3/21/2018
Topic:
Foreign Commercial Pilot - Right to Work in Canada
Seeker
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Good Day everyone,
I am a qualified Commercial Pilot currently living and working in Indonesia as a Cessna Grand Caravan C208 Training Captain and Safety Officer. I am originally from Cape Town, South Africa and have been working in Indonesia for the past three years now working my way up to the top here in my current airline gathering as much experience as possible (+3500hrs TT).
I am now ready to move on with my career and work for a company in Canada as I am aware there is an increasing shortage of qualified pilots in the country and my partner is from Ontario, Canada. The problem is that I am unable to get a work permit or Permanent Residency in Canada as Pilots are unable to receive an Educational Credentials Assessment (ECA) by an approved organisation and thus cannot earn enough points to get a PR via the Express Entry program or any other immigration program. The organisations simply refused to assess my qualifications. This is ridiculous in my view because just as much and, maybe even more, hard work goes into achieving a Commercial Pilots Licence as it does for a University Degree or higher but alas they will not assess my pilot qualifications and equate any of it to a degree or higher. I unfortunately do not have any other tertiary education apart from my flying qualifications.
I have tried going through an immigration company but found them to be of little help, even though I paid a whole bunch of money for their services, supplied them with all my flying certificates, licences and other documents and particulars and successfully passed the CELPIP General English Test in Canada, only to be told I do not qualify for the Express Entry program.
I am writing this now in an effort to finally establish a way and means to be able to work as a pilot in Canada. Could anybody possibly point me in the right direction? My partner and I have just started living together which will let me apply for Permanent Residency after we have lived together for a year and she will be able to sponsor me under the common-law sponsorship route. However, with application processing times being anywhere from 6 months to a year, I am looking at only getting my PR in two years. Surely there is a faster way to obtain the right to live and work in Canada. Especially with such a large looming shortage of qualified pilots in Canada on the horizon which is starting to be experienced by Canadian airlines even now.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!
Thank you very much. |