Jim:
I hope you are not pulling my legs. There is no difficulty for any immigrant to find a job if there is the desire. The fact is, there are others who have done it. I know people who now fly for majors and medevacs. They came to Canada without any Canadian experience but they didn’t let that stopped them from achieving their goals. When they came to Canada, they didn’t go straight to the LHS of an A320. They started low. They started from instructing, and eventually got enough hours and seniority to fly charter flights. Then they applied to the majors and eventually got themselves to the A320 RHS. I certainly hope you have a plan as to how to find yourself a decent job. If you don’t have one yet, start making one. There’s no point to log onto the computer and ask everybody for help if you are not going to help yourself.
If you want a flying job, the first you need to do to is to get your Canadian licence. No one will offer you a flying job if you don’t have your licence. If you have 13000 hours and a Class 1 medical, you should have no problem getting your licence converted to a Canadian CPL. Since your IFR has probably expired, you will need to write the ATPL exam and do your IFR check ride in order to get your ATPL. Once you get your CPL, you can go ahead and get your Instructor Rating. You don’t need IFR or ME to start teach PPL, and if you ever wish to teach ME-IFR, you can get your ME-IFR while instructing. It will cost you about C$5k to C$6k to obtain your Class 4 Instructor Rating. If you are already collecting UI, HRDC will probably pay for your training.
As to your medical, you should have no problem getting a Class 1 medical as long as one of your eyes is correctable to 20/20. Go see a CAME and work that out ASAP. Transport Canada might not give you your Class 1 right away. You might have to go to the Tribunal to appeal your case and demonstrate to them that you can fly with one eye.
Believe me, nothing in life is easy in life. Good luck with your search.
Penguin
P.S. If this thread is a wind-up, please don’t post again!