Hi, I am considering moving to Canada and taking on a HGV job out there however i know nothing about emigrating there or they’re requirements and am wondering if anyone has any general advice or information on the subject?
Thanks
Lots of info on the ex-pats forum.
Look on the expats forum there’s lots of reading there to cover most aspects
Take a big jacket & thick socks, it’s freezing there.
Think you have to do there test over there to.Or a variation of it.
If your emigrating from Essex then anywhere would be an improvement. 
They have four seasons just like Essex, but three of them are winter.
Or as they said to me when i worked there,‘‘the four seasons of the NWT,June,July,August and winter’’.
What are your hopes and expectations from working and living in Canada? Somewhere different isn’t always somewhere better.
Its nowhere near as easy to come here now since the recent government crackdown throughout the entire economy of companies taking the biscuit and exploiting the until then, very easy and convenient system of bypassing the local work force and importing foreigners who while usually on the same money, could be intimidated in to working conditions that locals would not put up with etc. This was more rife in other parts of the economy, with trucking the bad jobs for the cowboys, of which a good percentage of the transport industry is made up of, were as bad for everybody with Canadian and foreigners getting paid the same and treated just as badly. That’s why those sorts of companies often have in excess of a 100% driver turnover per year.
Not all companies are like this but far too many are to taint the entire industry and it has to be remembered that most companies looking to recruit foreign drivers are more than likely going to be the cowboys who can’t get drivers anywhere else and in my opinion a bad job in Canada is worse than a bad job in England, where you still have much more stringent employment legislation and such like.
In most, if not all, of the jobs that foreign drivers will be doing in Canada will be long haul and on mileage pay, which means if you’re not moving, you’re not earning. Far too many companies here play at transport rather than doing it properly and its far easier for them to get away with such attitudes when a sitting truck and driver isn’t costing them a wage.
Opportunities do improve ten fold once a driver has obtained permanent resident status and can change jobs freely but its that initial time with the first company while in the process of applying for PR that will usually make or break a driver/family in Canada and see them stay or go back. Far too many drivers have it in their head that the UK is crap and absolutely anything in Canada will be better, and it quite simply will not. Blindly going in to a rubbish job here just because that company have offered you a job will quite likely end in disaster when you can’t afford to keep your head above water due to poor earnings, coupled together with the never being home.
If a chap is single and coming across as an adventure then its much easier and the more undesirable firms can serve their purpose while he lives in the truck or rents a cheap room and bides his time while being paid to see North America. For a family man its different and you need to be earning money, not tossing it off in truckstops for no pay and thats where so many go wrong, because they believe the nonsense that the company will tell them about projected earnings and then fork out for an expensive house and car etc and then can’t afford it, or live paycheck to paycheck etc.
If after all this you still decide you want to go to Canada you’ll firstly need to make sure you’re even eligible and one thing to take in to account there is any current or previous criminal record. Canada is a bit more forgiving but its much harder to get in to the US with any sort of criminal record, and thats where the vast majority of long haul work is going. You can get Canada only long haul jobs but they’re much fewer and usually manned by the hordes of Canadians who either don’t want to cross the border or can’t because of their own criminal convictions.
If you’re squeaky clean then you’ll need to decide where in Canada you want to live. There are a few options open there and I’ll go through some of them. You’ll need to live in a province that has truck driving on their PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) list as truck drivers in Canada do not qualify for residence via the federal government process, but each province is allowed to fast track “unskilled” workers of its own choosing for PR. Below are the provinces which do.
Alberta: Probably the highest paying province, but with property prices to match. Lots of work but the downside is the PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) is set up so that the employer has to nominate the worker, and given the cowboy company work ethic here, that often leads to nothing for the driver if he sticks up for himself against bullying and intimidation from the firm. So I’d give Alberta a miss.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba: Also Prairie provinces but less built up than Alberta but still with a decent amount of work, more so with Manitoba. Both have decent PNP systems that the driver is in charge of. You simply work for 6 months at the same company and you’re eligible to apply for PR via the PNP route. Both provinces also have other types of work available once PR is obtained that would allow you to work within Canada or even on local day work, especially if in or near a big city, thats something to consider as long haul work grinds many down in the end.
