty easy to get bank account and SIN number ourselves once we got there, maybe not being straight out of school we didn't need as much help so didn't see the value in paying their fees.
I think you'll be fine in finding work in your field in calgary, once you prove you're a good worker I think a lot of Canadian employers like the kiwi work ethic so you'll find they might consider a LMIA. - start early though as it takes months and I don't think Iec visa give you implied status so you would have to stop working when it expires until you got a LMIA decision.
hubby's old boss (good friends now) moved to calgary from Ottawa and is flat out and that's why he's wanting to employ him again as he's a good worker and reliable and he can't get anyone over there to suit. He also told me there is an accountant shortage so won't be as hard for me this time (fingers crossed). Last time I looked 200 jobs for accts advertised on job bank!
Hopefully you'll get the two year visa and if you can get a job in your field for one year (NOC code A or B) you can try to go through canadian experience class for PR while your 2 year visa is still current and maybe not need a LMIA. Assuming you want to stay of course
Hard to know how the changes in Jan for PR express entry and IEC will impact everything.
Unfortunately we were short of the 1 year experience coz of travel and job start times etc, be hard to get 12 month requirement on the 1 year visa unless you started a job on day 1 of your visa.
We've got our fingers crossed for a result on our LMIA soon just want to go back so much! We moved back to Cairns from Canada as we had been in oz before canada but have been back in Nz for the last year so keen to get out again lol!
Have you done any labour/building construction work at all? Our friend/boss in Calgary is always looking for helpers/labourers so could at least be a contact to get started or just to ask questions in the beginning, they might know someone with a room to rent if you want me to ask
Apparently the chinook winds warm the place a little in winter so it's not so bad and who doesn't want to be near the mountains and Banff, lake Louise etc.
We didn't have return tickets, just got a one way bus ticket since we could book that a year in advance from Niagara falls to New York as we just planned to say we would leave from there if asked.
For insurance we used world nomads but not sure if how they compare price wise now. We just bought the 12 months to be safe and no questions asked plus it covered our others travel to US etc.
Message me if you have any questions
