Contracting in Canada

[Zero Liability]

I think the situation is good. I don't think companies will sponsor you to come over to Canada to work. They could easily find the skills in Canada or across the border in USA.

Well personally my own plan is to do a graduate scheme in accountancy at one of the Big Six over here, then go abroad, and Canada is definitely on my radar. Depending on whether contracting in accountancy is more lucrative than perm roles, I am considering that. I like the flexibility you have with contracting when it comes to controlling how your money is allocated. Which Canadian cities are good for this sort of work? Also am I right to assume that Canada's pretty similar to the UK in terms of its public transport?

[redgiant]

Well personally my own plan is to do a graduate scheme in accountancy at one of the Big Six over here, then go abroad, and Canada is definitely on my radar. Depending on whether contracting in accountancy is more lucrative than perm roles, I am considering that. I like the flexibility you have with contracting when it comes to controlling how your money is allocated. Which Canadian cities are good for this sort of work? Also am I right to assume that Canada's pretty similar to the UK in terms of its public transport?

Certainly know that several of the big six have a presence in Calgary ... I know someone there now who got transferred from the UK to there with one of them.

I can't speak about accountancy (i'm a PM) but I would guess that starting your own LTD will be more lucrative as long as you have a healthy number of clients willing to supply you work. The alternative is to try to climb up to being a partner but as you will know the competition for those roles is very strong. Start to network and find out once you get your feet through the door

Public transport is OK but coming from London most cities are poor in comparison. Vancouver has the Skytrain which is a little like a larger version of the DLR and takes you straight into downtown from the airport. The busses were quite good in Vancouver too. Toronto was not so good and I wish they would do something about linking up the city with the airport as it takes ages to get into town on the coach especially when there is bad traffic

[knight007]

Well personally my own plan is to do a graduate scheme in accountancy at one of the Big Six over here, then go abroad, and Canada is definitely on my radar. Depending on whether contracting in accountancy is more lucrative than perm roles, I am considering that. I like the flexibility you have with contracting when it comes to controlling how your money is allocated. Which Canadian cities are good for this sort of work? Also am I right to assume that Canada's pretty similar to the UK in terms of its public transport?

You will need a car there. It's difficult to get from A to B without a car.

[v6g]

Where exactly are these vacancies, and for what roles?

Embedded Engineering in Vancouver

[herman_g]

Toronto was not so good and I wish they would do something about linking up the city with the airport as it takes ages to get into town on the coach especially when there is bad traffic

If you live in Toronto, you need to either have friends / relatives to do the airport run or get to know an airport limo driver - much more common than you would think ( my first landlord and a close neighbor both did this ).

Because the airport is technically not located in Toronto ( it's in Mississauga ), the politics are just not there to have any decent form of public airport transport. When I first moved to Toronto in 1986, I would take the bus from Islington subway station to the airport. There was this bizarrre tradition of the bus driver announcing you have just entered Mississauga and you needed to come to the fare box and deposit another dollar or something. There were only about 4 or 5 people on the bus at this point and he wouldn't go anywhere until everybody either deposited the extended fare or left the bus.

Other than that, you could pretty much get anywhere you needed to go by subway / tram if you lived fairly central. Not living fairly central, you need a car to live in Toronto - especially once you get somewhere up in "cottage country" to go to on weekends.

Toronto vs. Vancouver, if you're skillset allows you to work in Vancouver ( my market has always been confined to the banks in Toronto ), hands-down that's the place to live. Climate is the nicest and the lifestyle is more similar to California.

If you're single male, I would not recommend Toronto. The ratio of women to men is low. Once you do manage to get a girlfriend or two ( takes ages ), you'll find the women in Toronto do not make good partners. I could write a book on that topic and so could a great many of my Toronto friends. I don't know of more than a couple guys who've had successful marriages to those women. The two or three women there that I almost married have been divorced at least twice by now ( I still get internet stalked by one who is married and tells me she is so lonely ). I sure made lucky escapes!

[Sockpuppet]

Pretty much just football and alcohol for leisure activities over here.

Your not looking in the right places

[Zero Liability]

Not too worried about women since I don't lean that way anyway.

Regardless, what sort of contracts concentrate in Vancouver and Toronto, then?

I am thinking of going with that route redgiant, basically getting into one of the Big Six over here (or similar), then transferring to Canada or Australia. Canada looks very appealing on paper.

[v6g]

Regardless, what sort of contracts concentrate in Vancouver and Toronto, then?

Tech, Finance and Resources mostly.

[Willapp]

Interesting discussion. My wife and I are currently looking at emigrating to Canada permanently. I'm currently a contract software developer (mainly C#) and trying to work out whether I could get a visa and carry on contracting or if it's better/easier to find a permanent role?

Looking at the Alberta area (Edmonton / Calgary) as some Canadian friends reckon the IT markets are fairly good there but equally would consider Vancouver as it's supposed to be an awesome place to live.

Any ideas what the best route is towards getting a job there and do people with experience living/working in Canada recommend it?

[chinglish]

Unless you have a rare or management skill it will be hard to get into Canada. I have a Canadian wife and being a spouse we go straight to the front of the queue which is still 10 months long. You cannot just go to Canada and find a job then apply for a visa - you have to be offered the job before you arrive and have that job cleared by immigration prior to your arrival. There is a shortage of hardware/software management but not to much on the developer side


All the info you want is here Home - Citizenship and Immigration Canada - Canada