International apprentices in Canada

[Cirrusly]

I'm from Sydney, Australia and I'm curious to know if it is possible (not easy) to get work as an apprentice for rotary shops in Canada, and how I would go about getting my foot in the door? Any help would be great! :ok:

[Phil Kemp]

Couple of questions, which will most likely drive your decisions.


Do you have any training or experience at this time?
Do you have the right to work in Canada at this time?
You will not find a good apprentice position with a good company without basic training. BCIT is one option if you come into the Vancouver area - BCIT : : aerospace / aviation : : Welcome to BCIT aerospace (http://www.bcit.ca/transportation/aerospace/)

For work permits and student visas check out Studying in Canada: Work permits for students (http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGLIsh/study/work.asp)

The domestic industry is very uncertain where it is going right now until the season kicks off and we see where the economy is headed. Already some impact has been felt in the mining and resource sector, so potentially jobs may become tighter. There are jobs located all over the country, but Vancouver is a centre for everything rotary. Do you have a specific location or a specific career goal within the industry that you want to achieve?

Feel free to ask anything else that might help you make your decision. This is a great part of the world to work and live in, and there is every kind of opportunity in the rotary world on the doorstep.

[Cirrusly]

I don't have any technical experience, there aren't many places you can obtain any kind of qualifications without actually being either an apprentice or a university student. I do have work experience in both the airline industry (3 years) and from a private rotary company (sporadically over 5 years).

Second, I thought it might be easier to work in Canada as it is also a Commonwealth country.

I really want to be a pilot engineer. I have a passion for helicopters and so want to know everything about them inside and out. I'm fairly ambitious so I don't mind doing more or traveling far to get what I want. The opportunities in Australia are less than dire and I know Canada is the place to be for helicopters.

Are my goals too far fetched? What are some pointers to getting the attention of prospective employers?

[Phil Kemp]

Without formal training, it is extremely difficuly to get a foot in the door. Selecting one of the BCIT courses is probably one of the best ways to start, you will then be able to find a job in the area and work towards your engineer licences. There are a large number of employment opportunities in this area. The training system is very different here in North America - you can put yourself through the college training - then go and get a job as an apprentice. In much of the rest of the world, you have to get a position as an apprentice to be eligible for the training.

Being a commonwealth citizen is probably not a great advantage, I have had student visas and work permits over the years, and I am now a permanent resident - but have always had an employer footing the bill. There are companies that will employ you while you are going to school. The demand for the top students is high, both locally and nationally.

Once you have this completed, there are a number of good flight schools in the area to let you get your commercial licence - then you will be fully equipped to go to some of those remote spots that no-one wants too after a couple of years.

If you are motivated, hard working, you can succeed here and create a great life. I have done it myself.

[MartinCh]

Why not do diploma with TAFE etc for LAME theory, then get bit of experience.
Once with at least year of experience, you'd be eligible for skilled immigrant residence visa (takes couple years from abroad), pop in to Canada, do some study to get local maintenance papers and then you'd be more interesting for employers.

If I were you, I wouldn't spend thousands of C. Dollars as an international student.
You can get WHV for Canada, one year open work permit until 31st birthday application (35 for UK citizens). If you manage to impress a company on WHV (you can do that AFTER student/tourist visa for short conversion training or whatever is needed to get Canadian training certificate, I'm not familiar with this particular issue) already having some certs and experience under belt,
they'd offer you a job. Skilled residence visa is MUCH EASIER and FASTER to sort from Canada, entailing visit to Buffalo, paperwork etc, matter of months rather than years. Lots of points (though different 'marking' to OZ DIMA) for job offer just like in NZ. I've read about some heli pilots from OZ/NZ/wherever doing WHV for a season and then being offered job so that they can sort skilled residence visa.

IT IS DOABLE. If you're motivated, plan stuff ahead, it'll work. I'm also going to be pilot engineer/engineer pilot and love all sorts of flying, helis especially, although my rotary training plans were screwed up big time due to USD/GBP/etc rates, deposit interest rates etc, tightening credit markets for later use etc. Well, plan B and C in place already.

I myself may do FAA A&P exams later on after my training in the UK. That would be fairly simple thing, sitting PC based exam based on test prep questions :).
From what I read, there is shortage of experienced LAMEs in Australia. I know availability of jobs has some correlation with boom/bust, but.. I'll probably just fly in Canada when over there :-P Years from now, though. I know, newbies don't have it easy, but unless you have spare wads of cash, you'd get some training back home where you can put the fees to HEC loan etc.

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just my view on how I'd tackle it being Aus citizen wishing to bail out doing what you say. Me myself would rather end up in OZ and its immigration system is tougher than NZ or CA.

[Cirrusly]

The problem with TAFE is that to do any kind of course regarding aviation, you need to be an apprentice. There is no course I know of where you can get some credentials to help you stand out to employers.

I was planning on getting my CPL in OZ or NZ. I have dual citizenship. I have heard of a HECS loan plan for flying in NZ but I haven't found any truth to it. I was thinking with at least a CPL behind me, getting a job as a heli apprentice might be much much easier. I really wanted to try and tackle that first. I thought that would give me enough background to score an apprenticeship.

Going back to what Phil Kemp said about BCIT, is that like TAFE or is it a university?

[Widewoodenwingswork]

Mate, personally, I would try and get a bit of work experience under your belt. Call into any of your local rotary operators and let them know you would like to get a bit of work experience on the floor. You will learn the basics, what to touch, what to let other people touch and what to look at the book before you touch. After a year or so, you will have a bit of an idea how a maintenance shop works and if you happen to pick up a skill like spray painting or sheet metal work (jobs that people don't generally like) you could then take them overseas with you (depending on the economic climate). Or you could hang around another 3 years, knock over some CASA exams, log your experience in your SOE and be licenced in 4 years. Then you will be in a lot more commanding position should you go to Canada. Also, in this time (with the help of a bank loan) you could be well on your way to getting your CPL(H). It's a lot of work but very achievable. You just have to be willing to start at the bottom. Cheers!

[Cirrusly]

I worked in a commercial hangar for a few years so I got to learn a lot about how commercial flying operations worked. But regarding maintenance, every shop I visited, and continued to visit over the years constantly turned me away. I basically assumed that there just isn't enough work in Australia, so had to look at new frontiers to get experience.