Fed up Brits should come to Canada. The Country is looking at attracting 50,000 foreign workers within the next year alone

Canada is putting skilled British workers on a fast track for immigration visas to exploit our soaring cost of living. Its officials believe superior public services and the ability to weather economic turmoil will lure Britons fed up with fuel and food prices and with the state of schools and hospitals. Alberta's employment minister Hector Goudreau has been sent to this country to 'target' those tempted by a new life overseas.

It is one of the most audacious recruitment raids since Australia poached a million Britons - known as the Ten Pound Poms after the ship fare they paid - in the 1950s and 60s. The Canadians want GPs, teachers, nurses, electricians, carpenters, engineers, construction workers, management consultants, and cardiac and diabetic specialists.

Anyone of any age can apply, although workers who fit skills and experience criteria will be fast-tracked for visas.

Somebody from London might be able to sell their small flat and come to Alberta where they can buy a detached house with a huge back yard and huge front yard for the same amount. The cost of living is considerably less than in the UK. The salaries are comparable or even higher, so anyone who moves over would be able to make money and set some aside.

The economy in Alberta - which is founded on oil reserves - was constantly growing, and has remained steady despite the global credit crunch. There is beautiful scenery, the health care system is second to none in the world and the educational system is second to none in the world. Canada has some of the lowest business taxes, there is no province sales tax on goods.

The province covers a large chunk of prairie and Rocky Mountains and its major cities are Edmonton and Calgary. Its population is 3.4million - less than half London's - and it covers an area twice as big as Japan.

The average annual salary in Alberta for civil engineers last year was £44,428. And while income tax is higher in Canada, the living costs are much cheaper. Alberta is a big province, so whereas there is hardly any snow in the south in the winter, there is plenty of opportunity in the north for skiing, snowboarding and skating.

Then in the summer there are water-based activities such as boating, fishing and whitewater rafting but also have baseball and soccer. There is also a lot of culture, if you prefer the opera, musicals or ballet. It is known as the melting pot of Canada as they have a lot of immigrants coming here. Among the different nationalities living in Alberta are Chinese, Germans, Spanish, Ukrainians and Filipinos.

Alberta's booming economy is based on having the second largest concentration of oil in the world. There are 173 billion barrels in oil sands which can be recovered with today's technology. There is also an estimated 315 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil.

Alberta officials, who are also targeting workers from Germany, America, Mexico and the Philippines, have been encouraged to focus on Britain by figures showing a record 200,000 Britons left the country for new lives abroad in 2006.

In 2006, a record 207,000 British citizens left this country. A third went to Australia or New Zealand, more than a quarter to Spain or France, and one in 12 to the United States.

Nearly 1.6 million British citizens emigrated in the decade after Labour came to power in 1997. They have been replaced by foreign workers, with the overall population increasing by more than a million in ten years. A recent survey by YouGov found 37 per cent of adults are thinking about moving abroad because of the growing financial pressure of life in this country.

More than 603,000 Britons live in Canada.

External link: http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1030680/Fed-Brits-come-Canada-says-Minister-sent-lure-workers-emigrate.html
Queries to


Miss Melanie Vogel
Bonn Germany

iSC International GmbH
Online
Bonn Germany

Language knowledge: German, English

Global Management
www.Career-Journal.com

Canada seeks foreign tech workers The number of available jobs is expected to increase by about 100,000 over the next several years

An immigration system that favors tech workers. An exchange rate that puts the Canadian dollar almost at parity with its U.S. counterpart - Canada's strategy to grow its economy is working. And it's a strategy that is very dependent on foreign workers.

The economy in British Columbia is growing by as much as 4.5% a year, with technology being the fastest-growing sector. The province's total workforce is now at about 2.3 million people, and it's predicted that over the next 12 years, there will be approximately 1 million job vacancies in British Columbia -- half the result of retirements, and the other half due to the creation of new jobs.

But over that same 12-year period, the province's secondary schools are expected to graduate a total of about 650,000 students. On the very face of it, there will be short 350,000 workers, which will have to come through immigration.

The Canadian government has specific programs for quickly bringing high-tech workers with certain skills into the country, a process that can take two to eight weeks.

The government recognizes that these people don't exist within Canada. If an employer is seeking a worker who has a specific set of skills, education and work experience and will be paid a salary on par with what Canadians earn, a foreigner can successfully get a work permit. Unlike the annual cap on the number of H-1B visas issued in the U.S., there is no numerical limit on foreign workers entering Canada.

Microsoft, which is been a vocal critic of the H-1B program's restrictions, announced that it plans to open the development center in Vancouver -- a mere 150 miles from the company's Seattle-area headquarters. The software vendor said it decided to set up the Vancouver facility, which is due to open in the fall, partly to help it "recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the U.S."

Canada is becoming more and more attractive to companies such as Microsoft for more reasons than its immigration policies alone.

One thing that's helping Canada retain jobs and create new ones is the fact that the Canadian dollar now is trading at about 96 cents to the U.S. dollar -- much higher than in years past.

Canadians also hope that the country's quality of life adds appeal. Canada offers national health insurance, a good university system and much lower crime levels.

In addition, Canada has become far more receptive to immigration than the U.S. is. In 2006, nearly 1.3 million foreigners became permanent residents of the U.S. But Canada -- with a total population that is only about one-tenth the number of U.S. residents -- has been accepting about 250,000 new permanent residents annually.

In the technology sector, such immigration is needed to fill new jobs. It's estimated that there are about 620,000 high-tech workers in Canada. The number of available jobs is expected to increase by about 100,000 over the next several years. But Canadian universities graduate only about 15,000 students with tech skills annually, short of what is required.

Employees who are brought in for temporary work can usually get permanent residency. When you have a job in Canada, that's a pretty fair indication to the immigration department that you are of value to the country.

External link: http://www.computerworld.com
Queries to


Miss Melanie Vogel
Bonn Germany

iSC International GmbH
Online
Bonn Germany

Language knowledge: German, English

Global Management
www.Career-Journal.com