I thought I should do another write up, I moved to Edmonton around a month or 2 ago and like the town so far. There're TONS of jobs available especially if you're a PR/Citizen and have a license. You'd have to be a real special case to not be able to get in a good trade!!

Guys who have engineering or relevant business degrees (acc,finance,econ) should also keep in mind that there are tons of white collar jobs available in Calgary/Edmonton and they pay slightly better than east. So that could be option too for some people if you won't mind making less money but an office environment. I am still in the process of doing some certifications but I was able to find a professional job based on my degree pretty quickly.

I am not very knowledgeable as some of the guys here but feel free to pm me any questions. All the guys have been really helpful so far so I have to do the same for other newbies

Good to hear your doing well hustler. I should be back in town early Feb if ya want to get a few pints.

(01-27-2013 06:32 AM)scotian Wrote:  Pros80, you wrote me a PM but you're not able to receive PMs, so I just copied your question and my reply here on the thread instead. There was another guy who PM'd me but I emptied my inbox so lost the message which is why I haven't gotten back to you so if you want, send me another PM.

I've enjoyed reading your insight about the Oil Sands. I'm an American who plans on getting a place in Edmonton in March and then going to the Sand to try and get a job.

Do you recommend staying in Edmonton and then going to Fort Mac and pounding the pavement to see what jobs I can get?

Since I'm American there are some NAFTA agreements that can allow someone to get a temp work permit. Have you seen other Americans show up and just look for work?

I would prefer Fort Mac to heading to North Dakota. Let me know if you have any tips. Thanks for the info.


Hey man your biggest hurdle will be paperwork and visas, any American that I've met was brought into Canada on a special work permit already arranged by a company, never met one who just showed up to work. All of those had a special skill, trade or education work experience such as engineer or technician before they came up.

I would suggest living in Edmonton if you want to do fly in/out work but Fort Mac is better if you want to be "home" every night.

Good luck

Nice, Thnx. Here is some info for any Americans wanting to go there in 2013. There are some updates on the immigration website.

If you are an American or Mexican you can get a temporary work permit in Canada for 12 months at a time if:

-You are hired in one of 63 Nafta Professions on the list. These include Engineers,IT,Science,Teaching,Healthcare.

-You have a Job offer from a company.


With the job offer you can go to the Canadian border post and get a temporary work permit on the spot. No additional paper work or waiting.

The catch with all this is you need the job offer. To get a job offer is where I'm thinking you need to be there to try and get interviews. Unless you get hired over the phone from the USA.

Scotian mentioned you cannot start an apprenticeship unless you are a perminent resident. I'm from Ontario if I go out there and end up finding a job as say a pipefitters helper, would I have to apply for the pipefitters union in ontario and have it arranged through the company I work for out west?

I just got back from my first 2 week camp rotation as a labourer and feel that I should flesh out what I have learned from the experience and maybe add some extra insight and recommendations regarding this great opportunity scotian has shown us. I will cover what I have learned from preparing for the journey all the way to coming back from my first rotation.

This is what I did from the perspective of a Canadian living in Ontario moving out to Calgary looking for a Fly In / Fly Out camp job in Ft Mac:

1. Read this entire thread, paying special attention to and copying posts from scotian and other posters that are actually up here and have experience. Almost everything I read from the experienced posters here has rung true. And a lot of what I am writing was mentioned earlier.

2. Try to decide what trade will best fit you (consider your interests, pay, safety, repetitive injuries, etc.). Though if you are smart you will learn a lot your first rotation no matter what job you get and will be able to pursue the best trade for yourself later. I started off thinking Electrician was my best bet, but now figure Instrumentation tech is a better match for me.

3. Figure out if you want to live in Ft Mac or get a Fly In / Fly Out job and from what city (Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, etc). I visited both Calgary and Edmonton and decided Calgary was worth the higher costs of living for me. Some people even choose to stay in hostels during their time off to save even more money, but that comes with many disadvantages as well.

Also change your cell phone number to one in your target city before you leave.

