Canada this summer J1

comad

I was thinking of heading to Canada next summer. Could anyone give any advice? Is it an exciting place to spend the summer, nightlife etc, it is to get a studenty type job etc? The USIT forum is pretty empty but they said that the minimum wage is €5 an hour!!!

All I'm looking for is a few hints and tips etc

Isobar

I spend last year in Canada on a Working holiday Visa... arrived in Vancouver and spend two months there. I found it easy enough to get Labouring work ($11p/h) but a lot of other people out there found it hard to get jobs.
I then went to Lake Louise in Alberta and apend the rest of the summer and winter there. That's the place you need to go. You should have no problem getting a job there for summer and you will have a great time. The pay is bad ($6.50p/n) but rent is cheap and the lifestyle makes up for it.

check out www.skilouise.com . Email them about jobs around March for the summer...

irishguy

i whent to Vancouver last summer. Great place so much to do there i didnt want to come home. The wages are bad friends of mine were labouring by the day and only got $8 per hour. I was selling creditcards, made a killing some days [$40 per hour] and made $2 per hour other days.
It takes AGES to get jobs there. I was still getting calls for interviews 2 months after i dropped in cvs.
The biggest piece of advice is go in the last week of May ,as all the apartments are rented from the 1st of the month. You will beat all the students who arrive in the first week of June.
try for a basement place on kits beach its really nice part of town.
UBC www.ubc.ca/ is also good [but it will be full of Irish] you can organise a place before you go in the frat houses, they go really fast and are a bit expensive.

We got 1/2 a house [4beds] for $1500 per month with 6ppl in it.

The place is really nice and so are the people. The nightlife isnt that good but if you like to smoke then you will love it.

If you have any questions let me know

Sushi

You'd be good to try places in Alberta, the economy is booming. Alot of employers are actually finding it difficult to find employees at all. For the most part fast food type jobs/retail in Calgary will start at 8.50-11.00p/hr. Expect 7.00p/hr plus tips in for waiting tables. Also if you've got construction skills there is a large demand for skilled labourers especially in the summer months. Expect to pay 3/400 per month for shared up to 800-1000 for some of the nicer places. Many students bring in about 10-15000 over the summer months working at construction sites. Some of the newspapers have online classified ads and there are a few message boards for specific cities that are easily googled.

lodgepole

I spent the last 12 months living in Toronto and loved it. It's a city that takes time to fall in love with but it will happen. I travelling all over Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Unfortunately didn't get out West. I would recomend everybody to visit Canada. It's beautiful. If you do go don't waste your three months in clubs getting pissed. Certainly do that, but Canada is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and is so varied you wouldn't even believe...

irishguy

Lodgepole wrote:

I spent the last 12 months living in Toronto and loved it. It's a city that takes time to fall in love with but it will happen. I travelling all over Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Unfortunately didn't get out West. I would recomend everybody to visit Canada. It's beautiful. If you do go don't waste your three months in clubs getting pissed. Certainly do that, but Canada is one of the most beautiful places on Earth and is so varied you wouldn't even believe...

I fully agree.
Vancouver is suppost to be an even nicer city though (this is what canadians from the east and west say). But it is smaller [500,000pop] and difficult to find jobs

comad

Thanks for the info

Nephew

minimum wage is 8 canadian dollars. if you're prepared to labour you'll get a couple of dollars more.

we went to vancouver. it's an amazing city, its actually quite small and after a couple of weeks we knew it better than dublin. people are friendly, even the homeless guys. if you ever get lost ask a homeless dude for directions and throw them a quarter. its like wheres wally trying to find bars and off licences, unlike ireland where there are about three pubs in every housing estate. the people are so laid back there, recreational drugs are easily obtained if that floats your boat.

Seymour

I'm in Vancouver at the moment on a year visa. Arrived at start of October and my plan was to spend 6 months here, travel for 2 months and spend rest of the year in Toronto.

So far ive found its difficult to get jobs, agencies offer you short term work like a day here and there or maybe a week or two together. Im here 2 and a half months and im starting my 4th assignment tomorrow

Aside from that its a beautiful city, even in winter. its really close to a large park (stanley park) where you can cycle, skate etc

The nighlife is crap though, few pubs and crowded nightclubs. Although there are about 6 Irish pubs.

Im not into smoking or anything but its the "in thing" here at house parties etc

Imsure this place is better in summer but at the moment im thinking of cutting my time short here and moving on somewhere else.

For anyone thinking of coming here i'd say three months in summer is your best bet

irishguy

Seymour wrote:

I'm in Vancouver at the moment on a year visa. Arrived at start of October and my plan was to spend 6 months here, travel for 2 months and spend rest of the year in Toronto.