New Brunswick: This is the province that I live in and it has huge benefits and huge flaws. The benefits are the house prices for those coming over with a family and its a very nice scenic and rural province. However, the standard of work on offer is largely dire and not worth any family coming over for on the whole. If you can secure a job at one of the better companies, things aren’t too bad, but its almost all long haul work here, even after PR. What local work there is is usually very poorly paid and dead mans shoes with the locals and goes to family and friends of the owners etc. Also, its one of the poorest provinces so health care isn’t great, with very long waiting lists and it can be impossible to register with a GP or dentist. It took me over five years to find a doctor who’d take me on and even then he only agreed to it because I’m apparently young and healthy. There are very few long term prospects for kids here either so that should also be considered if you’re coming across with kids who will eventually graduate from school and university and then quite likely have to move away for viable work. Another thing to think about with NB is that you need to be working for the same company for 12 months before being eligible for PNP and this could cause issues if the company can’t obtain a second work permit for you as they are issued for 12 months at a time. So you need the second one in place before you’re even eligible to apply for PNP to secure you existence in Canada.
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island: Same as New Brunswick really. Nova Scotia doesn’t have that many companies employing foreign drivers and the two main firms on PEI do but they have horrendous reputations so while PEI is a nice place, I’d steer anyone away from there purely because of the work on offer. Even NB is a darn sight better in that respect.
Ontario doesn’t have a PNP program for truckers as they have thousands of Indians (The Asian kind) doing the job there for peanuts, plus Russians and Poles etc. No one seems to know how they get in to the country and are allowed to stay as drivers, but they do. No job offer for a British person could result in PR in Ontario because of the no PNP so forget that one.
So to sum up the process.
Establish you don’t have a criminal record and get an ACPO certificate to that effect.
Find a job with a company in the province you want to live, do much research on this to find out as much as you can what they are like to work for before you commit you and possiblt your family to something you could regret.
They’ll obtain an LMIA, used to be called an LMO (Labour Market Opinion) which is a certificate which allows them to bring you over and is used by yourself upon landing in Canada to obtain a TWP (Temporary Work Permit). This TWP is tied to the company you’re coming out for and will last for 12 months. Its getting harder and harder for companies to get LMIA’s/LMO’s now so the best thing would be to go to a province that will allow you to apply for PNP after 6 months, which would be SK and MB.
Once you’ve worked for six months, apply at the very first instant for PNP for you and your family if you have any with you. If you’re in NB or a province where you have to be working for 12 months, you’ll have to hope your company can secure another LMIA for you to get a second one year TWP. Once you have this, then apply for PNP.
Then its a case of waiting until PNP is granted by the province. Once it is, you’ll no longer need an LMIA to get TWP’s if the process goes beyond the point that your current TWP expires. Your PNP certificate will guarantee you subsequent TWP’s until you receive a decision on PR.
After you’ve done all sorts of nonsense such as a English test (Yes, I know!) and a medical, you should eventually be granted PR and then you’re free. You can do whatever you want. Ideally you should remain in your nominated province for five years once PR is granted as you agree to do so as part of your PNP application and in my case the New Brunswick provincial government did keep checking up on me to see if I was still here. In theory, they can petition the federal government to revoke your PR if they discover you’ve moved elsewhere in Canada but this rarely, if ever happens.
One thing above all else, its not easy, especially with a family. The job is very demanding, the hours or long, the distances are vast, the time off at home is often almost non-existent and its a real sacrifice at first until you get PR and are able to get a job which better suits a family life. Its far easier for the single adventurers but even then its no picnic. I almost jacked in several times at my first company because the conditions were so dismal but I stuck at it and got there in the end. Some people who’ve made the move love it so much that they’d never go back, others hate it and I’m somewhere in between. I like some things and dislike others. Basically, I could happily live in either country for differing reasons. England isn’t loads worse than Canada, and Canada isn’t loads better than England. They’re both very different countries, both affluent and western with a good standard of living in both and different aspects of each country will appeal or put off different people for different reasons and thats as blatantly honest as I can be about it.
Fly out on a tourist visa, find a nice girl, marry her, apply for citizenship.
I want to drive in Canada and the US. I have about £150K in the bank thanks to inheritance. 24, single with nothing holding me to this rock. Only problem is, I have about 6 months class 2 experience and no class 1(yet).
Radar19:
I want to drive in Canada and the US. I have about £150K in the bank thanks to inheritance. 24, single with nothing holding me to this rock. Only problem is, I have about 6 months class 2 experience and no class 1(yet).
sounds like your in a very strong position to pick and choose. If I was still 24 and had 150,000 
in the bank i’d take a 2 or 3 week holiday out there first. get a real feel for the country and maybe make some contacts.
jrt:
sounds like your in a very strong position to pick and choose. If I was still 24 and had 150,000
Thats good advice for anyone coming here, especially with family in tow. Research trips that allow you to get info from the horses mouth are always best, especially if you can talk to other drivers. Ignore just about everything that the company recruiters tell you, they chop and change jobs just as much as drivers and are paid to talk crap and get meat in the seat and nothing else.
robinhood_1984:
What are your hopes and expectations from working and living in Canada? Somewhere different isn’t always somewhere better.Its nowhere near as easy to come here now since the recent government crackdown throughout the entire economy of companies taking the biscuit and exploiting the until then, very easy and convenient system of bypassing the local work force and importing foreigners who while usually on the same money, could be intimidated in to working conditions that locals would not put up with etc. This was more rife in other parts of the economy, with trucking the bad jobs for the cowboys, of which a good percentage of the transport industry is made up of, were as bad for everybody with Canadian and foreigners getting paid the same and treated just as badly. That’s why those sorts of companies often have in excess of a 100% driver turnover per year.
