Living and working outside of Canada? How does a person do it?

Hello everybody, thanks in advance for reading this and offering any help or insight you can. Well, after being born and raised in Calgary, just curious what the global options typically are for living outside of Canada. I really could use a two or three year change of scenery.
I know most countries allow professionals to work abroad if they are specialists in their field. I am not however. I'm a JM redseal Millwright (/industrial mechanic) and a farmer. Just curious if anybody has any experience with working abroad. Which countries are easier to get a temporary work visa into, and so on.

I know the US is extremely difficult, but any places over seas? I would adore to end up in Europe, but this is all extremely new to me, would be best bet be to apply to each countries consulate here in Canada? Or what does a person do next? Thanks so much in advance.

I assume you're looking to do this after the global pandemic is over?

Australia would be pretty easy (once covid restrictions lift) if you are 35 or under. They have a pretty great travel/work visa setup to welcome Canadians and you don't need a job offer ahead of time. You can apply for a Working holiday visa subclass 417. The first year you can work/travel and do whatever but if you want to stay a second year you have to do 3 months of 'specified work' during your first year. And you can stay 3 years if you did 6 months of the specified work during your second year.

Specified work is industries such a agriculture, construction, fishing, or mining in designated communities so as a millwright you'd almost certainly be able to land those without trying.

@davidI may have insight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pheoxs

Australia would be pretty easy (once covid restrictions lift) if you are 35 or under. They have a pretty great travel/work visa setup to welcome Canadians and you don't need a job offer ahead of time. You can apply for a Working holiday visa subclass 417. The first year you can work/travel and do whatever but if you want to stay a second year you have to do 3 months of 'specified work' during your first year. And you can stay 3 years if you did 6 months of the specified work during your second year.

Specified work is industries such a agriculture, construction, fishing, or mining in designated communities so as a millwright you'd almost certainly be able to land those without trying.

---

Brilliant, thank you, it seems 35 is the cutoff for most countries. Im 38.:banghead: lol Australia seems to be a worthwhile bet, as there would be no language barrier. Thank you, I will look into this more so.

Check out Golden Visa Programs. You can get a visa with a relatively small investment in real estate. For example, in Portugal you can get a visa with the purchase of a 350k Euro property. Only need to reside there for 7 days for first year, and i think 14 days over any two year period. Can apply for citizenship after 5 years i think.

I've just started looking at this myself so still figuring it out.

[Insert joke about sommeliers having opportunities abroad]

Attachment 98566

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marsh

Check out Golden Visa Programs. You can get a visa with a relatively small investment in real estate. For example, in Portugal you can get a visa with the purchase of a 350k Euro property. Only need to reside there for 7 days for first year, and i think 14 days over any two year period. Can apply for citizenship after 5 years i think.

I've just started looking at this myself so still figuring it out.

---

My “fuck this” plan has always been to buy citizenship to the Cayman Islands by buying a bar on the beach. Work the bar, invest, consult. Enjoy life.

Golden visa sounds nice. A combo-deal beach bar / fishing carter company is probably about the right speed for me. I have a relative who lived in Cayman for a few years. Sounds nice, although on my budget I'll probably have to settle for Haiti . . .Same same, right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

Golden visa sounds nice. A combo-deal beach bar / fishing carter company is probably about the right speed for me. I have a relative who lived in Cayman for a few years. Sounds nice, although on my budget I'll probably have to settle for Haiti . . .Same same, right?

---

I mean, I’d say it’s still a net improvement 8 months of the year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

Golden visa sounds nice. A combo-deal beach bar / fishing carter company is probably about the right speed for me. I have a relative who lived in Cayman for a few years. Sounds nice, although on my budget I'll probably have to settle for Haiti . . .Same same, right?

---

I think Haiti's employment rate is higher than Calgary's now.

It's definitely more difficult given your age and line of work, but not impossible. Going to be near impossible with the current pandemic. After this is all said and done, I would expect some of the countries you would want to experience are likely going to be more open to accepting someone to come live and work. Look for places that are desperate to increase their population, which is most smaller countries in Europe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ExtraSlow

@davidI may have insight.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Marsh

Check out Golden Visa Programs. You can get a visa with a relatively small investment in real estate. For example, in Portugal you can get a visa with the purchase of a 350k Euro property. Only need to reside there for 7 days for first year, and i think 14 days over any two year period. Can apply for citizenship after 5 years i think.

