Electrician Red seal Exam

balisimo

Hows it going everybody?
I got a visa and I am moving to Vancouver. I recently got approval to challenge the Red seal Construction Electrician Exam. Im sitting the exam on the 25th of January and I have been studying the last few months but I have just been told by a lady at the ITA that I will need to produce a Canadian ID on the day of the test such as a driving license or national ID card. My problem is I do not land in Canada till the 21st of January which only gives me 4 days to get an ID or I cannot sit the exam, a national ID card takes 4 to 6 weeks to be posted out to you.
Does anybody know if its possible to get a Canadian ID on the day by bringing my passport ect with me?
Has anybody else encountered a similar problem? I have my passport and driving license but the ITA will not accept these. It is a bit ridiculous considering the amount of foreign people that sit their exams.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

lindzation

Really?? How strange. My boyfriend is going to be doing the same thing - he's currently just finishing up his "3 months supervised" under a Electrician journeyman and they will be giving him a letter that allows him to challenge the exam. I've never heard anything about needing an ID card, my boyfriend did apply for an Alberta ID back in September though, I believe it took about two weeks from when he applied to be mailed to him..

balisimo wrote: »

Hows it going everybody?
I got a visa and I am moving to Vancouver. I recently got approval to challenge the Red seal Construction Electrician Exam. Im sitting the exam on the 25th of January and I have been studying the last few months but I have just been told by a lady at the ITA that I will need to produce a Canadian ID on the day of the test such as a driving license or national ID card. My problem is I do not land in Canada till the 21st of January which only gives me 4 days to get an ID or I cannot sit the exam, a national ID card takes 4 to 6 weeks to be posted out to you.
Does anybody know if its possible to get a Canadian ID on the day by bringing my passport ect with me?
Has anybody else encountered a similar problem? I have my passport and driving license but the ITA will not accept these. It is a bit ridiculous considering the amount of foreign people that sit their exams.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

ibh

balisimo wrote: »

Hows it going everybody?
I got a visa and I am moving to Vancouver. I recently got approval to challenge the Red seal Construction Electrician Exam. Im sitting the exam on the 25th of January and I have been studying the last few months but I have just been told by a lady at the ITA that I will need to produce a Canadian ID on the day of the test such as a driving license or national ID card. My problem is I do not land in Canada till the 21st of January which only gives me 4 days to get an ID or I cannot sit the exam, a national ID card takes 4 to 6 weeks to be posted out to you.
Does anybody know if its possible to get a Canadian ID on the day by bringing my passport ect with me?
Has anybody else encountered a similar problem? I have my passport and driving license but the ITA will not accept these. It is a bit ridiculous considering the amount of foreign people that sit their exams.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I know a guy who took the Red Seal just after arriving in Canada as you are doing. I think if you had an address / lease, passport with visa attached you would probably be ok.

balisimo

Thanks for the reply. Are you sure mate? Its just that i rang them 3 times and they insist i need a Canadian ID, i was going to re-schedule my exam but if you know somebody who did the same thing and was allowed sit his exam i might chance it. It might be differant on the day?

coso1122

not sure about the id part, but would you be able to tell me what coarse work you were studying for it as i'm in vancouver planning to do the same exam...
cheers good luck tom with it

pkane

hi
my girl and i are moving to van in july, i was hoping to get as much study in and learn as much as possible before we leave , so i can do the electrical red seal exam pretty much when we arrive over there, any tips on papers or where i can get help with this?? please good luck to ye all...

coso1122

If you go onto the csa website you can order the esat cd rom it has all the questions and sample answers, also you can buy the canadian rules for electrical there too. the cd costs 99 dollars and the code book 170 pricey enough for the rules....

balisimo

Sorry about the late reply, dont use this email since i got to Canada. I just used the CD rom and the book and used the internet for the rest. You can work in vancouver without doing the exam, I am at the moment. I still plan on doing the exam but I am still getting paid 90% of the journeyman rate without it, its very good money if u get in with a big company. Hope this helps. Also dont schedule your exam for at least 1 month after you arrive, you cant do the exam without Canadian ID, it takes 4 weeks to get a BCID card. If you do schedule it and dont have Canadian ID, you will have to reschedule it and this counts as 1 of your attempts, you only get 2 attemps and then you have to prove a certain amount of on site Canadian hours before you can sit it again, I learned the hard way!

gingersnap79

hello quick question does the canadian social insurance number count as a canadian id for the exam entry?

balisimo

No it definately doesnt, i tried that!

derekmul

lindzation wrote: »

Really?? How strange. My boyfriend is going to be doing the same thing - he's currently just finishing up his "3 months supervised" under a Electrician journeyman and they will be giving him a letter that allows him to challenge the exam. I've never heard anything about needing an ID card, my boyfriend did apply for an Alberta ID back in September though, I believe it took about two weeks from when he applied to be mailed to him..

