Hello all.
Recently I’ve been granted a Canadian whv. I’m planning to go there early next year. I’ve been working with class 1 and 2 lorries for about a year so far.
My question is if I excgange my uk driving license and later I come back here to work again. Could I exchange it back and have my uk vocational license again?
I checked government website and it says that I can’t get an uk vocational license in exchange with a non eu one…
Thanks
A few of the Provinces don’t even take your UK licence off you, which ones, I’m not sure but I think MB, SK & NS.
Some others will be along to correct me.
If you’re on a WHV, you mean IEC visa ? And under 30 ? You will have no problem with swapping your licence back for a UK one.
Make sure you get a photocopy of your UK one if you do have to swap it.
You shouldn’t have to surrender your UK licence, I still have mine, it’s just not valid.
You don’t exchange licences anyway, you take a separate test.
Thank you for the replies. That’s great then.
Yes. It’s iec programme. I just need to activate it at the border and they give 1 year work permit. I’m 30 btw but you can apply for it as long as your under 35.
For uk they give out 5000 per year
So thinking ahead. Which province would you recommend for a start. I like small cities so I discard the big ones. If I wanted to get a lmia. Should I stick to manitoba / sasketchawan?
Thanks guys.
Pat Hasler:
You shouldn’t have to surrender your UK licence, I still have mine, it’s just not valid.
You don’t exchange licences anyway, you take a separate test.
In certain Provinces (Alberta for sure), it is illegal to hold 2 licences so they take your UK one and send it back to Swansea.
alvaro00:
Thank you for the replies. That’s great then.Yes. It’s iec programme. I just need to activate it at the border and they give 1 year work permit. I’m 30 btw but you can apply for it as long as your under 35.
For uk they give out 5000 per yearSo thinking ahead. Which province would you recommend for a start. I like small cities so I discard the big ones. If I wanted to get a lmia. Should I stick to manitoba / sasketchawan?
Thanks guys.
The IEC for the UK is 18 - 30yrs for Ireland it’s 18 - 35yrs.
You did yours in 2014, getting 1yr ?
This year they changed it to 2yrs and the 5,000 visa’s were snapped up within 4 minutes of opening.
MB & SK would be better for getting PR, if that’s your plan, if you just want to stay a couple of years then return to the UK, it won’t matter what Province.
neilg14:
The IEC for the UK is 18 - 30yrs for Ireland it’s 18 - 35yrs.
You did yours in 2014, getting 1yr ?
This year they changed it to 2yrs and the 5,000 visa’s were snapped up within 4 minutes of opening.
MB & SK would be better for getting PR, if that’s your plan, if you just want to stay a couple of years then return to the UK, it won’t matter what Province.
Ah ok. I didn’t know the requirements for British nationals. I’m Spanish so I applied as such. I did mine a month ago but we get 1 year work permit and the age range is 18-35
Yes. I think I’ll go for a PR after my iec expires. It’ll depend on whether I like it there more than Britain or not.
On another note. How much do you reckon it’s enough to live until I manage to get some work… I mean. Just a room in a shared house. Decent food. Transport and the usual things. Just to get a rough idea.
I’ve been reading some other posts regarding which province choose but I still don’t have a clue which one suits me better. My goal would be get PR eventually but if the 3 of them are similar. Which one would you choose ans why …
Which one would be easier to get a decent job and PR? I like small cities. Being close to nature. Open minded people also would be an advantage as English is not my first language lol.
Thank you very much for your help. Cheers
I live in AB so I’ll pass on your last post, I’ve got no idea of living costs or good companies in the other Provinces.