Not all companies are like this but far too many are to taint the entire industry and it has to be remembered that most companies looking to recruit foreign drivers are more than likely going to be the cowboys who can’t get drivers anywhere else and in my opinion a bad job in Canada is worse than a bad job in England, where you still have much more stringent employment legislation and such like.
In most, if not all, of the jobs that foreign drivers will be doing in Canada will be long haul and on mileage pay, which means if you’re not moving, you’re not earning. Far too many companies here play at transport rather than doing it properly and its far easier for them to get away with such attitudes when a sitting truck and driver isn’t costing them a wage.
Opportunities do improve ten fold once a driver has obtained permanent resident status and can change jobs freely but its that initial time with the first company while in the process of applying for PR that will usually make or break a driver/family in Canada and see them stay or go back. Far too many drivers have it in their head that the UK is crap and absolutely anything in Canada will be better, and it quite simply will not. Blindly going in to a rubbish job here just because that company have offered you a job will quite likely end in disaster when you can’t afford to keep your head above water due to poor earnings, coupled together with the never being home.
If a chap is single and coming across as an adventure then its much easier and the more undesirable firms can serve their purpose while he lives in the truck or rents a cheap room and bides his time while being paid to see North America. For a family man its different and you need to be earning money, not tossing it off in truckstops for no pay and thats where so many go wrong, because they believe the nonsense that the company will tell them about projected earnings and then fork out for an expensive house and car etc and then can’t afford it, or live paycheck to paycheck etc.
If after all this you still decide you want to go to Canada you’ll firstly need to make sure you’re even eligible and one thing to take in to account there is any current or previous criminal record. Canada is a bit more forgiving but its much harder to get in to the US with any sort of criminal record, and thats where the vast majority of long haul work is going. You can get Canada only long haul jobs but they’re much fewer and usually manned by the hordes of Canadians who either don’t want to cross the border or can’t because of their own criminal convictions.
If you’re squeaky clean then you’ll need to decide where in Canada you want to live. There are a few options open there and I’ll go through some of them. You’ll need to live in a province that has truck driving on their PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) list as truck drivers in Canada do not qualify for residence via the federal government process, but each province is allowed to fast track “unskilled” workers of its own choosing for PR. Below are the provinces which do.
Alberta: Probably the highest paying province, but with property prices to match. Lots of work but the downside is the PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) is set up so that the employer has to nominate the worker, and given the cowboy company work ethic here, that often leads to nothing for the driver if he sticks up for himself against bullying and intimidation from the firm. So I’d give Alberta a miss.
Saskatchewan and Manitoba: Also Prairie provinces but less built up than Alberta but still with a decent amount of work, more so with Manitoba. Both have decent PNP systems that the driver is in charge of. You simply work for 6 months at the same company and you’re eligible to apply for PR via the PNP route. Both provinces also have other types of work available once PR is obtained that would allow you to work within Canada or even on local day work, especially if in or near a big city, thats something to consider as long haul work grinds many down in the end.
New Brunswick: This is the province that I live in and it has huge benefits and huge flaws. The benefits are the house prices for those coming over with a family and its a very nice scenic and rural province. However, the standard of work on offer is largely dire and not worth any family coming over for on the whole. If you can secure a job at one of the better companies, things aren’t too bad, but its almost all long haul work here, even after PR. What local work there is is usually very poorly paid and dead mans shoes with the locals and goes to family and friends of the owners etc. Also, its one of the poorest provinces so health care isn’t great, with very long waiting lists and it can be impossible to register with a GP or dentist. It took me over five years to find a doctor who’d take me on and even then he only agreed to it because I’m apparently young and healthy. There are very few long term prospects for kids here either so that should also be considered if you’re coming across with kids who will eventually graduate from school and university and then quite likely have to move away for viable work. Another thing to think about with NB is that you need to be working for the same company for 12 months before being eligible for PNP and this could cause issues if the company can’t obtain a second work permit for you as they are issued for 12 months at a time. So you need the second one in place before you’re even eligible to apply for PNP to secure you existence in Canada.
Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island: Same as New Brunswick really. Nova Scotia doesn’t have that many companies employing foreign drivers and the two main firms on PEI do but they have horrendous reputations so while PEI is a nice place, I’d steer anyone away from there purely because of the work on offer. Even NB is a darn sight better in that respect.
Ontario doesn’t have a PNP program for truckers as they have thousands of Indians (The Asian kind) doing the job there for peanuts, plus Russians and Poles etc. No one seems to know how they get in to the country and are allowed to stay as drivers, but they do. No job offer for a British person could result in PR in Ontario because of the no PNP so forget that one.
So to sum up the process.
Establish you don’t have a criminal record and get an ACPO certificate to that effect.
Find a job with a company in the province you want to live, do much research on this to find out as much as you can what they are like to work for before you commit you and possiblt your family to something you could regret.
They’ll obtain an LMIA, used to be called an LMO (Labour Market Opinion) which is a certificate which allows them to bring you over and is used by yourself upon landing in Canada to obtain a TWP (Temporary Work Permit). This TWP is tied to the company you’re coming out for and will last for 12 months. Its getting harder and harder for companies to get LMIA’s/LMO’s now so the best thing would be to go to a province that will allow you to apply for PNP after 6 months, which would be SK and MB.
Once you’ve worked for six months, apply at the very first instant for PNP for you and your family if you have any with you. If you’re in NB or a province where you have to be working for 12 months, you’ll have to hope your company can secure another LMIA for you to get a second one year TWP. Once you have this, then apply for PNP.
Then its a case of waiting until PNP is granted by the province. Once it is, you’ll no longer need an LMIA to get TWP’s if the process goes beyond the point that your current TWP expires. Your PNP certificate will guarantee you subsequent TWP’s until you receive a decision on PR.
After you’ve done all sorts of nonsense such as a English test (Yes, I know!) and a medical, you should eventually be granted PR and then you’re free. You can do whatever you want. Ideally you should remain in your nominated province for five years once PR is granted as you agree to do so as part of your PNP application and in my case the New Brunswick provincial government did keep checking up on me to see if I was still here. In theory, they can petition the federal government to revoke your PR if they discover you’ve moved elsewhere in Canada but this rarely, if ever happens.One thing above all else, its not easy, especially with a family. The job is very demanding, the hours or long, the distances are vast, the time off at home is often almost non-existent and its a real sacrifice at first until you get PR and are able to get a job which better suits a family life. Its far easier for the single adventurers but even then its no picnic. I almost jacked in several times at my first company because the conditions were so dismal but I stuck at it and got there in the end. Some people who’ve made the move love it so much that they’d never go back, others hate it and I’m somewhere in between. I like some things and dislike others. Basically, I could happily live in either country for differing reasons. England isn’t loads worse than Canada, and Canada isn’t loads better than England. They’re both very different countries, both affluent and western with a good standard of living in both and different aspects of each country will appeal or put off different people for different reasons and thats as blatantly honest as I can be about it.
That is probably the best, most well thought-out post I have ever read on TruckNet. Although I have no personal vested interest in the Canada subject either way, I do like to read as many posts as I can about every aspect of trucks and truck driving, and you really are to be congratulated on taking the time and trouble to post that.
So I book a trip to Canada and roll around the haulage yards?
Radar19:
So I book a trip to Canada and roll around the haulage yards?
I’d say get your class 1 first and drive them for a while to get some experience and you’ll be taken more seriously. They’re not picky here but they may struggle to get a work permit for someone who has no experience when there are plenty of locals trying to get a foot on the ladder as well, plus insurance may be an issue.
Once you’ve done that, decide where you’d like to live and what would work best for you. Is it only an adventure for a while before going back to England, a permanent move or perhaps like me, an adventure with the possibility of making it permanent if you like it. You want to put yourself in a place that will be the easiest for you to get what you want out of it. Having that much money in the bank will help a lot, but don’t let it cloud your judgement with a job and adopt and attitude of if one job is crap, you’ll move on to another and another, because when it comes to applying for PNP you’ll probably be turned down for having too many jobs in a short period of time. I know a few this has personally happened to. Research the whole thing, get it right the first time and the rest will fall in to place. Lack of research and understanding of what its actually like here is by far the biggest reason people end up jacking in and doing back home.