Hi lindzation. I'm a recently qualified electrician and I'm thinking of moving to Calgary, Alberta. I'm curious as to why your boyfriend had to do 3 months supervised work before he could sit the red seal exam? Was he qualified long before the move?

Regards, Derek

lindzation

derekmul wrote: »

lindzation wrote: »

Really?? How strange. My boyfriend is going to be doing the same thing - he's currently just finishing up his "3 months supervised" under a Electrician journeyman and they will be giving him a letter that allows him to challenge the exam. I've never heard anything about needing an ID card, my boyfriend did apply for an Alberta ID back in September though, I believe it took about two weeks from when he applied to be mailed to him..

Hi lindzation. I'm a recently qualified electrician and I'm thinking of moving to Calgary, Alberta. I'm curious as to why your boyfriend had to do 3 months supervised work before he could sit the red seal exam? Was he qualified long before the move?

Regards, Derek

Hi there,

To be honest im a bit confused myself - it appears bc just lets you challenge the red seal right away- and here in alberta that was not the case. My boyfriend has been a qualifed electrician ( in ireland ) for 7 years - and apprenticed before that. So when he came here he had to fill out some paperwork showing how many hours/years(they require a certain amount) hed worked as an electrician, under who, and whatnot. Then he brought it into tjhe alberta apprenticeship board in edmonton (you can mail it but this was faster) and they 'apparently' verify the info (you pay 450 for this) on the forms and then give you a receipt type thing that allows you to work as a journeyman on 4th yr wages for 3 months under a qualifed canadian journeyman. After the 3 months you need a letter from the journeyman saying you are performing as a journeyman should AND THEN you can sit your red seal exam!! Quite the process!!

Hope that helps!! Let me know if you have anymore questions!

Lindz

derekmul

This does seem very strange. With the red seal you are allowed work in Alberta but they make the process to sit the exam very difficult. I had looked in to moving to Toronto and you didn't need any set hours or months of experience. It was more an assessment of the work you had done and then they would give you a temp cert to work but you have to sit the red seal exam within 3 months of issue. Could I go to Vancouver or Toronto, sit the exam within a few weeks and then move to Alberta?

breno69

Hi all,
I'm bit new to this,but anyways just wondering has any1 any information for me in becoming a electrician in canada,im a qualified irish sparky with 4 years post expierance.Want to know how i get this recognised in Vancouver Canada.Plus what does form to say i'v worked 9000 hours as needed for red seal exam look like/details in it ..?

Thanks........!!

coso1122

alright breno,
look up red seal electrician canada and it will bring you to the ita canada, you will need to ten look for red seal challenge exam it has all the forms to be printed out and signed by previous employers or yourself to say you have 9000 hours done which i don't think is checked it's just a signed statement. also on this website you can order the canadian rules book and cd rom which have all the sample questions that your asked if you sit the exam.. otherwise if you just come over you can work as a fourth year on 90 per cent of the journey mans rate until your ready for the exam. it is a bit different here they size cable using a awg system instead of mm its the weight of a meter of cable? hope this help

breno69

thanks for help..
will look that up now and get ball rolling..!
What is it like out there finding work wise how difficult is it to get job/interviews..?

coso1122

There is a lot of jobs out there its just getting your foot in the door... just have your cv done up and a good cover letter try looking up craigslist vancouver it will give you an idea of the amount....

kerryaviva

coso1122 wrote: »

There is a lot of jobs out there its just getting your foot in the door... just have your cv done up and a good cover letter try looking up craigslist vancouver it will give you an idea of the amount....

try looking around saskatoon im headeing out threr myself soon as a sparks;)

breno69

ya i sopose it just matter of trying everywhere and wait for replies..!!..what is saskatoon like work wise Kerryaviva i never really heard much bout it..!..Also what papers do i need bring to show i am Qualified here will copy of my Electrical cert do and MyCard...??..If any of ye hear any companies hiring Electricians or Just Hiring even Please Please let me know...!!!