4. When your boots hit the ground in your target city (I will relay my experience in Calgary) hit either HI or Wicked hostels and use it as your base.

To save the most time follow these instructions in this order:
A. Buy a PO box at a convenient location close to where you plan to live.
B. Change your online banking account address to your PO box address and then print out a statement.
C. Take the statement to a licensing facility and use it as proof of residence in order to get an Alberta driver's license and health card (I am still amazed this actually worked).
D. Get your H2S, CSTS, Standard 1st Aid, and OSSA tickets. This will take about three days. Let your company pay for Fall Protection, etc. if you need it later.
E. As you are getting your tickets and applying, be sure to explore your city and figure out where you want to live (and the best areas for daygame).
F. Once you have your tickets, cell phone number, and po box. Put them all on your resume (make it a resume that a foreman would like). Also say you have a class 5 driver's license and a clean abstract. Then print out around 30 resumes from a quality printer service.
G. Use google maps and an iPhone or Android phone to plot the locations of all the contractors mentioned in this thread. A smartphone is worth its weight in gold here.

5. Start by visiting unions of the trades you are interested in. They are a great source of leads. The Electrician's union gave me a great tip to ask for a starter's position instead of an apprentice position, where the only difference is a piece of paper and you are much more likely to get in as a starter.

6. Then you should hit the concentrated downtown contractors offices. You can hit all of the ones listed in this thread for Calgary in one day if you start at 9 AM. I personally just asked for a fly in fly out job to Ft. Mac as a starting Electrician, and that I would take a labourer position to get my foot in the door if I had to. I applied at the worst time of the year (just before Christmas), but ALMOST EVERY company I talked to said they could get me what I wanted if I came back in January.

7. As for the companies on the outskirts of downtown, fuck em. I wasted my first two days trying to apply to them, with one day only being able to reach three by bus. Someone said earlier that you don't need a car to hit them, well fuck that. If for some crazy reason you didn't land a job from applying in downtown, I would recommend you use Car2Go to rent a smart car very cheaply for the day to hit the rest of the contractors.

8. I got an offer from a downtown contractor that started a month later, but it had everything I wanted, including grossing just over $100k. I am as green as grass in this industry, so I took it to get my foot in the door and am glad I did. I got the job within 3 business hours of applying.

9. Camps. I read horror stories of the camps before I left, but it turns out most of those were older camps that have been shut down. My camp was just as scotian described them. Everything down to laundry detergent is provided and the food is pretty good. Having your own room is great even if you have to share the washroom with one other person (some sections have their own though). If the gym was a little more starting strength friendly I would rate my camp experience (an average camp as rated from more experienced guys) a 9.1/10.

10. Labourer position. I did some temp work before I flew here to get some extra cash. If assembly line work is a 1/10 and QA work is a 2/10, then being a labourer is maybe a 6/10. It is not nearly as bad and hard as I had expected. In fact if they let me use my headphones and listen to audiobooks I might rate it a 9 (I will ask when I have more clout, as others do it). I work with a surprisingly great crew and can expect an apprentice position to come my way in less than 3 months. If you are not sure about your chances of getting work as an apprentice or starter, then don't be afraid to take a labourer position.

11. Highway 63. I drove to and from Ft. Mac twice. Once during a sunny day with dry roads, and another time in bad slippery conditions with multiple deaths in the preceding days. The first time was actually nice, so don't be afraid to take the journey when there is no snow/ice. The second time was the worst driving experience of my life. I would highly recommend taking flights if your company will cover all of it (mine just gives a monthly travel allowance, so I would rather pocket some of it). If you cannot fly then I would recommend taking the bus on a seat near the back so you will be less likely to get crushed. Highway 63 is no joke. It is quite literally gambling with your life, with multiple deaths in the days preceding.


That is all I can think of relaying to you guys right now. I just want to emphasize the importance of having a smartphone with a data plan and gps in the job hunting phase. Get a used iphone or one of the new $300 Google Nexus 4 phones; it should pay for itself in time and frustration saved.

