Moving to Toronto - IEC Confusion! :/

were you heading ross

toronto shting meself heading over on me own in the same boat as you only have a year at a trade and basic IT certs so be looking to get work doing anything i can, when you heading over.

ladybird23 wrote: »

CVs are a bit time consuming but worth putting time into! Get someone to help you who has experience doing them! I have quite a recent one so just a matter up updating it!

thats true you are better updating it to the canadian format before you leave so you dont have to do it over there i have heard they wont even look at your cv if its in irish format

ladybird23 wrote: »

Canadian format? I didnt realise there were different formats for each country? What is that?

this is a good website i found http://www.moving2canada.com they go throw everything you need

ladybird23 wrote: »

Not 100% sure yet, Alberta is standing out at the minute! What about you?

Toronto for me you heading over with people or on your own

ladybird23 wrote: »

Going with my boyfriend, he wants to get work over there so headin with him! Albertas lookin good for his type of work ( shuttering). im a teacher but up for doing any type of work cos teaching jobs are scarce!

Thats good adlest you have someone to go with, I like toronto because of the US cities it close to plan on seeing a good bit while i am there

ladybird23 wrote: »

I couldnt go it alone, too scary Going out to make a bit of money and hopefully see about us a bit, I hear theres some amazing places to see in Canada! Will be an experiecne if nothing else

yes i am shting myself every few days i change my mide ha But the experiecne is probably the main reason i am going beats siting at home doing nothing getting the dole

I sent in a couple off applications for myself and a friend last year..
1. Get your Garda clearance ready
2. Have a cv covering the last 10 years ready. Ensure there's no unexplained employment gaps.
3. If you've been abroad for more than 6 months in the last 10 years get police clearance from those places.
4. Check the IEC website regularly.
5. When they open the visa's, download the application forms, complete and send away. Before you send them, save them onto your desktop as you will need a copy of some of them again. (Good idea to keep copies regardsless).
6. They will send you a "provisional acceptance" which is when they also request payment.
7. Send payment through bank, scan and copy everything you send, get receipts for everything you send. Copy all receipts, lodgement stubs etc. They don't ask you to send a copy of the stub, but I did anyway, didn't do any harm and can't hurt.
8.Wait. And wait.

Well, last year they said no more than 8 weeks, but it was actually more like 12. There was a huge backlog - everybody seemed to apply the minute they opened and they're dealt with on a first come first served basis. IEC were totally unprepared for the influx and the normal wait time for last year was at least 12 to 16 weeks. In fairness, they send you an email at each stage, so you know that your application is progressing, but they don't take calls and you can't enquire at random, no tracking number to check or anything like that. Again, that was last year, maybe things will be a little more efficient this time round!!! Here's hoping!!

JustRoss23 wrote: »

Thanks minnow12 are u in canada atm?if so hows it goin?:D

Not too bad at all - if you've a trade you'll fly it, no trade like me, and you'll manage ok... There's a lot of money in the trades - anything to do with construction or oil fields and you're in business.
Much harder for women to get decent paying jobs - plenty of work available at $13/ $14 an hour in offices/ retail etc., but that money is crap, especially when you consider the cost of living (in my experience) is actually higher than home. Compare that to what the guys are making (about $30\ hr depending on what they do) and it's very frustrating.
I like it here, but I'm working 2 jobs just to make ends meet. But then, all the guys work as much overtime as they can so all the Irish here seem to work at least 6 days a week, if not more..
Overall, it's good, looking forward to this winter I've been hearing so much about!

You'll be grand - it'll take you a week to get a job sorted -try to go with the bigger companies and make sure they have benefits aswell as a good wage.. don't be afraid to ask for money, they'll pay you!
Bigger companies have better wages, they'll send you on training courses to get your "tickets" - everything over here requires a cert of some kind, but they'll pay for you to do them in the big places. (Even to work in a bar you need to do a Proserve course). Fall arrest, WHMID, anything else you show interest in tell them and they'll arrange for you to do the relevant training course..
There are some companies that don't offer benefits - they aren't legally required to - but if, for example, you need an x-ray just to have a wisdom tooth removed - it's $500 for the x-ray ALONE!!! I dread to think what itd be if you broke your leg/ arm and couldn't work for a few months.

just stick your cash onto your credit card - visa/ mastercard accepted everywhere.

Good idea to get one, even an Ulster bank visa debit..

I'm living in Oz for the past 2 years and was wondering if I need a garda clearance from back home as well as a police cert and traffic history report from Oz? Cheers!

Yep, don't stay in a hostel with cash. Oddly enough, the first hostel I stayed in wouldn't actually let me pay with cash, still not sure why, but it's def safer not to make yourself a target and also, what happens if all your dosh got swiped??? At least with a card, something can be done if it goes missing!
Also, set up a bank acc as soon as you get an address and the recmommendation from the banks here, for those who want to stay here long term, is get a credit card- purely and simply to start building up a credit history in Canada. Even one with a low credit limit. You can get a mortgage after a year, (as per BMO) obviously as long as you have a downpayment, and permanent residency etc, but the only real way to build up a credit history is through using and paying off your credit card every month.
Also, ask your bank if they do starter packages for newly arrived foreign workers in Canada. Most of the starter packages don't charge monthly fees for the first 6 mnths. or a year, (BMO and Scotia bank dont) but some do - sometimes up to $30 per month. This might change by the time you come over, so always ask .
If I've realised one thing here, it pays to shop around....