Thanks...!

thedubguy

Hi, you should get in touch with www.diamondglobal.ca or you can email them on ireland@diamondglobal.ca, a friend of mine is currently talking with them for a mechanic job as they specialise in recruiting foreign workers into Canada.

damob9

breno69 wrote: »

ya i sopose it just matter of trying everywhere and wait for replies..!!..what is saskatoon like work wise Kerryaviva i never really heard much bout it..!..Also what papers do i need bring to show i am Qualified here will copy of my Electrical cert do and MyCard...??..If any of ye hear any companies hiring Electricians or Just Hiring even Please Please let me know...!!!

Thanks...!

All right breno
I don't know if you have any interest in calgary but there's a company holding interviews for commercial construction electricians in dublin next month May 11-14

derekmul

Hi all,

I'm moving to Vancouver in June and I'm just looking to get some info.
Does anyone know how long it will take from the date of arrival in Canada till I can my papers checked over and start working as a sparks? Do I need to have some form Canadian id before I can apply for anything?

Thanks for any help.

tadhgie16

hey lads im moving to vancouver in october and im a qualified electrician, has anybody done the red seal exam?? if so any tips and how long did it take, how hard was it etc??

also is it hard to find a place and how do i go about looking for an apartment
any tips at all will help, cheers

s14a johno

Heya all

Has anyone set this exam yet? got the code book there during the week, 800 pages :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: long few nites ahead,
Getting the exam papers next week with hope,
but was wondering is all questions reg based?
or maths/regs/tools and conduit so on,

what to expect, i know it a muli choice exam
just looking for a insite to what iam up against

thanks


johno

kev33

First off, if you sit the exam anywhere in ontario, you will get an inter-provincial cert which means you can work as an electrician anywhere in canada. After you get your Irish Cert recognised and are given the go ahead to write the exam, you get a 3 month temp license, also i think you can sit the exam any day of the week in toronto without having it booked in advance, they do examinations twice a day i believe. Re-scheduling the exam is pretty easy and in ontario does not count as an attempt.

Code book is pretty huge but its important to be able to flick through it with ease, cause the time issue can be a problem, 4 hour exam 100 questions, 2.4min per question, and you could be a few minuets just digging one code rule out of the book. Not all the questions are code based but there is a good lot of them you will just find the answer right in the code book. There's a book i borrowed that has 2 full practice exams that i found where exactly like the exam with some even coming up in the test, http://www.amazon.ca/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Tony%20Fazzari&search-alias=books-ca

That book is good to give yourself a test run and see what ye get.
Any other questions let me know, ive been through it and got the license and am currently working away.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

kev33 wrote: »

First off, if you sit the exam anywhere in ontario, you will get an inter-provincial cert which means you can work as an electrician anywhere in canada. After you get your Irish Cert recognised and are given the go ahead to write the exam, you get a 3 month temp license, also i think you can sit the exam any day of the week in toronto without having it booked in advance, they do examinations twice a day i believe. Re-scheduling the exam is pretty easy and in ontario does not count as an attempt.

Code book is pretty huge but its important to be able to flick through it with ease, cause the time issue can be a problem, 4 hour exam 100 questions, 2.4min per question, and you could be a few minuets just digging one code rule out of the book. Not all the questions are code based but there is a good lot of them you will just find the answer right in the code book. There's a book i borrowed that has 2 full practice exams that i found where exactly like the exam with some even coming up in the test, http://www.amazon.ca/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Tony%20Fazzari&search-alias=books-ca

That book is good to give yourself a test run and see what ye get.
Any other questions let me know, ive been through it and got the license and am currently working away.

Is it possible to sit the canadian red seal exam without being a qualified sparks in Ireland, ie. as a 3/4th year apprentice??

JustRoss23

..

s14a johno

god some reading in those regs, That AWG the job do,
anyone who read the regs when ya doing final loads and cable sizeing
what section it under? i can find ambient tempure with condistion of 30 degress but only goes far as 14 Gauge
where it stated 18 gauge for lights but were we have certin condistion to the
insalation regarding if in air,wall,clipd,ground, but cant find that section in the
Candian regs and also the insulation restance test i know it 110volt
but surely they have a test regarding insulation



to answer the lads question there, i tink ya need ya papers as ya fulll cert,
i know ya do in oz anyway, but as canada a differance ball game over there

JustRoss23

Reply i got from the Alberta industry training regard options for redundant irish apprentices. here the reply i got when i ask how could i get recognized as a journey person electrician:D

As a foreign worker you cannot enroll in an apprenticeship.

To qualify to work in the Electrician trade you must have 72 months and 8775 hours of hands on work experience that we can verify or if you have a completion of Apprenticeship form FETAC level 6 you may be eligible to apply through the Qualification Certificate Program – Work Experience application to qualify to work in the trade and challenge the examination.

