I know someone that called Bison yesterday, no LMIA’s, been told to call them again in April.
I work at Searcy, I was talking with our recruiter & safety officer the other week, I asked about these LMIA things & Searcy aren’t even applying for any, Searcy won’t touch & never have any driver who doesn’t posses or has possessed a CDL for Canada they won’t look at You if You can’t prove flat deck experience in Canada, they had 5 LMO’s 3 of us are still there 2 of us have PR one is on PNP still & two left back for The UK.
I heard said that Bison may try for LMIA, I came over in 2006 & got offered a job at Bison but declined the offer iirc the firm of lawyers charged $5000 to immigrate You etc. I thought Bison a very professional outfit when I visited them for an interview & would put them well ahead of most other Dry Van/Reefer outfits, there pike pay puts most others to shame & I know of a long term Searcy driver that’s there now, there’s a Scotsmen that left Searcy too whose on there doing pikes, The Canuck I know says its money for old rope. I would look at working for them if I wasn’t a flat deck bloke at heart.
I can’t quote rates of pay for others but My last year as a company driver at Searcy I averaged 56:9 cpm which I feel is pretty good, I’ve always been at the top of the miles too & managed 136,000 on the clock last year if My memory serves me correctly. I did 2 years as a company driver & have become a lease operator for them now, there lease programme is pretty good too IMHO & I will keep on with that although I’ve cut back My mileage by 10,000 per annum.
If I hear anything about LMIA’s I will post it up, I personally think this new system will make the job harder to get in but seeing that driver retention is so poor at some company’s I think some firms need to look at what they have not what they’d like. As long as the H&R’s of this world are behaving like they do the Canadian government will keep clamping down on letting hundreds in to replace hundreds who leave.
I hope this helps
According to a few guys I know at H&R their attitude has changed a bit for the better but no matter what system is in place you will always get companies that will require foreign drivers because of the way they treat drivers they got no chance of keeping a high number of Canadian/PR drivers on the books.
aye but there is also the small companies out in the sticks that cant get locals to do the job as all the local drivers have jobs,and have had good experiences from foreign workers, as I noticed a lot o the younger cannucks do not want to drive for living and also out in the sticks more than a few cant cross the border due to DUI and stupid offences.
IMO however good a company is people wont travel an hour and a half from the bigger towns (for instance) to work.
jimmy
I called them and was told they would not be hiring drivers from outside of Canada
chef sauce:
I called them and was told they would not be hiring drivers from outside of Canada
How long can that realistically last?
robinhood_1984:
chef sauce:
I called them and was told they would not be hiring drivers from outside of CanadaHow long can that realistically last?
As long as the Govt want. I think these companies are going to have to adjust to it, rather than the Govt giving in and unless you see companies like Bison, H&R, TransX etc going ■■■■ up, business as usual.
neilg14:
As long as the Govt want. I think these companies are going to have to adjust to it, rather than the Govt giving in and unless you see companies like Bison, H&R, TransX etc going ■■■■ up, business as usual.
I hope to be proven wrong, but I think the government will cave in the end and there will be another open door setting the water wheel of driver turnover due to crap conditions to full flow again. My previous company here in NB are not having any issue getting LMIA’s at the moment, they’ve done quite a few in the past few months without any issue. I certainly wouldn’t class them as a crap company but its basically a ■■■■■■■■■ long haul firm and people tend to leave because after so long they want to be home more, as was my case, but they were decent enough to work for, especially compared to some of the cack in this area.
Another shake up on Friday from the Govt, they have announced that the IEC (International Experience Class) visas will remain the same for 2015 but for 2016 onwards will be reduced drastically.
For anyone who doesn’t know about the IEC, in simple terms, which is how I understand it, it is a reciprocal agreement between Canada and many countries for 18 - 30 year olds (Irish 18-32) to come to Canada on a 1 year open visa, renewable for a second year.
This is by far the easiest way into Canada for work especially for Truck drivers in this age range.
NO LMIA needed, you get an open WP so you could just move from Co to Co, Province to Province, until you find on you are happy with then get your PR in, off the back of it.
The Govt’s announcement was that 24 of the 32 countries in Europe on this scheme are having their amount of these visas cut from between 50% - 99%.
They haven’t named the countries this is going to affect yet so the UK maybe ok and still get their IIRC 10,000 visas a year.
This is another way of reducing the amount of TFW’s and will affect the hospitality industry more than any other, a lot in this age range go to the likes of Banff, Whistler, Vancouver etc. working in hotels and bars.
I’ve read there are 300,000 TFW’s in Canada so that is about 1% of the population, working in all industries and I’ve got no idea of the percentage of that 1% that come here as Truck drivers but imagine pretty low so when you look at in the grand scheme of things, a few Trucking Co’s complaining that they can’t find enough drivers isn’t going to make the Govt bat an eye lid.
FFS I never even knew about such a visa. I came out here at 25! Oh well, nevermind.
robinhood_1984:
FFS I never even knew about such a visa. I came out here at 25! Oh well, nevermind.
They maybe had not introduced that visa when you came here.
It’s not easy to get, they do it over 2 different dates Dec/Jan, 5000 on each date.
You submit your details and open an account before it opens on the CIC website or Bunac website then watch out for the dates it opens, usually 10am. You have to be on your account before 10am, and as soon as you see it go from closed to open, you have to keep clicking enter-refresh-enter -refresh until you see accepted on the screen.
I tried to do it for my son last year on the first round and 5000 went in 17mins, I failed.
Then my son tried on the second round and failed, 5000 gone in 20 mins.
Apparently it’s the same every year, luck of the draw.
Like trying to get hold of an AC/DC ticket in a 10,000 seat stadium.
If I ever get an AC/DC ticket you can have mine…
Thank you.
Hells bells, dirty deeds done dirt cheap on the highway to hell; I’m thunderstruck.
Hey Chris, if you’re “spoiling for a fight”, you must have “big balls” but if you’re only a “squealer”, I’ll “walk all over you”.
You was probably a “problem child” and got “kicked in the teeth” and you’re on “borrowed time” now.
So don’t get “caught with your pants down”, you’ll be “shot down in flames.”