I sorted everything out for my move to Canada when I was also 24 and moved here about 3 weeks after my 25th birthday so your age is certainly not a drawback in any way. If anything its to your advantage because you don’t have to commit yourself to anything you don’t like, as you don’t yet have any other responsibilities and if after 3 months you don’t like it and want to go home, all you’ve had is a 3 months working holiday experience and you’re on a flight home. Thats how I looked at it at the time.
robinhood_1984:
Radar19:
So I book a trip to Canada and roll around the haulage yards?I’d say get your class 1 first and drive them for a while to get some experience and you’ll be taken more seriously. They’re not picky here but they may struggle to get a work permit for someone who has no experience when there are plenty of locals trying to get a foot on the ladder as well, plus insurance may be an issue.
Once you’ve done that, decide where you’d like to live and what would work best for you. Is it only an adventure for a while before going back to England, a permanent move or perhaps like me, an adventure with the possibility of making it permanent if you like it. You want to put yourself in a place that will be the easiest for you to get what you want out of it. Having that much money in the bank will help a lot, but don’t let it cloud your judgement with a job and adopt and attitude of if one job is crap, you’ll move on to another and another, because when it comes to applying for PNP you’ll probably be turned down for having too many jobs in a short period of time. I know a few this has personally happened to. Research the whole thing, get it right the first time and the rest will fall in to place. Lack of research and understanding of what its actually like here is by far the biggest reason people end up jacking in and doing back home.
I sorted everything out for my move to Canada when I was also 24 and moved here about 3 weeks after my 25th birthday so your age is certainly not a drawback in any way. If anything its to your advantage because you don’t have to commit yourself to anything you don’t like, as you don’t yet have any other responsibilities and if after 3 months you don’t like it and want to go home, all you’ve had is a 3 months working holiday experience and you’re on a flight home. Thats how I looked at it at the time.
I’m looking for my Class 1 in March. Going to take a week off work at that point to do. I just really want to drive. I want to spend days on the road, I’m also tired of these rinky ■■■■ roads in this country. Not sure if its going to be a permanent thing but I’m open to options. I’m not that bothered where I go as its just going to be me, no wife/gf or kids or anything like that.
How did you do it? If you don’t mind me asking.
Radar19:
So I book a trip to Canada and roll around the haulage yards?
If you plan it really well you could pick out 3 or 4 of the best towns or citys that are worth considering moving to and spend a week at each one befor moving on to the other.
You could take coach rides to each town and find out as much as you can from talking to the coach drivers. I know there not in genral haulage but theres a good chance thay might have been or know some thing about life on the there.
You could even try and blagg hitching lifts with truckers if your feeling really brave. not that I should proberley be saying thats a good thing to do or that any drivers would want a stranger hitching a lift with them ither. But a mate of mine traveled round austraila hitching with truck drivers and got away with it alright so can be done.
Radar19:
How did you do it? If you don’t mind me asking.
I grew up going with my dad all over Europe and wanted nothing other than to follow his footsteps and do the same type of thing. As soon as I turned 21 and got my class 1 the company he worked for the entire time were true to their word to me as a young boy and gave me a job. For the first 7 or 8 months I did UK only work on ferry trailers and then for the next two and a half years I did mainly Swiss and Germany. I loved the job but wanted to do and see more but there just wasn’t the opportunities in the UK for that, especially for someone who was still under 25 at the time. Like most people, I was aware of the Canada option and had spoken to a few lads who’d done it but really had no idea where to start. One day when parked up for the night in the truck I fired an email off to a few Canadian companies and most responded and said they’d take me on, but many wanted stupid amounts of money up front. I kept on looking for other jobs and came across an advert on the now defunct (I think?) BTA (British Truckers Abroad) forum for a company called Donnelly Farms in New Brunswick. Up until then, all my focus was on companies in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The guy doing the recruiting was also British and I spoke to him on the phone between Christmas and New Year 2008 while I was still 24 and was offered the job. I had to pay a fee to go there to cover things, it was a few thousand dollars which seemed a bit steep at the time but it actually worked out cheaper than had I had to pay for my own training and accommodation there. The work itself turned out to be dire, you’d work day and night and re-write log books every day to adjust times to make a wage but the company itself had free accommodation at the yard with a full kitchen, living room, laundry and shower facilities so drivers could effectively live in their truck, which is what I did and saved up a shed load of money. I hated that job with a passion but it was a convenient starting point for a single lad, living in the truck who didn’t know if he’d stay or not. I always had a return flight put aside so with a moments notice I could have called Air Canada and being on a plane back to England within the week. That knowledge made it easier to bare the bad job and once I got PR and changed jobs things became much much better.
Thanks for the info! I suppose it all boils down to experience. I did call some companies last year about it but none of them said they employ from the UK so I left it at that. Also, the job market has changed now so its a lot harder to get in. How did you cover things like a CDL? I know that our licenses hold no water over there.