Thanks


So i dont no if you could wing it or not and say you have the 6 years done:rolleyes:

kev33

Go to tables section, table 1 has ampacity for cables and cables in raceways( conduit, tray etc are considered raceways). Forget about insulation resistance testing cause its not done here really and it's not on the red seal.

No you can't do the red seal without finishing your time unfortunately as far as i know. I produced my cert and a couple of references and they approved me. The trade cert is the most important part, they would probably approve ya just on that.

JustRoss23

lads out of a matter of interest in B.C. is there a theory and a practical or just a theory? how hard are they?:D And i always wonderd where the more money was is it a construction electrician or industrial electrician?:D

breno69

balisimo wrote: »

Hows it going everybody?
I got a visa and I am moving to Vancouver. I recently got approval to challenge the Red seal Construction Electrician Exam. Im sitting the exam on the 25th of January and I have been studying the last few months but I have just been told by a lady at the ITA that I will need to produce a Canadian ID on the day of the test such as a driving license or national ID card. My problem is I do not land in Canada till the 21st of January which only gives me 4 days to get an ID or I cannot sit the exam, a national ID card takes 4 to 6 weeks to be posted out to you.
Does anybody know if its possible to get a Canadian ID on the day by bringing my passport ect with me?
Has anybody else encountered a similar problem? I have my passport and driving license but the ITA will not accept these. It is a bit ridiculous considering the amount of foreign people that sit their exams.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi,
Im thinking bout going to Vancouver in the next few months seeking work as Electrician. Just wondring how you got on out there and how you found it workwise ? Also what papers do you need bring out with you to prove Qualifications. Basically what I'm asking is what is best thing for me to do here in Ireland before I head out in order to improve my chances of work, also with red seal exam any advice on it would greatly help plus it's cost.
Thanks again and hope you read this soon and can reply..!!

pig88

I am an electrician aswell and I am heading over to Vancouver on the 16th of Jan,I got the sheets for challenging the red seal off this site> http://itabc.ca/applying-challenge-certification ,I will post here again and let you know what its like

breno69

Cheers thanks, Ya do keep in touch on this cas any bit of info will be a great help. Did you have post any papers to prove your qualified or anything like that.?

el diablo

breno69 wrote: »

Cheers thanks, Ya do keep in touch on this cas any bit of info will be a great help. Did you have post any papers to prove your qualified or anything like that.?

Not sure how it is for BC but for Alberta you need to show them 72 months and 8775 hours of experience as an electrician. They also need original trade certs etc.

el diablo

JustRoss23 wrote: »

"Yea i no someone who had been working in the electrical game for years never done an apprenticeship as such and he got recognized in Calgary without papers. but he had probably proof of 200 months and was able to get counted that way. i am in the same boat was an apprentice electrician have 9000 hours but short few months to get my cert. i am going to chance it and maybe tell a few white lies;)"

I'm 100% sure you've no chance of getting recognised as a electrician in Alberta without your trade papers.

breno69

el diablo wrote: »

I'm 100% sure you've no chance of getting recognised as a electrician in Alberta without your trade papers.

Ya i would say trade papers very important alright, but by papers i presume you just mean the Electricial Cert sheet you get at end of training or is there wore sheets needed.??

el diablo

breno69 wrote: »

Ya i would say trade papers very important alright, but by papers i presume you just mean the Electricial Cert sheet you get at end of training or is there wore sheets needed.??

You need your National Craft Cert./FETAC Cert that proves that you served your time as an electrician. Then you need 72 months experience and 8775 hours experience and they do actually call your previous employers for proof. Not sure what you mean by wore (work?) sheets. That's for Alberta, not sure about other provinces.

Good luck.

tevion1

Im looking into going to Canada too, only getting short term jobs here at the moment. I'm qualified with 5 years post apprenticeship time done, ive worked in industrial, commercial, domestic, oil and gas and mining sectors. I signed up with pivot but have not received anything back. I would love the challenge (and the money) of working in the oil sands, fort mcmurray, alberta area. Are there any Irish sparks on here working out there?

Also I remember seeing a link for a forum for Irish people in Canada, can't find it now though! Anyone know it?

s14a johno

hey all anyone still waiting on there papers to clear?
ive send my paper work over but got no email confiriming they
got them, send over in december...............

stuff sent to alberta app borad, to get my liance to sit my exam

s14a johno

anyone know how many weeks the back log is with alberta app borad, still waitn on papers to clear

m.j.w

I read somewhere earlier that the back log is 6-8 weeks!

s14a johno

m.j.w wrote: »

I read somewhere earlier that the back log is 6-8 weeks!

thank you good sir

s14a johno

does anyone know if there another book, apart from the rules and regs regarding motor's, and general stuff ............

