Questions About Engineer and Imigration

[Gustavo Silvano]

Hello there!

My name is Gustavo and I'm from Brazil. I have a degree on Electrical Engineer and currently working on steel mill plant as a junior engineer. But my dream is to immigrate to Canada.

I want to know if as an Electrical Engineer I have a good chance to work there. And is there any specific area that is growing more and need more professionals.

Best regards.

Gustavo

 

[TGS4]

Canada is a mighty big country. And each of the ten provinces regulate the practice of engineering independently. Where are you interested in?

 

[berkshire]

Canada also has a points system for entry based on education and age. If you do not score a certain number of points on their system you do not get in.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[Lomarandil]

The Canadians here will likely chime in that their market for engineers is oversaturated -- especially in the plains provinces that have been hit hard by the oil/gas sector layoffs, there are more engineers than engineering jobs.

That said, in the US there is a healthy demand for engineers working in high-voltage power transmission. If that's already your specialty, or you are able to learn some of the codes (NESC) and software packages (PLS-CADD) commonly used before applying for jobs, I suspect your case for immigration would improve.

 

[MintJulep]

From about a year ago. thread731-388265

 

[Gustavo Silvano]

Thanks for the replies. So...

TGS4, I was thinking on Alberta, cause there we have some hydro power plants, and it's intresting for me to work on this area.
Berkshire, my plan is to firt study there and them try to immigrate. This way I'll get some score bonus, having more chances to get in.
Lomarandil, isn't immigration to USA more difficult this days?

Best regards.

Gustavo

 

[nlgyro]

Its pretty brutal in Canada at the moment. The national unemployment rate is at ~7%, and in some provinces its as high as 8.6%. Here is a fairly recent article from the Globe & Mail.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repo...adas-july-employment-figures/article31286881/

 

[Gustavo Silvano]

It's just that I tired of Brazil, and I'm trying to move forward to a better country. Besides Canada, is there any other country that is good the receive immigrants to work as engineer?

 

[TGS4]

Approximately 60,000 engineering professionals (engineers, geologists, and geophysicists) have lost their jobs in Alberta over the last 2 years. Your timing couldn't be worse.

If you were bringing skills that no other local had, then I think that you would be welcomed with open arms. As a junior engineer, you would be competing with thousands of unemployed (and hungry) other engineers that likely have more experience compared to you.

 

[moltenmetal]

If you can get in, it might work out for you. But it also might not.

It is unlikely that you will get in without a pre-arranged job though, unless the rules have changed (again).

It is also very likely that if you do get in, you will soon have to do something other than engineering in order to make a living.

If that isn't an acceptable outcome, you have to decide whether or not it's worth the cost and time to bother trying.

It's a great country right now, unlike Brazil which always threatens to some day become a great country but never really gets there. It is also a very large country, physically, though in population there are fewer Canadians than there are Californians.

The key fact is that only 30% of engineering graduates already in Canada actually work as engineers. That statistic is accurate and based on the Census data, so it's hard to argue with. It has been getting steadily worse over the past 20 years. Part of the reason is immigration, but even if immigration stopped tomorrow we would still be graduating too many engineers for our labour market. We're not the only country in that situation but we certainly ARE in that situation.

 

[andriver]

I work in the US, but our company has offices in Canada. I haven't gone to work there yet, but my colleagues that have, have had a difficult time and that is with a professional agency doing all the paper work. Just food for thought.

 

[Gustavo Silvano]

In fact, my plan is first to look for a college, study 2 years, then work 2 more years, and after that try to immigrate. If it doesn't work, I'll still have a life experience.

 

[GroovyGuy]

Hi Gustavo,
Don't give up on Canada quite yet. Yes,it is true that the oil-patch in Alberta is having a real tough go right now, but there are Engineering opportunities outside of the oil industry.

I would think that even if you applied today with Immigration Canada, it will take a couple of years before you receive a Landed Immigrate Card. Some 'experts' have indicated that things should turn-around in the oil-patch by then, but I have some doubts that it will ever return to what it was.

Also, you mentioned hydro-electric power. BC and Quebec are the big players in this field. Alberta has very little hydro power generation.

I do know that you do have a significant advantage if you have some fluency in French, in addition to English. That would help you considerably with your Immigration application.

As an aside, in the office where I work in Vancouver, we have approx 100 professional engineers, of which 50% are naturalized Canadians and 30% are first-generation. I am one of the few native-born engineers; it's like working at the UN (ie this is a very good thing). Even the Owner of our company is an ex-Brit (of Indian ancestry).

Regards,
GG

"Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then." -- Bob Seger

 

[SNORGY]

Hi Gustavo.

Don't give up on your dream, but do understand that in the past couple of years it's become a much more difficult dream to realize.

I graduated from engineering here in Alberta in 1983. It was really bad then; in my own case, I applied for 1,200 jobs, got 2 interviews and - after 13 months and several thousand dollars in expenses related exclusively to my job search - 1 offer. It was simply brutal.

As bad as it was then, here and now in 2015-2016, it's much worse, especially for young people trying to crack into the profession. Invest whatever time and resources that you have available into a polished resume, good interview skills, and - as unfortunate and unfair as this is going to seem - written and spoken English skills.

Are you seeking acceptance into a Canadian university? If your academic credentials are high and you do come up as a student, those skills will be that much easier for you to develop over time, but start now. And, certainly, maintain your academic credentials and be sure to make use of a student co-op program.

 

[ZeroSeq]

As an electrical engineer in Alberta, I have to agree with SNORGY that things are extremely difficult for engineering as a whole. Low price and inherent monopsony of our product, WCS, as well as both levels of government (federal and provincial) doing everything in their power to prevent investment in our industry, will ensure a slow and grueling return to prosperity. Even when things start getting better, I don't believe we will ever see the booms like prior to 2007 and 2014.

 

[DerbyLoco]

Canada is no doubt a great country but have you considered Europe and especially the UK. In my work place half the engineers are non UK citizens with only 2 of them being from the EU with the rest from Asia, Africa and the Middle East. This is a fairly common situation and my managers constantly complain that they cannot get staff, (but then they never want to pay to train anyone up). The downside is that with the UK supposed to be leaving the EU things are uncertain. Another place to conciser would be Australia perhaps.

 

[Murec]

Alberta is great when the oil prices are high, not so much right now.
If you are looking for hydro power plants in Alberta, you are in the wrong place. Try BC, Ontario, Quebec, NL or New Brunswick, even Manitoba.
There they call electricity "hydro", here we don't.