There are drivers on here from MB, SK & NS, It will be better for them to answer.
as for your license m8 in canada when u pass your canadian truck test they will ask 4 your uk one then any time in uk u ask swansea 4 it back if u need 2 gd luck
stevejones:
as for your license m8 in canada when u pass your canadian truck test they will ask 4 your uk one then any time in uk u ask swansea 4 it back if u need 2 gd luck
New Brunswick doesn’t send the UK licence back to Swansea, here they just get sent to the Service NB main office in Fredericton and are kept on file. If you want to go back to the UK you apply for your UK licence and hand in your NB one and that’s it. Obviously like everyone else in NB from the UK, once we’d been here a while we’d forgotten what we’d done with our UK licence so reported it lost to the DVLA who promptly sent out a new licence. Much easier having both licenes for visits home etc, especially if you want to drive a truck in the UK as I used to do during my first few years here. I’d read too many horror stories online about people exchanging licences in other countries that then returned the original UK licence back to Swansea, only for the DVLA to ■■■■ things up on their computers and years later when said person returned to the UK they were issued with only a car licence with Swansea claiming that they are not entitled to a Class 1 or 2 etc according to their records.
alvaro00:
Hello all.Recently I’ve been granted a Canadian whv. I’m planning to go there early next year. I’ve been working with class 1 and 2 lorries for about a year so far.
My question is if I excgange my uk driving license and later I come back here to work again. Could I exchange it back and have my uk vocational license again?I checked government website and it says that I can’t get an uk vocational license in exchange with a non eu one…
Thanks
Hi mate can you elaborate on how did you get your visa and job offer please ?
thanks
Thanks for the replies. I’m considering the city of Regina in sasketchawan as my destination. However I think I’ll travel a little bit before I settle somewhere.
cyrus123:
alvaro00:
Hi mate can you elaborate on how did you get your visa and job offer please ?
thanks
Hi mate its just a working holiday visa. Each year government of Canada gives out a certain number of these kind of visas. All you have to do is apply online as quickly as possible as soon as they open the quota. For uk this year was 5000 but they lasted only a few minutes so you have to be quick. If you’re lucky and you get one you get a 1 year working visa on arrival. You have to be between 18 and 30 years old. That’s the main requirement.
cyrus123:
alvaro00:
Hello all.Recently I’ve been granted a Canadian whv. I’m planning to go there early next year. I’ve been working with class 1 and 2 lorries for about a year so far.
My question is if I excgange my uk driving license and later I come back here to work again. Could I exchange it back and have my uk vocational license again?I checked government website and it says that I can’t get an uk vocational license in exchange with a non eu one…
Thanks
Hi mate can you elaborate on how did you get your visa and job offer please ?
thanks
cyrus123, if you’re a UK citizen and like alvaro00 said, between 18-30, go on the CIC.gov website and look under IEC(international experience class) visas, it will explain all on there. You do not need a job to come over on this visa, from the UK, you get a 2yr open work permit, so you can work anywhere.
neilg14:
Pat Hasler:
You shouldn’t have to surrender your UK licence, I still have mine, it’s just not valid.
You don’t exchange licences anyway, you take a separate test.In certain Provinces (Alberta for sure), it is illegal to hold 2 licences so they take your UK one and send it back to Swansea.
It’s illegal to hold two licences in the US also and if you apply for a licence in one state you must surrender the previous one but if the previous one is European or British you can hold on to it because you can’t use it anyway, I handed mine in when I came here and they just gave it back to me, the attitude being that it is worthless.
It doesn’t really matter anyway, my car licence is still valid, I tried to renew my HGV but can’t unless I move back to the UK, just a UK address is not enough.
Pat Hasler:
It doesn’t really matter anyway, my car licence is still valid, I tried to renew my HGV but can’t unless I move back to the UK, just a UK address is not enough.
And you also need a medical.
Thanks for answers guys , so what if I’m older than 30?
cyrus123:
Thanks for answers guys , so what if I’m older than 30?
cyrus, if you’re older than 30 then you’ll have to come over as most of us did.
You need to find a company with LMIA’s available.
I personally don’t know of, or seen advertised, any companies with LMIA’s at the minute that are offering them to drivers outside of Canada.
Thanks man.I’ll just keep looking on the net.