Pac1Man

Hi, I thought I would ask in here instead of creating a new thread. Regarding the X amount of hours required, does your apprenticeship count towards that? Also, would documentation from FAS be enough as proof of these hours worked during the apprenticeship?

My reason for asking is I have worked for 6-7 companies solely throughout my time, some of which are not in business anymore. I can imagine trying to get written proof from these companies would be nothing short of a nightmare.

Thanks in advance.

m.j.w

Pac1Man wrote: »

Hi, I thought I would ask in here instead of creating a new thread. Regarding the X amount of hours required, does your apprenticeship count towards that? Also, would documentation from FAS be enough as proof of these hours worked during the apprenticeship?

My reason for asking is I have worked for 6-7 companies solely throughout my time, some of which are not in business anymore. I can imagine trying to get written proof from these companies would be nothing short of a nightmare.

Thanks in advance.

Yea the time in your apprenticeship counts alright. By the looks of things the letters from employers are needed just as much as the cert if not more so. Can you get a couple of employers to say you done longer stints with them? Are you long out of your time? Where are you thinking of heading?

bucket and spade

Hey i sent of my application to AAIT in edmonton to get my electrical trade recognised. i sent it on the 7th of Dec from ireland and they only received it on the 4th of Jan and at that stage they said they were very busy and it would take 2 months to process.

Pac1Man

m.j.w wrote: »

Yea the time in your apprenticeship counts alright. By the looks of things the letters from employers are needed just as much as the cert if not more so. Can you get a couple of employers to say you done longer stints with them? Are you long out of your time? Where are you thinking of heading?

Thanks for your reply. I got on fairly well with my past employers so there shouldn't be that great a difficulty asking one or two of them to extend my duration with them (hopefully).

I am out of my time since last August however I decided to go back to college in September full-time for a year to finish a level 7 course I was doing part-time along with my apprenticeship. I'm trying to deside whether to continue with that or set the wheels in motion for a trip abroad.

It's a fairly big decision, one which would force me to live the student life for another two years or else finally start earning some decent money. At this early stage I am just trying to get all of the facts together so I will have a better understanding for when the time comes.

Regarding location, I have heard good stories about Calgary although I am not sure what employment is like for sparks down there. Ideally I would like to avoid the big Irish contingent if possible so that may rule out the larger cities. This is all just homework so far though.

m.j.w

Pac1Man wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. I got on fairly well with my past employers so there shouldn't be that great a difficulty asking one or two of them to extend my duration with them (hopefully).

I am out of my time since last August however I decided to go back to college in September full-time for a year to finish a level 7 course I was doing part-time along with my apprenticeship. I'm trying to deside whether to continue with that or set the wheels in motion for a trip abroad.

It's a fairly big decision, one which would force me to live the student life for another two years or else finally start earning some decent money. At this early stage I am just trying to get all of the facts together so I will have a better understanding for when the time comes.

Regarding location, I have heard good stories about Calgary although I am not sure what employment is like for sparks down there. Ideally I would like to avoid the big Irish contingent if possible so that may rule out the larger cities. This is all just homework so far though.

There is loads of work in Alberta and thats where I wanted to go but to get your trade recognized there you need to have 72 months work experience.If your only out of your time in August you wont be able to work there, I emailed them and said I had the 9000 hours experience but didnt have 72 months and they said I need the 6 years experience. In Ontario and Brittish Colombia you only need the 9000 hours so thats why im heading to toronto first. Did you get your certificate of fas yet and if so how long did it take. Im heading to toronto in may and hoping to have my cert by then. I finished there in December.

JustRoss23

but wont ye guys have an issue when you go to transfer your journeyman cards issued in bc or ortario to alberta they will still see you have not the 72months done? unless you spend 2 years working in torento?

m.j.w

JustRoss23 wrote: »

but wont ye guys have an issue when you go to transfer your journeyman cards issued in bc or ortario to alberta they will still see you have not the 72months done? unless you spend 2 years working in torento?

The 72 months experience is only to register with them to get a temporary license and then to chalenge the exam. As fas as im aware if you sit the red seal and pass it in toronto you can work anywhere in Canada and then the 72 months doesnt matter as your already qualified.