One area where I lack knowledge and want to learn more are of the shutdown seasons that scotian describes, where from what I understand you mostly just sit around waiting to do work in a nice climate (which would be a great time to learn Russian and pipeline girls in your home city). I hope to learn more about this kind of opportunity as I progress.

I want to once again thank everyone that provided helpful content to this thread and especially scotian for showing us this great opportunity. Everything had turned out even better than I imagined jumping into this. I am very very happy where I am right now, and where I see the future heading. I will use this great cashflow to fuel my life travel desires and then eventually finish my Uni degree.

Great datasheet Ferro, reading this shit about highway 63 is kinda scary, fuck yall making this sound as if we were going to a war zone.

By the way, if you are based where Irishman is, you dont really need to use that highway 63, right?

I am still waiting for my police certificate to come. I have called my friends in Toronto and asked them to join me on moving to Edmonton. They were like ''fuck that, that shit is cold as hell, very expensive, you will hardly budget anything, you will freeze yourself to death and there are many fatal incidents due to bad working conditions''. They just kinda demotivated me in going there but fuck it, i am going ahead with this.

Irishman i forgot to ask you something. If i was to get a job as a leasehand, will i still need to have a truck and be able to drive after i got the job? Even though i will based inside of the camp?

Awesome post thehustler! Thank you for posting your experiences and kudos for making it happen!

A few questions:
The Hi Hostel in Edmonton is great and conveniently located and cheap, however, it has a policy that they won't allow anyone to stay for more than 2 weeks at a time. If you stay for 2 weeks there, you'd have to leave the place for 2 weeks before returning. Does the hostel you mention in Calgary has a similar policy on length of stays?

That's just awesome that you got a job with everything you wanted for over 100k! That's amazing! Is that a starter electrician? Did you have any previous experience as an electrician or are you completely green?

Wanted to add that when I was in Edmonton, I went to an Alberta Works office (kind of like the ministry of Employment or something) where they had counselors on premises as well as a ton of info on jobs, companies and they would also help you with your resume and would allow you to use their facility and equipment at no charge. You could use their fax to fax your resume to companies as well as their phone and computers to print your resume. They had a sign by the printer that you could only print up to 25 copies per day for free but when I was there, there was no one looking nor enforcing it and I printed 35 copies of my resume for free that day. That's a tremendous resource to use guys!

While there, I got the feeling that the folks working in that government building were really geniunely interested in helping you which is quite refreshing to when you go to government offices here in Ontario where the employees are kind of irritated that you're bothering them and not letting them continue to chat with their coworkers or surfing the net.

I'm also getting quite curious about Calgary as it might be a better city to live and base yourself at compared to Edmonton. I'm going to check it out when I return to Alberta in March.

Tight post Ferro. Well done!

(01-28-2013 12:19 AM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  A few questions:
The Hi Hostel in Edmonton is great and conveniently located and cheap, however, it has a policy that they won't allow anyone to stay for more than 2 weeks at a time. If you stay for 2 weeks there, you'd have to leave the place for 2 weeks before returning. Does the hostel you mention in Calgary has a similar policy on length of stays?

That's just awesome that you got a job with everything you wanted for over 100k! That's amazing! Is that a starter electrician? Did you have any previous experience as an electrician or are you completely green?

I'm also getting quite curious about Calgary as it might be a better city to live and base yourself at compared to Edmonton. I'm going to check it out when I return to Alberta in March.

Yes it does have the same policy, but it shouldn't be a problem. You should be able to get a job and head off to it within two weeks of getting your boots on the ground, now that everyone is hiring again. I would actually rate wicked hostels as better than HI (and Samesun in Banff as being vastly superior to HI in Calgary), but HI is most convenient for job hunting being right next to downtown so just get in and get out ASAP. If you need more time then just walk 15 minutes south and stay in wicked hostels.

I am a bit worse than green; there were some questions and confusion about me being a bit overqualified with the related Uni degree I was/am pursuing, but I easily pushed past those.

