Salmonfella any idea if we get our tax back from working here?

hey mate you can indeed. from people i have been chatting they use either. http://www.ufile.ca or http://www.taxback.com. and select canada. if its your first time to claim tax back it can take from 4 weeks - 3 months and they will usually post you a cheque or deposit it into your account. best of luck with it dude.

My post seems to have vanished but does anyone know if you get your taxes back first year being Irish?

Actually it hasnt. Thanks Samlonfella

--

I'm curious to know what opportunities would be like for someone who did something like this:


1. Showed up in an entry level or semi-experienced position - anywhere/anything really, but probably more physical labor.

2. Networked with managers, colleagues, workers, and small/medium sized contractors. Learned the wide range of components and tools required in a range of scenarios - from the transport to the oil extraction to the health/safety/environmental area.

3. Learned what parts frequently break, are significantly overpriced, and/or strongly in demand but not easily found.

4. Begin importing products/goods/tools into the Alberta sands area in specialized niche products that are specific to what teams need in the end to end sands extraction process

5. Start on a small scale and establish trust as a go-to-guy who can source/procure in Asia/China for the medium to long term. Spend time seasonally bouncing between Shenzhen and Alberta - 3 months China, 3 months Canada, and so on and so forth.

6. Launch a sourcing venture specific to procuring these specific niche oil sands equipment and tools that are unique to the conditions, demands, and contractors in the oil sands field. Develop a reputation as a trusted and reasonably priced procurement/sourcing provider who has insider knowledge and practical experience using the sourced goods in question.

7. Manage supplier and client relationships.

--

To guys who have done the Alberta oil sands experience - what sorts of risks, opportunities, obstacles etc do you see coming up for a situation like this?


Any feedback you can provide would be much appreciated.

Simultaneously, if you fit this profile, are currently working in the oil sands, and are interested in a potential joint venture then send me a private message.

Thank you.

----

(03-16-2013 06:58 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  --

I'm curious to know what opportunities would be like for someone who did something like this:


1. Showed up in an entry level or semi-experienced position - anywhere/anything really, but probably more physical labor.

2. Networked with managers, colleagues, workers, and small/medium sized contractors. Learned the wide range of components and tools required in a range of scenarios - from the transport to the oil extraction to the health/safety/environmental area.

3. Learned what parts frequently break, are significantly overpriced, and/or strongly in demand but not easily found.

4. Begin importing products/goods/tools into the Alberta sands area in specialized niche products that are specific to what teams need in the end to end sands extraction process

5. Start on a small scale and establish trust as a go-to-guy who can source/procure in Asia/China for the medium to long term. Spend time seasonally bouncing between Shenzhen and Alberta - 3 months China, 3 months Canada, and so on and so forth.

6. Launch a sourcing venture specific to procuring these specific niche oil sands equipment and tools that are unique to the conditions, demands, and contractors in the oil sands field. Develop a reputation as a trusted and reasonably priced procurement/sourcing provider who has insider knowledge and practical experience using the sourced goods in question.

7. Manage supplier and client relationships.

--

To guys who have done the Alberta oil sands experience - what sorts of risks, opportunities, obstacles etc do you see coming up for a situation like this?


Any feedback you can provide would be much appreciated.

Simultaneously, if you fit this profile, are currently working in the oil sands, and are interested in a potential joint venture then send me a private message.

Thank you.

----

I don't know about all companies, but in mine they hate the idea of anything not made in USA/Canada. They won't even import from Europe. Almost all of the heavy industrial equipment is domestic.

Maybe other companies are different. Scotian may have some input.

I'm seriously considering this right now. I "literally" have nothing (money, experience, etc.) except for a liberal arts degree (aka nothing) but hopefully a part time job and some classes will have me ready with $5000, the safety certs, and a car by Spring of 2014 (that is the easiest time to get jobs there, right?)

You guys seem to get asked the same questions constantly so I'll just ask one:

+I'm not afraid of hard work but I'd prefer to not go into something like welding or such and have to train for years just to get the qualifications. I want something where I can be a paid apprentice for 6 months to gain the necessary skills and then be off from the starting gate in terms of salary (I'm obviously not expecting to make 6 figures right away).

