Canada 'the new Australia' for Irish workers
There has been a massive shift in the number of Irish people choosing to work in Canada, according to migration specialist VisaFirst.com.
The company said that more than half chose Canada as their first country of interest at their recent overseas recruitment road show.
VisaFirst said that most applicants interested in Canada were under the age of 36 and eligible to apply for the working holiday visa for Canada, unlike Oz and NZ where the cut-off point is 31.
Edwina Shanahan, Manager at www.visafirst.com said: "Over the last two years we have seen significant increases in the number of Working Holiday visa grants to Irish workers going to Canada - from 3,500 in 2012, to 6,500 in 2013 to 10,000 which have been confirmed for 2014. Our guestimate forecast would be that this could rise to 15,000 in 2015."
Visafirst.com said that one of the reasons for this is the fact that the Canadian Working Holiday Visa (WHV) can be held for two years, as opposed to just one for New Zealand or Australia.
The working holiday to Canada will also allow applicants to bring dependants and children are permitted to attend schools, again unlike Australia and New Zealand.
Ms Shanahan said: "All occupations are in demand throughout Canada and there are routes to permanent residency (PR) through the provincial nominee programme and Canada experience programme once you have a job offer and a year’s Canadian work experience which applies across a wide range of occupations including managerial, professional, technical & trade work.
"We are currently trying to fill positions in Canada for electricians, artic drivers, concrete finishers, welders."