It really depends on what city relates to you. I was ready to write off Edmonton until I saw the nightlife and the amazing talent at the West Ed Mall. I saw the three tallest model-like girls I have ever seen while walking around there for a few hours before Christmas, so Edmonton has the genetics/talent covered. Calgary just felt more like my home city I guess.

(01-27-2013 07:33 AM)Irishman Wrote:  Good to hear your doing well hustler. I should be back in town early Feb if ya want to get a few pints.

sure thing man, hit me up whenever you're back

Good song about the Oil Sands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM3W5XBrVEA
Starting at 1:36

Has anyone come across companies operating in the sands offering open LMO's?

This is the most remarkable thread I have ever come across. It took me ages to read it all and then a week before I could post a reply. My thanks to everyone who has contributed and especially Scotian who started it and who has filled it with positive energy.

I’m hoping that a couple of you may be able to give me some advice.

I’m English and I’m 50 years old. A long time ago I did a BSc and a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. I worked in construction for 4 years and then I started my own business in wholesale, nothing to do with engineering. For many years I did very well but one bad investment left me on the ropes.

As the recession hit I started a business cleaning wheelie bins (trash cans) in my town in England, which I reckon is a bit like Scotian’s “100 miles East of Buttfuck Nowhere”. I did OK and with my wife’s salary we got along.

Sadly my wife became ill recently (cancer) and she has had to stop work. She’s ok and treatment has gone really well, but she just can’t work. This has left me with a broken heart and a financial problem, and with two kids (17 and 12) things are getting tight.

I thought about the oil sands a while ago. My sister emigrated to Canada twenty years ago and now lives in Calgary. I’ve got free accommodation there for as long as I want, a luxury most aren’t fortunate enough to have. I’m old but I’m keen. I’m 6’5” and I can work long hours in bad weather. I don’t care what I do. I’m perfectly happy for someone to say “There’s your shovel and there’s your shit” as long as I get paid. I speak and write fluent French, having worked in France for 13 years (although I never met a Canadian who actually spoke French outside Quebec. It’s just on the banknotes and the tins of sweetcorn, so not much use in AB).

The problem is that in order to get a job I need a Temporary Work Permit. And in order to get a Temporary Work Permit I need a job. And as Scotian and others have pointed out, the best way to get a job at my level is to turn up in person.

So I’m ready to roll. Thanks to the guidance on this thread I can do all the things Irishman and others so brilliantly did and get my driving licence and certificates, and a $500 truck (I’m already dreaming about my $500 truck) and hustle with my CV. But if I get a job then I have to come back to England and wait about 90 days for my work permit. Will any employer keep a job open for that long for a shit-shoveller? And my age? The whole thrust of this thread is that it’s a young mans game. I’m as strong and fit as most 25 year olds but I can’t hide the fact that I am 50 years old. Is that “we’ll give you a try” age, or is it “piss off and die” age?

I want to come. I think I can give something to the Oil Sands. But I can’t go on a vacation to Calgary and then find out that I’m no use to anyone. I can’t waste that kind of money. So my question is really do I stand a reasonable chance of finding a job?

I know some might wonder why I would want to leave my wife when she’s ill but she’s the one cheerleading me on to get out to Alberta.

Sorry, messed up previous reply.
Sorry for the situation you are in.
I think your engineering degree should be a help.
As for age, a friend of mine who worked as a graphic artist, laided off 2 years ago, started as 1st year apprentice pipefitter at 55. (3 year apprenticeship).
I heard of another fellow, welder in Fort McMurray in his early 70s.
A lady I used to work with, she is 54, got a job as a security guard at a camp 3 hours north of Edmonton. $22.50 an hour + $60 a day la, 12 hour days, 2 weeks in, 2 weeks out. Watches TV, Internet or reads on shift. The trades guys on site feel sorry she is paid so little!!
Best thing is to make the trip to Calgary. Have you tried the site britishexpats.com, some useful info on there.
Cheapest airline from UK is Air Transat.
Cheers

