danvan wrote: Better money in north or central B.C. kind of a boom going on now lots of work in mining and forestry the shop I work for is looking for a machinist with hydraulic experience 35 to 40 per hour full benefits. We are 8 hours from the nearest road course but we do have a great autocross club and a facility next to none (10 acers dead square no light posts or curbs
What town is this opportunity in and would the company you work for be willing to hire an immigrant?
"Not sure how you plan to get around the immigration thing; easy to do if you have a unique skill, but machinist is not an obvious in. Is there a specialty involved?"
I would disagree with that statement - There is a distinct lack of skilled machinists and many other skilled tradesmen around the lower mainland (area around Vancouver including langley). I have had great difficulty hiring decent guys in the past. I know quite a few shops that are always on the look out for skilled family oriented guys.
As far as the car scene is concerned it is probably a top 5 city in North America for hot rods and street machines. The Langley Good Times cruise in can draw over 2000 cars and 100,000 spectators for the weekend - we are not talking about crap boxes either. Google it and see.
Yes it is more expensive to live here but it is very clean, very safe, has great healthcare and on average a FAR superior public education system than most places in the US.
I was born in the US but have lived in Canada for most of my life. We vacation in the states a lot and I travel globally for work often but no where else feels as safe or clean as Vancouver. There is a reason why anyone with money in Asia buys at least one house in Vancouver or the surrounding area.
In reply to morecowbell:
Ugh. This is torture!
I should just drive up there, knock on their door and say, "Here I am!".
But while you're visiting PG, take a trip north into Stewart BC, and visit the Toaster Museum. Carry on into Hyder Alaska and get Hyderized in one (or both) of the two pubs that invented it. If you're there in the summer, go Bear Watching.
And drive in through The Nisga'a Memorial Lava Bed Corridor outside of Terrace BC.
So yeah, I grew up around there. Beautiful country.
Prince George doesn't really smell anymore. And its a nice busy Northern town with lots of work and amenities. Resource based and you should probably like sledding and hunting to live there.
morecowbell wrote: "Not sure how you plan to get around the immigration thing; easy to do if you have a unique skill, but machinist is not an obvious in. Is there a specialty involved?" I would disagree with that statement - There is a distinct lack of skilled machinists and many other skilled tradesmen around the lower mainland (area around Vancouver including langley). I have had great difficulty hiring decent guys in the past. I know quite a few shops that are always on the look out for skilled family oriented guys.
Not disagreeing with you that good machinist are not thick on the ground, however, "Machinist" will not cut it when you fill out form HRSDC EMP5239 (Application for a Labour Market Opinion) as required to get permission to import a worker.
Having filled this form out a few times, a lot depends on how good of a story is spun.
Now, in the past, the form has allowed East European strippers in to the country, so you have to wonder what special skills those Gals brought to the economy that local talent could not fulfill?
If you can fit into one of these professional categories (look under Appendix 1601.D.1);
https://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/Home/Legal-Texts/North-American-Free-Trade-Agreement#Ap1603.D.1
you won't need a Labor Market Opinion.
Cheers,
Jeff
In reply to The_Jed:
There's a big controversy right now because several companies have been busted hiring foreign workers through a government program and abusing them because they can be paid less.
Timmys was one of the offenders. It also managed to piss off a whole bunch of Canadians because we were all wondering why they weren't hiring Canadian students. The real answer was that Canadians probably believe that their degree in post-modern lesbianism would mean that they don't have to work a minimum wage job.
It's also why my coffee order is constantly screwed up in the morning, I need to start asking for a dabo-dabo coffee.
Looks like I won't be heading up there anyway, two weeks and I haven't heard a peep...not even a Canadian peep.
Oh well, it was nice dreaming...
Do a follow-up, get them to pull your application out of the cue and have a look at it again.
That, and Christmas.
You'll need to log in to post.