How much money are you planning on bringing for IEC?

zweton

If i get the visa i may hold out on going until March 2014. Hoping to have a nice chunk going then,how much are ye planing on going with?

aN.Droid

zweton wrote: »

If i get the visa i may hold out on going until March 2014. Hoping to have a nice chunk going then,how much are ye planing on going with?

I think you have to have at least 2500 dollars don't you?

I wouldn't do it without at least 4k though.

zweton

ya, was hoping to have about 8 myself.

aN.Droid

zweton wrote: »

ya, was hoping to have about 8 myself.

That will be plenty enough to get you going. Are you gonna be looking for a job over there or using it as an extended holiday?

Either way 8k will last you a good 6 months if you budget it right.

JustRoss23

$4.5K:)

zweton

ya looking to get working pretty much straight away, cant decide when to go though. september will be starting to get cold so maybe i should go in march when its starting to pick up a bit. hmmm will need to think about it:)

NewsMeQuick

Anyone else? Taking in all the figures I was thinking about €700 per month for a single person?

Savings is clearly related to time that it takes to get work, but there is huge variance on that from within 2 weeks to 4 months .... :eek:

wittyusername

Depends on where you're going but on the whole I'd say bring more money that you think you'll need. You can budget for sure, but it'll take a while before you find your feet and you'll need cash in the meantime. It's hard to put a figure on it.

At exchange rate at the moment is favourable for people coming to Canada from Euro countries. So save up while you're at home and bring it all here instead - if you feel bad about missing out of beers in Ireland, remember that you'll have that money to spend on the superior craft beers over here

NewsMeQuick

wittyusername wrote: »

Depends on where you're going but on the whole I'd say bring more money that you think you'll need. You can budget for sure, but it'll take a while before you find your feet and you'll need cash in the meantime. It's hard to put a figure on it.

At exchange rate at the moment is favourable for people coming to Canada from Euro countries. So save up while you're at home and bring it all here instead - if you feel bad about missing out of beers in Ireland, remember that you'll have that money to spend on the superior craft beers over here

Thanks a lot mate. That's good advice.

As for the saving-now-for-later, I'm on it! I've been doing it all year. :rolleyes: I have about €3,500 to start off, after putting aside another €1,400 here for flights/insurance/etc. Save more than you expect...that sounds right.

NewsMeQuick

So where is everyone at now? A few months have passed and the EUR/CAD rate has appreciated considerably. Any other singletons heading to a big city?

I just seen on Facebook yesterday lots of young Irish running out of money from a starting point of €5000 ... I'm thinking budgeting may be an issue! I will not be a fun-time frankie blowing money while jobless ... I'm setting aside a modest amount for looking alive outside, but I'll batton down the hatches and budget like I've been doing up until now methinks. Job first, fun later.

fergusb

When I came over to Van last year I decided on the have fun first, job later (you get very little holidays normally!). I was surprised how quick I went through money! I guess it all depends on how quick you can get a job, but do bear in mind that it can be a slow process. I have had friends here who between applying and getting the job was a few months.

If you are not working, paying rent, paying food and enjoying doing stuff (its easy to get bored doing nothing!), a few months will cost a quite a few dollars.

Basically what I'm saying is if you plan to budget until you get a job.... plan for a few months! Actually it probably all depends on what area you're looking for work in....

NewsMeQuick

Yeah again with the planning for the worst (hoping for the best ) It's a lot of stress later when you have fun at the start, :eek: I'll save my poor nerves this time lol. I did a year in Italy.

I'm bringing at least $5000, maybe a tiny bit more. I see people report excellent success in finding work via recruitment agencies. You sign up, they revamp your CV into a resume format and get you going. Ideally, I'll go for an office job and then I'm open to anything career-like. I hope $5k at $1k roughly per month isn't bad? I'll go for a house-share in the suburbs.

robcarty011rc

So far I have $5250 saved up and am hoping to have at least $8500 by the time I'd be hoping to head over in April.

I'd like to spend 6 weeks travelling around Canada and enjoying myself before I start looking for work & a place to live so the closer I can get to $10 K the better.

With regards to recruitment agencies; I got a job in a bank straight out of college in May thanks to a recruitment agency in Dublin who also have Offices in Toronto & you are right in saying that they are great for sorting your CV out which would be a massive help but also be weary that they will take a % of your weekly wage.

EI-DOR

At the minute I've around 2000 sterling. The folks said they will help me out with a bit more so I can get out of here in March hopefully. Once I get over to Edmonton I'm getting the gas tickets sorted straight away and going to the Oil and Gas companies. I was told they start looking in March / April time. Not worried about seeing the place!

DizeeLizzie

EI-DOR wrote: »

At the minute I've around 2000 sterling. The folks said they will help me out with a bit more so I can get out of here in March hopefully. Once I get over to Edmonton I'm getting the gas tickets sorted straight away and going to the Oil and Gas companies. I was told they start looking in March / April time. Not worried about seeing the place!