Do you have suggestions of fields that you've seen "green" newbies apply to with no relevant job experience whatsoever and get hired quickly and put into solid paying positions within months? I'd prefer something like what Irishman does now (MWD) and unlike his first gig (leasehand). Is MWD something you can just get into or do you need specialized experience beforehand?

why don't you be a NDT Tester ? they make serious serious coin i had planned on doing that but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that. there is really good money to be made at that

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  why don't you be a NDT Tester ? they make serious serious coin i had planned on doing that but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that. there is really good money to be made at that

Good idea but I'm a US Citizen (Seattle). If I read this thread correctly, it takes years to become a permanent citizen, right? Actually, that problem is the only thing stopping me right now. It was also stated you need to be a permanent resident to do stuff like Welding, pipe fitting, etc. I really don't want to wait years until I qualify to start an apprenticeship that would take another 4 years.

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that

No you don't.

Really thats great news them 3 words has just made my day i will look into this further so

That's good. I was a bit worried because all the people who succeeded in this topic have engineering backgrounds or are from Ireland/a country that allows easy permanent residency so they quickly can obtain great jobs unlike someone who wants to come from the US who can't obtain any of the good jobs listed in this topic for years.

Time to go off and do some hardcore research on this.

Regarding Canadian immigration to help clarify a few points:

The 1 year work permits available (with a 1 year option) under the IEC program is a reciprocal thing. I. E. so many Canadians are eligible to apply for an exact equivalent in UK, Ireland, Norway, (not US), etc etc etc and vice versa. It's tit for tat in the amount of time allowed and everything except for Ozzies who pretty much have it unlimited until the age of 30. These visas strictly speaking have you down as a temporary resident so there are some barriers to living in Canada with that as previously mentioned.

Currently and also in the case of Alberta, the absolute no bullshit best option to get in if you have some kind of trade already is the PNP program (if you don't have a trade then see what options you have in your country of residence to build yourself up). Google it and research it for yourselves; I am not going into that for you. Currently the Federal option appears to be both limited and the amount of trades is much lower but still look it up for sure - it may yet work out for you.

I have played the immigration game and won as I have full permanent resident status in Canada now after 2 years. I will be ending up in the whole 6 figures deal in my own time but everyone on this can make it work if they try hard enough. Just never mess with immigration here - they will bounce you if you misrepresent yourself at the border.

The work is out there guys and it's not a joke. The Bitumen isn't going away and the pipelines WILL get built eventually. That is 2 generations worth of Phat overtime right there and then. Good luck and don't give up.

Peace

Cheers yea i have a 2 year IEC visa i am going to go down the PR route when this is up under Alberta skilled trades visa as i am an Irish electrician.

(03-16-2013 06:58 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  --

I'm curious to know what opportunities would be like for someone who did something like this:


1. Showed up in an entry level or semi-experienced position - anywhere/anything really, but probably more physical labor.

2. Networked with managers, colleagues, workers, and small/medium sized contractors. Learned the wide range of components and tools required in a range of scenarios - from the transport to the oil extraction to the health/safety/environmental area.

3. Learned what parts frequently break, are significantly overpriced, and/or strongly in demand but not easily found.

4. Begin importing products/goods/tools into the Alberta sands area in specialized niche products that are specific to what teams need in the end to end sands extraction process

5. Start on a small scale and establish trust as a go-to-guy who can source/procure in Asia/China for the medium to long term. Spend time seasonally bouncing between Shenzhen and Alberta - 3 months China, 3 months Canada, and so on and so forth.

6. Launch a sourcing venture specific to procuring these specific niche oil sands equipment and tools that are unique to the conditions, demands, and contractors in the oil sands field. Develop a reputation as a trusted and reasonably priced procurement/sourcing provider who has insider knowledge and practical experience using the sourced goods in question.

7. Manage supplier and client relationships.

--

To guys who have done the Alberta oil sands experience - what sorts of risks, opportunities, obstacles etc do you see coming up for a situation like this?


Any feedback you can provide would be much appreciated.

Simultaneously, if you fit this profile, are currently working in the oil sands, and are interested in a potential joint venture then send me a private message.

Thank you.

----

I'll try to answer this to the best of my abilities although as a grunt working in the field, I don't have too much exposure to the business side of things.

I think the biggest obstacle on the ground would be that you're working around a bunch of red necks for the most part, these aren't exactly people who think globally. Not only co-workers but a lot of the managers I've worked under are basically cavemen and not very forward thinking. A lot of the equipment we use is out dated, actually this seems to be a problem throughout industry in Canada and is a factor is our low levels of productivity vis-a-vis other industrial nations.

