Questions About Engineer and Imigration
Questions About Engineer and Imigration
(OP)
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
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





RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
B.E.
You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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.
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/...
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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.
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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.
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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.
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
RE: Questions About Engineer and Imigration
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.