Hi EI-DOR, my boyfirend and I are heading to Canada at the end of March, and he was looking to get into the oil and Gas companies as well. What gas tickets are you getting sorted for this?

Thanks

Durag

EI-DOR wrote: »

At the minute I've around 2000 sterling. The folks said they will help me out with a bit more so I can get out of here in March hopefully. Once I get over to Edmonton I'm getting the gas tickets sorted straight away and going to the Oil and Gas companies. I was told they start looking in March / April time. Not worried about seeing the place!

DizeeLizzie wrote: »

Hi EI-DOR, my boyfirend and I are heading to Canada at the end of March, and he was looking to get into the oil and Gas companies as well. What gas tickets are you getting sorted for this?

Thanks

Im curious about the gas companies as well, i work in IT here in Ireland, but i want to make a bit of money as quickly as possible in Canada and i hear the oil and gas companies towards the north are the way to guarantee lots of money. I have no real background in construction, would i have any hope of getting a job in a gas and oil company? Edmonton is more than likley my desired destination. And how do these gas tickets work?

Have about $4500 saved up but going to do nothing for the next 3-4 months and save as much as possible (easier said than done, already getting bored!)

EI-DOR

but i want to make a bit of money as quickly as possible in Canada and i hear the oil and gas companies towards the north are the way to guarantee lots of money. I have no real background in construction, would i have any hope of getting a job in a gas and oil company? Edmonton is more than likley my desired destination. And how do these gas tickets work?

That's why I'm going over to work in the Oil and Gas. Going to save as much as I can over the 2 years and do my Engineering Degree when I get back home!

If you don't mind hard work, 12 hour shifts a day at minus 20 odd then you will be fine. You will have to start as a Leasehand and work your way up. The below website will give you some information!

http://www.toughnecks.com/become_drilling.php#h2s

Durag

EI-DOR wrote: »

That's why I'm going over to work in the Oil and Gas. Going to save as much as I can over the 2 years and do my Engineering Degree when I get back home!

If you don't mind hard work, 12 hour shifts a day at minus 20 odd then you will be fine. You will have to start as a Leasehand and work your way up. The below website will give you some information!

http://www.toughnecks.com/become_drilling.php#h2s

Great, thanks man!

EI-DOR

This is one Company in Edmonton that does the H2S and First Aid training!

http://www.cal-source.com/

Son

Mid to end of March is spring break up in the oil fields,thats just when they start shutting down for spring,unless your talking about the oil sands further north where it gets busy at that time but you'd want a lot of money going up there.I only know this from reading as Im hoping to get into that area myself.

Id probably go with at least $8500 as I will be buying a car hopefully,the exchange rate is good at the min,hopeflly it stays that way for the next few months.

This is worrying me immensely. I was planning to go over with around $3000. Things are tight here, no way I can find an extra 2-3k before my IEC clearance expires!

I planned to leave with the 3k in May, get a summer job, find my feet, then get into looking into proper jobs. Should I forget about May & book my flights for the day before my clearance expires, squeeze every last penny out of my current Irish <20kpa job!?

NewsMeQuick

^^

I don't know how much you plan to have by May, but in the absolute worst case scenario, you could book a cheap flight (€500) and stay for a weekend, that way you activate your visa. My understanding was that you could activate the visa and spend time abroad without any problems. Of course I'd double-check that if considering doing that.

The least I've seen anyone going over with is $5000 I think. The exchange rate is at it's best in 5 years:

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=EURCAD=X&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

A positive attitude seems to be key to getting along, but I wouldn't 'hope' for much, the young Irish running out of cash in Aussieland hoping to get a 'job off the plane' are the ones making the headlines in the charties, reporting back to the Irish govt. You hope for the best but save for the worst essentially.

Many young fellas here are only out of school and saved on the dole for a year, having found it impossible to get work. If you're on a 20k job, surely you could knuckle down?

I had saved a fair bit, but I basically had to blow everything I'd saved just before Christmas to pay unforeseen (not Christmas related!) expenses. My IEC clearance is from July 2013, so I have until July 2014 to enter Canada. Plan is to go over, get my medic cert (EFR) converted on an accelerated course (to EMA), do a summer job in a small place like Nanaimo or Port Alberni, then come September get a gas fields job (fairly strong position, 14 years experience with a voluntary ambulance org).

I've lived like a student most of my life, I'd be able to do it again if I need to!

NewsMeQuick

Well here's one thread that might take a positve view of the later IEC opening. We can save just that little bit more.

I'm looking at about just under €4k.

I still see many people saying just transfer it to your new Canadian bank account. That would convert that their inhouse rate, right? I seen one of the banks had 1.39. It's at 1.50 now. Why in God's name would you waste all that money on a bad rate...