Most of the major decisions made concerning new equipment and importing aren't made in Fort McMurray, they would be done at the offices in Calgary or Edmonton. Exposure to the unique oil extraction and refining process up north would be helpful, but the movers and shakers are all down south. Also, I believe that the oil industry is dominated by an "old boys club", they hang out at the Calgary Petroleum Club: http://www.calpeteclub.com/

Djemba Djemba is correct that a lot of companies seem to be leery about foreign made products and some sites in particular have had disasters (unscheduled shut downs lasting months after equipment fails) that was caused by, among other things, cheap steel imported from Romania.

There's a lot of talk in the media about how the technology is developing at a fast pace in the oil sands, most of the R and D taking place at the University of Alberta and the University of Edmonton, but I don't really see it on the ground, although again, I'm just a tradesman so these things fly over my head for the most part.

Technologies developed that are unique to oil sands extraction include Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) and Toe to Heel Air Injection (THAI), there's some decent videos on youtube to explain both but you almost have to be a petroleum engineer to understand some of the concepts.

I'd say that if a guy wanted to make ins within the oil sands in the way you write above, he's have to have some engineering knowledge (preferable petroleum, mining or mechanical) and a business back ground.

An example of a lack of ingenuity that I can think of would be the time that I worked at an oil sands mine in the "ore prep" area where they load the bitumen onto conveyors where they are carried up to a big "crusher". Basically this is a machine built by German mining equipment giant Thyssen Krupp that crushes the rock like bitumen clay into smaller pieces before sending it to the next process. A hopper feeds the bitumen into a larger container which has big two cylinder rolling beside each other with massive teeth on them.

I was sent to work there after they shut it down because the tough bitumen was wearing down the big teeth and in some cases breaking them off, we had to weld on steel reinforcement plates to the sides, this took about a week. They started it back up and within a few days, all of the plates broke off and they had to shut it down again, this time for over two weeks and we put the same plates on except this time we welded on front plates and reinforced them with thicker welds. I'm not sure if they lasted as I left the job after that but I couldn't help but think that there had to be a better way. They probably ended up replacing the inefficient crusher with better teeth.

Anyway, the oil sands pose a lot of unique challenges to the engineering departments of all oil companies such as environmental, mining, refining processes, transportation, health and safety, etc. As I say these questions are a bit above my pay scale but hopefully I shed some light on the topic for you.

(03-16-2013 08:43 AM)april6e Wrote:  I'm seriously considering this right now. I "literally" have nothing (money, experience, etc.) except for a liberal arts degree (aka nothing) but hopefully a part time job and some classes will have me ready with $5000, the safety certs, and a car by Spring of 2014 (that is the easiest time to get jobs there, right?)

You guys seem to get asked the same questions constantly so I'll just ask one:

+I'm not afraid of hard work but I'd prefer to not go into something like welding or such and have to train for years just to get the qualifications. I want something where I can be a paid apprentice for 6 months to gain the necessary skills and then be off from the starting gate in terms of salary (I'm obviously not expecting to make 6 figures right away).

Do you have suggestions of fields that you've seen "green" newbies apply to with no relevant job experience whatsoever and get hired quickly and put into solid paying positions within months? I'd prefer something like what Irishman does now (MWD) and unlike his first gig (leasehand). Is MWD something you can just get into or do you need specialized experience beforehand?

Forget about working in Canada until you have a skill set that we need up there, as an unskilled labourer there's almost no chance of you getting in up there, that's the harsh truth for you and all of the other unskilled Americans reading this thread.

Fortunately for you guys, there's plenty of options and the USA is currently gearing up for a massive domestic oil boom, its already underway in places like North Dakota and with new advances in fracking technology, there will be lots of work to come.

Actually I recently coached a fellow forum member who is from the USA about getting a trades job, I told him the names of some oil field service companies and he took the initiative and applied. He got a job within a week and is currently working at a refinery.

I'll drop some data in a separate thread in a few days about how you guys can get an oil job in the USA and how you can use that experience to get into Canada, or anywhere else in the world with oil.

^ Thanks Scotian, I appreciate it.

It's a shame that this isn't going to work for my specific situation but this has been a very helpful and eye opening thread (I pulled all nighters the last two days just reading this thread and doing research on the trade industry) and I'd love to see that data on North Dakota. Hopefully their oil boom is just a lucrative as the Canadian oil sands and I can cut my teeth in a trade job there.

