Looking Abroad

[DaveB]

I wasn't necessarily thinking about it in terms of contracting but clearly I need to research the topic more. Never been to either country.

What do you guys think of Canada btw?

Con's:

Cold
Bears
French

Pro's:

Not America

[psychocandy]

Heard generally good things about Canada.
Both my missus and my brother and his wife have gone, they all enjoyed it.

A fair amount of contract work there, as far as I'm aware.

Whats the visa situation like for Canada?

Always fancied US but I understand contract work is virtualyl impossible because of the need to get an employer to sponsor the visa.

[MrMarkyMark]

Whats the visa situation like for Canada?

Always fancied US but I understand contract work is virtualyl impossible because of the need to get an employer to sponsor the visa.

Contract working is considered the poor mans choice, compared to Perm, in the US.

[stek]

Whats the visa situation like for Canada?

Always fancied US but I understand contract work is virtualyl impossible because of the need to get an employer to sponsor the visa.

Not sure there's any countries left that will issue work permits that earned tied to a sponsor. UK used to, Tier 1 General, that's been closed for years. So contracting is more or less a closed door for a foreigner without dual nationality or enable to use EU rights.

[psychocandy]

Contract working is considered the poor mans choice, compared to Perm, in the US.

So I heard....

[MrMarkyMark]

So I heard....

Quality was rubbish, as well, in my discipline and related.
I had 5 US based contractors, reporting into me, when I was at BNYM.

[oliverson]

I wasn't necessarily thinking about it in terms of contracting but clearly I need to research the topic more. Never been to either country.

What do you guys think of Canada btw?

Lined up 7 interviews in New Zealand after the dotcom crash. I got an offer for a permie role in Christchurch but it never came good, the owner of the business (iTouch Mobility) wasn't in a position to offer anybody a role as he'd just sold the business and was seeing out his tenure. Kind of glad that happened because I then went into contracting and of course the Christchurch earthquake happened. NZ is a beautiful, beautiful place, especially the south island, but there's no real contracting market there (a bit like the UK in the next couple of years). Hence the reason the London market is infested with kiwi's all with a chip on their shoulder, out to try and prove something. I liken it to small dog syndrome. :-D

[redgiant]

Contract working is considered the poor mans choice, compared to Perm, in the US.

Not true - There are plenty of freelancers in the US across many industries. It's worthwhile especially if you have health insurance already.

I'm one of them now

Quality was rubbish, as well, in my discipline and related.
I had 5 US based contractors, reporting into me, when I was at BNYM.

You can get bad contractors anywhere in the world. If they were reporting into you then why not give them the snip and hire someone more capable.

[Zero Liability]

Also a bit concerned about the fact that NZ and Australia (and Canada) are more exposed to China's faltering, volatile economic performance than the UK is, as they were all major beneficiaries of the commodities boom.

I really do fancy the US, but this is what would put me off it if I were to consider relocation there, in the event that I later wanted to leave.

At any rate, it's all rather moot for the time being as I want to change my skillset first before moving, which will take a year or two to get started.

[redgiant]

Also a bit concerned about the fact that NZ and Australia (and Canada) are more exposed to China's faltering, volatile economic performance than the UK is, as they were all major beneficiaries of the commodities boom.

I really do fancy the US, but this is what would put me off it if I were to consider relocation there, in the event that I later wanted to leave.

At any rate, it's all rather moot for the time being as I want to change my skillset first before moving, which will take a year or two to get started.

You can always give up your US green card if you have no intention of working back in the US when you leave. If you later returned to work in the US you would need to go through the whole visa application process again though.