Hi all
First post 
I currently work HGV class 1 in the Uk
I am currently looking to move to Canada mainly for a better future for my boys
Can anyone tell me the best companies to apply for and who to avoid
Thanks
Hi mate, welcome along, don’t know the answer but suggest you re-post this in the Expats forum as that’s where folk with the inside track on Canada hang out.
Thanks mate will give it a go
The thing you need to ask yourself here is do you want to be a part of that future for your kids? Chances are that if you come here you’ll be doing 4-6000km per week and may be away from home for several weeks at a time and “visits” home are often of the 36hr nature. If its something you really do want to do, I’d be looking longer term than the initial company as nearly all the companies who need to hire from outside Canada are crap to work for by UK standards and you’d use them soley until you got your Permanent Resident status. Baring that in mind you need to choose an area that offers more work than just long haul driving because once you’ve got PR, in order to lead that better life you’ll need work that allows for a home life, a family life and to actually enjoy being in Canada, rather than a 25 year old ERF with a big cab bouncing up and down from Canada to all points in the USA.
I’m in New Brunswick and have been here since May 2009, I came out as a single 24 year old with no ties and to say it was a struggle would be an under statement. But I hung in there long enough to get my PR and the minute I got it, I moved jobs. Its a lovely province to live in, only 800,000 people in the whole place and your money will go a long way with regards buying a house but outside of long haul trucking, theres practically nothing offering money above the minimum wage and even then its often dead mans shoes. My advice would be a western province, namely Manitoba as you’d get a better quality long haul job to start with and once you’ve got PR there’d be more options for local work, especially if you’re anywhere near Winnipeg for example. The same would apply for Alberta but their immigration system is geared towards the employer and not the immigrant so unless you brown nose the company and do everything you’re told (which could mean never seeing your family) they can quite lawfully refuse to sponser you for PNP (Provincial Nominee Program) which is the first step of the Permanent Residence program. Provinces such as New Brunswick and Manitoba are different in that you yourself apply for PNP and your company have no hold over you in that respect. Theres quite a few guys in the ex-pat section who reside in Manitoba so you could post this again there, though they may well see it here and offer their advice any way.
Thanks for all the information
I had heard it can be pretty crap for the first couple of years, I have got an interview with H&R on Saturday but their feedback is not brilliant, but is this due to a different expectation.
I am a worker the only thing that winds me up is when trucks keep breaking down and not repaired fully so your unable to do the work.
Being honest mate, avoid fridge work all together. You will be paid by the mile, not by the hour and not by the day, but on fridge work in North America you will always be waiting for hours to get tipped loaded and sometimes even days and .38 cents per mile for 0 miles is $0. If you’re going to come here then try to get a box van job as its much more laid back, nowhere near as much pressure to run bent to make up for all the waiting time because 95% of places you’ll go will tip and load you quickly and you generally have more time to complete a job. Reefer work is all “Hurrying to wait, and waiting to hurry”. I’d even do flat beds before reefers and thats saying something.
Breakdowns are just the luck of the draw, you could be given an 8 year old truck that never misses a beat or you could get a brand new truck and be beaking down every week for two years and again, .38 cents per mile for 0 miles is $0.
I have no personal gripe with H&R, they’re on the other side of the continent from me after all but just be wary of any large company with a huge driver turnover and one that has a well oiled machine in place to bring in foreigners, train them and put them straight on the road in one seemless process, yes it sounds good and convenient but they’re having to do it for a reason, and thats because they can’t get anywhere near enough Canadians to do the job and even many of the foreigners aren’t staying. Plus as I already said, your future isn’t in your hands in Alberta when you apply for PNP, you have to hope the company sponsors you and if they dont you have no other options apart from work out your permit and return to the UK or move to another province that doesn’t legislate against the welfare of its foreign workers in such a way so in that light I’d be going straight to Manitoba to begin with, getting on with a dry van company and being close enough to other sources of work so that once you get PR you at least have the option of getting out of long haul and taking up employment on local work where you’ll finally be at home with your family and quite likely be on an hourly rate so you’re not chasing after the mile.
Was watching a TV show about a Canadian highway and the recovery firm that covers a section and almost every trucker they came across was Asian or from Afghanistan or Iraq which kind of tells you what you need to know about pay.
Not really Conor , the show is filmed on the Coquihalla highway which is the main route from Vancouver over the Rockies to Edmonton , Calgary and all points East . A suburb of Vancouver is Surrey , home of many a Taliban trucking company whose driver skills leave a lot to be desired on a good day , let alone driving the mountains in winter . Hence when there’s a wreck , or a truck comes screaming past with its brakes on fire chances are it has Surrey BC on the door , and is crewed by 3 or 4 wailing banshees sharing a licence 
. We dodge them on a daily basis 