Yepp! Applied for Visa, super stoked =)

Only thing I might regret is list my bachelor in engineering, might look little suspicious for the working holiday. But I'm just to much of a good guy to lie about something like that.

I'm ready to follow the footstep of irishman =)

I understand I'm enable to get two years work permit first, two types of IEC visas. Then I hopefully have enough experience that a can apply for a temporary work permit.

(03-18-2013 03:40 AM)pants Wrote:  Yepp! Applied for Visa, super stoked =)

Only thing I might regret is list my bachelor in engineering, might look little suspicious for the working holiday. But I'm just to much of a good guy to lie about something like that.

I'm ready to follow the footstep of irishman =)

I understand I'm enable to get two years work permit first, two types of IEC visas. Then I hopefully have enough experience that a can apply for a temporary work permit.

Good luck with the visa and paper work, since you're Norwegian, you may want to consider applying to Statoil, they have an oil sands operation.

(03-16-2013 05:22 PM)Thehustler Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that

No you don't.

https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/SOURCES/...NTRACT.pdf

If you're looking to get into a trade, you need to be a PR or a Citizen.

(03-18-2013 05:36 AM)scotian Wrote:  

(03-18-2013 03:40 AM)pants Wrote:  Yepp! Applied for Visa, super stoked =)

Only thing I might regret is list my bachelor in engineering, might look little suspicious for the working holiday. But I'm just to much of a good guy to lie about something like that.

I'm ready to follow the footstep of irishman =)

I understand I'm enable to get two years work permit first, two types of IEC visas. Then I hopefully have enough experience that a can apply for a temporary work permit.

Good luck with the visa and paper work, since you're Norwegian, you may want to consider applying to Statoil, they have an oil sands operation.

Yeah,. maybe i file an application, but my main focus will be a list of small drillig companies. So sick of big corporations HR department. the girls working there giving questions, and then not understanding the technical answer you give them..

66/100 slots remaning, I have faith.

(03-18-2013 08:50 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 05:22 PM)Thehustler Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that

No you don't.

https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/SOURCES/...NTRACT.pdf

If you're looking to get into a trade, you need to be a PR or a Citizen.

All you need is permission to work in Canada, I work with plenty of guys on one or two year visa's who have started apprenticeships.

really? why would the Alberta apprenticeship board say differently to me then? are they registered apprentices with Alberta board? or are they just being told they are and used for cheap labour? l i have 3 and a half years experience in electrical as a registered Irish apprentice that has been made redundant here in Ireland and they wont count that as i don't have PR so i cant understand how they would allow people with no experience on a 2 year visa undertake an apprenticeship which is 4 years long? i tried contacting the electrical union in Calgary but was told to contact AIT so i did and they told me i would not be able to get my hours counted or start and apprenticeship. and they also warned me that electrical is a regulated trade in Alberta and that if i was caught working in it i would be in for fines so i look forward to hearing from ya lux help a fellow Irish man out if ya can at all as this bit of information has made my month i would love to get into the oil sands as a skilled electrician if i could instead of an unskilled laborer.
Thanks Ross.

(03-18-2013 08:50 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 05:22 PM)Thehustler Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that

No you don't.

https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/SOURCES/...NTRACT.pdf

If you're looking to get into a trade, you need to be a PR or a Citizen.

bro he was referring to NDT in his post which is not a regulated trade and one doesn't have to be a PR to work as a NDT.

(03-19-2013 07:29 PM)Lux Interior Wrote:  

(03-18-2013 08:50 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 05:22 PM)Thehustler Wrote:  

(03-16-2013 09:50 AM)salmonfella Wrote:  but you need to be a peremenant citizen to do that

No you don't.

https://tradesecrets.alberta.ca/SOURCES/...NTRACT.pdf

If you're looking to get into a trade, you need to be a PR or a Citizen.

All you need is permission to work in Canada, I work with plenty of guys on one or two year visa's who have started apprenticeships.

I can guarantee you every single ticketed persn working in regulated trades is a PR or to work as an apprentice you need both a work visa AND a study visa.

^^These are the only 2 options.

yea i just taught about that i only have a work permit a 2 year iec work visa but because i have finished all my schooling here in Ireland. i taught i could work the 6 months in canada to make 4 years and transfer over my Irish hours to get my journey man card that way. but sadly that's not to be. although i would still be interested no hear what trades Lux was referring to that allowed apprentices to be registered on with a one or a two year visa.