I've just started looking at this myself so still figuring it out.

---

Golden Visa programs typically target retirees and do not provide you with work permits (I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule and owning/managing a business that employs locals is often one of them).

Is your goal to be a millwright/industrial mechanic/farmer abroad or what kind of work do you want to do?

It's often quite easy to get a long-term visa for studies or non-lucrative activities but it's the work aspect that complicates everything since politicians don't want to be seen as allowing foreigners to "steal jobs" from locals. Teaching languages (English) is one of those activities that is often allowed given foreigners are typically more qualified than locals.

That said, qualified industrial mechanics are needed all over the world (including in Australia & Africa) for mining operations so you can always check if there are any opportunities. Sometimes, blue collar jobs are on the "professional" activities lists that allow for work visas to be obtained - you just need to check the lists and find an employer to sponsor you. Hell, even exotic dancers were on the Canadian foreign worker list for a long time (maybe still are?)

I'd start by deciding on the countries you'd be interested in living in and then doing some digging on ways to get there and whether they allow working or not. Here's a start for Australia: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...ccupation-list

I would also give New Zealand a good look

As others have mentioned Australia is a possible option. The issue is the age cut off. Hell.. a few years back I just about made it into Canada myself.

If you are willing to re-train into a project management or a data related role. That might be a option. One of my siblings is a project manager and she has travelled globally and has lived abroad. After this pandemic eases off she is looking to move abroad again.
When I was travelling SE Asia back in 2018. I met a lot of people working remotely. Quite a few from Canada.
Technically I could work remotely with my current Canadian job.

If you want a change of scenery. You could teach English abroad. Pay won't be great, but it can give you the break and the experience can be very rewarding.

Another route is NGO work or charity organisations that are abroad. I think your transferable skills will be in high demand.

As for being a specialist. You don't need to be. But to be honest you already are. You are a farmer. Technically you are a god. You can feed people. Three things mattered in this pandemic. Farmers, truck drivers and toilet paper.
They key aspect is how to think critical in a practical manner. Recognise peoples personalities and problem solve. Your skills are transferable. You will be surprised how many people are more educated than you, but are only book smart and cannot problem solve.

Here is a example. When I came to Canada on a work permit. I was working at a front desk in a motel. Im not a specialist. I ended up running three businesses, re-wrote a business plan, changed the model to be more data orientated, re-wrote all the processes, retrained staff to work efficiently and not 100% all the time, threw in health and safety stuff. I took a model that was bleeding money and changed it into sustained profit making business with people doing less work. It created more jobs too. All done while I earned minimumal wage on a work permit.
Then in 2011 I returned to the UK, broke and nobody gave a shit about my skills or experience. I had sod all else to do. I volunteered at a local charity just to help scan documents. On the first day I ended up re-writing part of their business plan, re-wrote their IT processes and downloaded free software that was much better suited to the crap they were using.
My point is DO NOT limit yourself by thinking you are not a specialist and because of that you can't work abroad. Think outside the box. Also take a backwards approach. Don't start with the country. Ask yourself, what skills can I transfer, what problems can I solve to help others.

Here are some farming NGO stuff. Many of these organisations get funding from western governments and global organisations. Follow the trail.

https://ironline.american.edu/five-i...s-agriculture/

Here is a article. Some NGOS are helping farmers grow. You might want to research them and contact them. Your skills and input might make a massive difference to millions.
https://www.giveindia.org/blog/10-ng...w-and-sustain/

Also start with your charities here, talk to your MP's and they will have charitable connections with senior people, who in turn will know people. These organisations may be gateway in working abroad.
Good luck.

Resorts don’t seem to have any issues hiring from outside the borders... have a buddy who goes down south from time to time and is an “activities manager” or some other nonsense, just lives the quintessential Matthew McConaughey lifestyle

cons: have to preform in the nightly shows :rofl:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by darthVWader

I would also give New Zealand a good look

---

NZ seems to be taking a ton of workers. I know 3 people who went over there to work on infrastructure projects and came home with a big bankroll.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by CUG

NZ seems to be taking a ton of workers. I know 3 people who went over there to work on infrastructure projects and came home with a big bankroll.

---

They had loads of foreign insurance money to play with after all of the earthquakes - particularly the Christchurch one in 2011.