Hey everyone.
First time poster here... had to wait 29 days to register.
Great thread and great info, thanks Scotian and all others.
My situation is I am 36 years old and I am not sure if I can get a visa. I am in construction, drywall and metal framing and insulation is my main game, but I have also been involved in other areas and I am very adaptable. I have emailed a good few companies but I have got no replies. Is my age going to stop me getting a work visa or will I qualify for a lmo?
Do I get to Edmonton/Calgary get my licence and other courses done and then tear around the company offices with my resumé hope for a job offer and then head home and apply for visa.
Also do construction companies work in the camps? Sorry for rushed post, but I would appreciate any replies. I will post again with more info and questions.

Does anybody knows if you have to pay taxes to your government if you start working abroad? Can they find out that you are working abroad?

Hi guys. I have been reading this thread for a month or 2, big shout out to Scotian and everyone contributing on this thread. As a 27 year old disgruntled employee in Ontario I found this thread very inspiring. So, I messaged my cousin in Calgary, whom I haven't seen in 10 years to see if its really as promising as it seems. Turns out he works HR for an oil and gas company and told me to get out west asap. So, I'm selling my assets and planning to be in Calgary by July for the stampede. I will try and contribute as much as I can and hopefully motivate some more people along the way.

Hi everyone
Pitt, you are suppose to pay taxes to uncle sam if you make more than 93k abroad I think.
LJ3, what kind of company does your cousin work for?

(02-01-2013 12:33 PM)KingCokeSnorter Wrote:  Hi everyone
Pitt, you are suppose to pay taxes to uncle sam if you make more than 93k abroad I think.
LJ3, what kind of company does your cousin work for?

A large energy company. One of the largest independent gas and oil producers in Canada.

(02-01-2013 11:36 AM)pitt Wrote:  Does anybody knows if you have to pay taxes to your government if you start working abroad? Can they find out that you are working abroad?

In the accounting world there's no straight answer for this question, it really depends. To be deemed a non resident of Canada (and thus be exempted from paying taxes) you'd have to prove that you have broken all the ties and some other conditions etc.

And no it doesn't depend on how much money you're making abroad.

If you need a detailed answer, please just pm me.

Hi to all the people here, first time poster here and let me first say that this thread is amazing. I've been looking to move to Canada for a couple of months, to either Edmonton or Calgary, mainly cause of the jobs in oil/gas industry.

Just wanted to ask Scotian, Irishman or someone with expirience, if there's any hope for me. I'm 34 years old, 6'6, no kids, from Croatia (Eastern Europe) and with absolutely no expirience whatsoever in this field. I have a BA in agriculture and after few years working in my field, the recession pretty much smashed my company (and many others) so i'm strongly looking at this possibility.

I was thinking about moving to Calgary or Edmonton with my girlffriend, she could find a job at the restarurant or at the mall, whatever, and i'd work in oil/gas sands.

Now, i perfectly understand that no company will employee a foreigner with no skill online. But is there any chance i get there, knock on their door and get any kind of job? Something like rigger's, driller's helper, or welders helper, or whatever that is being offered to persons with no expirience?

Someone please help, i'm pretty much sick of such highly unstable economy in Croatia and Europe overall, this really looks like a good shot a decent living.

I would move to Edmonton. I currenty live in Calgary and am thinking about relocating.

I say to move to Edmonton because there are lots more labour/trade jobs in the area. You should be able to get a job easily once you get here. Then save up some money till you can afford a truck and take a few basic Oilfield courses. Then you can apply for a job on the rigs.

(02-02-2013 07:42 AM)Jourgensen Wrote:  Hi to all the people here, first time poster here and let me first say that this thread is amazing. I've been looking to move to Canada for a couple of months, to either Edmonton or Calgary, mainly cause of the jobs in oil/gas industry.

I'd simply ask you to take the time to read the thread and all of your questions would be answered by then.

Handy Edmonton HIHostel tip: Dont bring girls back to your room from the club. It results in a lifetime ban.