Impending Redundancy = Emigrate quick!!!!!

ibh

Hi,

There is a possibility that at the end of January I will be made redundant. I am an Engineer and I will not be getting a big payment or probably any payment at all. I only started in the summer so I am entitled to fcuk all and that’s what I’m likely to get.

Basically this redundancy means that I am going to have to consider moving abroad this year rather than next year.
I have been considering going for the 1 year visa in Canada but I wasn’t planning on going until 2010. Because of this week’s news I probably need to try and go for this for 2009.
I know the visa opens on Monday, realistically what is the latest that I could apply for this visa? Could I wait till the end of January and still expect to get on the waiting list with a good chance of getting one, or do you need to register within days of it opening to have a chance?
I wouldn’t be leaving until after August 2009 anyway so I’m not looking to be the first person to receive a visa.
Is there any other visa’s that are available for Canada except this USIT one? I know that there is a skilled migrant visa but apparently it can take around 3 years to process it! Is there a Canadian visa that you can get on a job offer??


My other options are Australia or anywhere else that’d be ok for an Engineer. Problem with Australia is that I have already used my 1 year WHV so the only way I can go is as a skilled migrant. Problem with this is, it costs over $4000AUD to go for this visa and at the min I don’t have $400 never mind 4k….!
Getting a company to sponsor me to Oz could be an option but it is going to be hard now because there are so many engineers out there looking for work.
Is there any other way of getting there to work?? I think I could get sponsored once I actually get out there and get a job but It is going to take some capital to get into that situation.

I don’t know anything about visa’s for America except that I do not qualify for that new J visa. Is the green card lottery the only other way of getting a visa??

I am in a bit of a panic now to be honest. I would love to have the 1 yr WHV visa to Oz to use right now but I didn’t think of that a couple of years ago… I am very doubtful about the job opportunities that are going to come my way in Ireland in the next 12 months so I think a move soon is inevitable.
Is there any visa that can be obtained quite quickly? E.g. if I was let go in February could I have a visa by April for anywhere??

Any help would be appreciated.

watna

What about getting a WHV for New Zealand? You can work for a year and get some money together to apply for another visa elsewhere or to try get a job in Aus.

It costs €65 and it took three days to come in for me. You don't even have to send your passport off - you get an e-visa you print and take with you to give to immingration when you arrive. Also, once you get the visa you have on year to get to NZ and activate it. You could apply now and then if you are made reduntant go in Jan or Feb and the visa will still be valid. At the moment the exchange rate is quite good for spending euro so you'd get a good bit for your money (it's not so good for me sendin NZD home though!)

ibh

watna wrote: »

What about getting a WHV for New Zealand? You can work for a year and get some money together to apply for another visa elsewhere or to try get a job in Aus.

It costs €65 and it took three days to come in for me. You don't even have to send your passport off - you get an e-visa you print and take with you to give to immingration when you arrive. Also, once you get the visa you have on year to get to NZ and activate it. You could apply now and then if you are made reduntant go in Jan or Feb and the visa will still be valid. At the moment the exchange rate is quite good for spending euro so you'd get a good bit for your money (it's not so good for me sendin NZD home though!)

cheers Watna,

I never even thought of NZ!! I've been there on hols but i thought that the Oz visa was tied in with NZ WHV and once you had one of them the other was unavailable.
Do u have any idea what the work climate is like in New Zealand at the minute, can't be any worse than here anywho..

Thanks a mil,

watna

ibh wrote: »

cheers Watna,

I never even thought of NZ!! I've been there on hols but i thought that the Oz visa was tied in with NZ WHV and once you had one of them the other was unavailable.
Do u have any idea what the work climate is like in New Zealand at the minute, can't be any worse than here anywho..

Thanks a mil,

OZ and NZ work visas are entirely different entities which does come in handy! A lot of people do Aus for a year and don't want to go home and then go to NZ for another year (or vice versa).

As far as I can see the work situation here seems to be ok and definitely better than at home. There's been a restructure at work and a few people were made reduntant but they also created a few new positions so the headcount overall is the same. My company is a multinational from America so they had to cut costs to satisfy the American bosses. I think kiwi owned companies won't be doing this (yet!). I arrived last May and found a job pretty quickly. Obviously I can't guarantee this but I think if you are flexible you should be fine. I think it might hit NZ a bit in a few months time (we get everything later here) but I don't think it will be nearly as bad as at home.

I suggest you check out www.seek.co.nz for jobs. I'm not sure what the situation is like for engineers at the moment but I'm pretty sure it's on the skills shortage list so you may be able to apply to stay on in NZ if you like it. A friend from work is from the UK and her husband is an engineer. She's only here through him because he got offered a job from the UK and she got a spousal visa. They're going to apply for residency soon now.

I suppose you'd have to think where in NZ you'd like to go too. It's good that you have been here so you know what a few places are like. Dod you like it here? (btw if it helps I'm looking out the window right now and the sun is splitting the rocks and it's going to be about 25C today and I'm going to the beach! Winter is like home though, just a little warmer so you'll need to be aware of that)

There's loads of info in the Aus/NZ forum if you want to check it out and people are quite helpful if you want to ask any questions. Feel free to pm too if you want!

You apply online for your visa at www.immigration.govt.nz I highly recommend you do it yourself and don't go through a visa company. It's just as easy and way cheaper. Keep your money for getting over here!

watna

This link is also helpful http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/index.php

It's a forum for people who have emigrated or want to emigrate to NZ. Another boarsie directed it to me and I've got some good help there. You might get some advice from people who work in engineering.

ibh

watna wrote: »

I suppose you'd have to think where in NZ you'd like to go too. It's good that you have been here so you know what a few places are like. Dod you like it here? (btw if it helps I'm looking out the window right now and the sun is splitting the rocks and it's going to be about 25C today and I'm going to the beach! Winter is like home though, just a little warmer so you'll need to be aware of that)

I would probably be looking towards Auckland if i was to move to NZ. This is more for work reasons than anything else cause the work that i'm involved in is usually concentrated in the larger cities. Of course i'd love to chill out in Queenstown snowboarding my life away but i don't think it'll happen. I think Christchurch, Wellington or Auckland would be my options.

I know about the winter weather in NZ and tbh it is a bit of a pain in the @rse when the weather sucks but i'm not going to use that as a reason to turn down a move to stay in sunny Ireland!
I've just got a text from my brother in Sydney to tell me that it's 30deg at 10.30am and that's just perfect for me!

I also love the ol NZ Marlborough wines so i think it'd be worth the sh'tty winter to be able to buy a bottle of Cloudy Bay for less than €30!:D

Thanks for the replies Watna, as i'm sure you know it's a big decision to move to the other side of the world so i'll have to sit down and see what the pro's and con's are. My girlfriend is lucky in that she can get a job just about anywhere so hopefully we'll get something sorted.
I believe that all things happen for a reason so if it brings me to NZ / Oz then it's not a bad thing losing a job in Belfast..
Thanks again..