So far ive found its difficult to get jobs, agencies offer you short term work like a day here and there or maybe a week or two together. Im here 2 and a half months and im starting my 4th assignment tomorrow

Aside from that its a beautiful city, even in winter. its really close to a large park (stanley park) where you can cycle, skate etc

The nighlife is crap though, few pubs and crowded nightclubs. Although there are about 6 Irish pubs.

Im not into smoking or anything but its the "in thing" here at house parties etc

Imsure this place is better in summer but at the moment im thinking of cutting my time short here and moving on somewhere else.

For anyone thinking of coming here i'd say three months in summer is your best bet

if your not pickey where you want to work try starbucks, they will give you a job no problem ,might take a few weeks though and it pays only $8 per hour.

You should go to whistler before you go home, its fantastic up there. Better nightlife and there will be loads to do. I would say there would be loads of jobs too, seen as the sking season has started

ella minnow pea

Spend last summer in Toronto, best ever.

Really easy to get a job - I worked in a coffee bar, got the job on my second day looking even though I had no waitressing experience. Other friends worked as bar backs, ice-cream vendors etc in a place called the Harbourfront where they pretty much pick their own hours, lots of tips.

Accomadation is also really easy to get, we sorted it out with campus co-op, probably the best way to go. It cost about €300 Canadian a month, and you're living right near town, with a other Canadian and international students, maybe 10 or so per house. Really big houses, great for parties. We were maybe half a block from Bloor St, and the subway was maybe 30 seconds from our front door.

I really recommend Toronto, it's a great city for a summer. At the end of the season, we had earned enough to go on holiday to New York for a week. That was well worth it, too. We also went on day trips to theme parks, niagara falls, the zoo.. so many possibilities.

You're so lucky to have it all ahead of you. I'm jealous

marvin2k

ppl who go to canada on a visa always avoid montreal because its french speaking but its very easy to get an english telemarketing job , I spent last summer there and it was by far the best place ive ever been complete party town,real hippy place kinda like san fran great , real safe too felt safer there than i have ever felt in Ireland , Vancouver is good too but toronto is just like any big american polluted city , Youl get a far more cultural experience aswell because youl get to see the french side of canada .

foggy

I spend a year in toronto, but I didn't go over until september so there was plenty of work then. I would advise checking out local papers on the internet.
another thing i did was look up all the irish bars over there and sent my cv to them. I had interviews set up before i got there.
Fas runs a course where they send people from border counties over there. If you check with them, they might have some contacts that you could apply to.

Decide on a city/location first. then type of work you're looking for.
i wish i was going back. i had a really great year and would advise everyone to go to Canada at least once.

Seymour

You're right, i had actually written off Montreal as i thought you would probably need SOME french. I might actually look into it. Ive since heard that the nightlife there is great too.
Thanks for the tip

Nina_Angelica

...being a torontonian i'm a bit biased though

we're a very diverse city and it's very cosmopolitan so be prepared for ethnic!! that imo is one of the things that makes Toronto so GREAT!

it can be tough for ppl who try to come here w/o proper documentation to get work (my boyfriend lives here w/ me, he's from Cork, we've experienced it first hand!) but if you get to talking to ppl (in other words you aren't shy) then you can still find work even w/o a visa. you won't get cream of the crop though. so really, i think it depends on the individual.
I believe minimum wage is around $8 for part-time work (20 hrs./wk) and after that i'm not too sure what you would earn, again, depends entirely on the industry you're working in.

on the flip side when i was living in ireland i found my first 3 mo. very difficult to get work. i have been an office administrator about 8 yrs. now and i found that ppl in ireland weren't so receptive to my experience level as i'd never worked over sea's before. i did go to ireland a bit cocky, because of my experience level partly and also because i had an italian passport and that bypassed ALOT of red tape but it still took time for me to learn various things, ie. cork slang before i found work for a brilliant company w/ great ppl and the craic was good (in fact by the end of my stay [just over a year] you couldn't even hear a trace of a canadian accent on me at all! i've since lost most of my cork accent now that we're back over haha).
in toronto we're very accustomed to different nationalities that we tend to embrace non-national's who do come here. keep in mind we are much more uptight society than ireland would be though. (well some ppl are anyway)

a great website to check out is www.toronto.com
good luck and maybe we'll see you soon!

thebigmc

Just a quick question to all these people who have been there before, as an Irish student going for a summer to Canada, which visa would you need? Is it the same J1 as you neew for america, where can i get the canada visa,
Thanks a million and apologies for really not having a clue, can get much Irish specific info on the net!

Seymour

To get a visa for canada aint as easy as the J1 for the states. You will need to go online on usits website on one day of the year at a certain time and sign up for one. there really are limited places. Last year it was the 15th of Feb at 9 o clock. I went on the website and managed to get a visa but my friend went on at 9.20 and only got onto a waiting list. It took 2 and a half months before he eventually moved up the list (due to people cancelling) and got a visa.
Before last year you had to queue up for them outside usit, now its all online and you WILL need a credit card to hold your place. cost of visa is approx 359 euro.

Check usits website for the time and date for this year although they usually dont announce it until a few weeks before. Remember if you miss this one you have to wait a full year until you get another one.

Right i better get back to looking for work in wet Vancouver

irishguy

The J1 is just for the USA.
If you are going to canada for the summer you still have to get a 1 year visa, also you have to get insurance and flights from usit (if your going to vancounver its about €1100).

Keep an eye on
http://canada.usit.ie/

thebigmc

Sound for the info lads, i was wondering because i heard about people sleeping in and missing the visa last year,
Thanks

Feownah

Yikes worried about getting a visa now! And a job ! Planning on going to Vancouver this summer

irishguy

Feownah wrote:

Yikes worried about getting a visa now! And a job ! Planning on going to Vancouver this summer

You will be fine just make sure to be up early and on the net waiting. Also it helps to have all your details typed out including you credit card details so you can just copy and paste (I was booking for a few people)

Also have an ISAC card before and ask which part of the number has to be put onto the form (there was a bit of confustion over that last year).

And have fun!!!

montezuma

You know the way you're not really supposed to have a job arranged before you go for the canada visa? does that matter - as in do they really care if you do?

irishguy

montezuma wrote:

You know the way you're not really supposed to have a job arranged before you go for the canada visa? does that matter - as in do they really care if you do?

It doesnt matter, they dont check if you have enough money either.

Loretta.

does anyone know what the story is with the non-student visa programme?
like is it as popular as the student one? are there more or less visas issues?

and did they all get booked up on the 1st day last year?

just need to prepare myself!

irishguy

Loretta. wrote:

does anyone know what the story is with the non-student visa programme?
like is it as popular as the student one? are there more or less visas issues?

and did they all get booked up on the 1st day last year?

just need to prepare myself!

They are also are very popular, they come out after the student visa, they cost more and they will sell out on the first day so be up early.

Nina_Angelica

montezuma wrote:

You know the way you're not really supposed to have a job arranged before you go for the canada visa? does that matter - as in do they really care if you do?

Is this because you're applying for a student visa?
Generally in order to get a visa to work here (non-student at least) you must secure a job BEFORE they will issue you a visa, in other words, have a letter in writing from a Canadian company offering you work.

In order to have that offer, the Canadian company in question must be able to prove that they have made every available effort to try to hire a canadian citizen first, only then are they allowed to hire outside of Canada.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/

Feownah

irishguy wrote:

have an ISAC card before and ask which part of the number has to be put onto the form (there was a bit of confustion over that last year).

And have fun!!!

Thanks irishguy! oops forgot about isic card have to go about that!

piemaster

so is usit the only place to get a visa? i am heading over there for the summer and got the flights for little or nothing but the visa is 379:eek: to me thats a little steep, i'm looking into getting it through london but the usit programe opens on friday at 10

irishguy

piemaster wrote:

so is usit the only place to get a visa? i am heading over there for the summer and got the flights for little or nothing but the visa is 379:eek: to me thats a little steep, i'm looking into getting it through london but the usit programe opens on friday at 10

Yes

tywy

applied for my visa. ref no. 3 Waiting for an email for confirmation!


WOOT! CANADIA!

Belfry

I got ref 122 and I had finished filling out the form at 10:07 !!
Anyone know aprrox how many Visas they issue? And has anyone had their place confirmed yet?

Just got this email from them

Dear Work Canada Applicant,

If one of your friends was not lucky enough to secure a place on the Student programme which opened today, please advise them that the Waitlist will be open from 10am on Thursday February 2nd.

(Applicants have until Wednesday midnight to cancel and by Thursday we should have places freed up from those who have decided to cancel or transfer to a JI).

Last year, many students who failed to a obtain a place first time round succeeded in securing a place from the waitlist, so they are still in with a chance.

Please see http://canada.usit.ie for further details!

Best of Luck
USIT

tywy

i got my confirmation email, not sure how many visas they issue tbh

piemaster

Well I got forms and everything just have to fill em out and put them into usit. If you’re going on the student programme do you have to fly with usit???? I have my flights booked with another company cos I aint giving usit the business as i think there ripping people off with the visas. For those of you looking for cheap flights try flyzoom.com. There cheap but you have to fly out from Belfast which aint to much of problem

tywy

with the student visa you have to book flights with USIT, that's one of the conditions if you read the small print....

jim1

wat r d canadian woman like? thinkin of goin over dis summer myself

jim1

wat r d canadian woman like? thinkin of goin over dis summer myself!

BuffyBot

Fond of good typers I believe, and go mad for people who use their full keyboard.

They may even perform special favours on people who don't pull up threads that have been dead for almost 3 years.