I have been seriously thinking about living and working in canada but i’m not sure where to get started. I’ve heard that there are some companies in the UK which can help you find trucking jobs in canada and also help with visa’s and housing etc. Is this true and can anybody give me any advice 
As has been discused previously on this site the companies that advertise getting you visas and driving jobs are mostly scam artists. These companies will soon ask for fees, which will reach a few thousand before they tell you they tell you that you do not qualify.
A good friend of mine has a personal small fortune, a fiance who lives in Canada and has gone directly to Canadian imigration, he has no qualifications other that his LGV, he has ample funds to buy a home for cash and to suport himself, but he can’t get a visa or work permit.
Truck driving is not a 'Skilled ’ job in the USA or Canada. HGV and LGV are not recognised and a total, very expensive driving course is normally required.
I speak from experience. Please don’t be fooled by these companies that promise you the world then let you down.
None the less i wish you good luck with your quest. 
There is a forum at one of our sister sites…TruckNet Canada which is moderated by an ex UK driver who has succesfully emigrated to Canada
here you go mate hit the link above and register as you did on here and ask the question
it might take a couple of days to get an answer.
Pat Hasler:
Truck driving is not a 'Skilled ’ job in the USA or Canada. HGV and LGV are not recognised and a total, very expensive driving course is normally required.
Pat how do UK HGV drivers get away with doing the harvest work in the US, do they also need a US licence?
A driver at our firm is going in september. He has been recruited by a canadian trucking firm and the canadian government. Very good deal, i’ll see if I can get you some more info.
Martin 
muckles:
Pat how do UK HGV drivers get away with doing the harvest work in the US, do they also need a US licence?
They must have to take the test because no insurance company here will insure a truck driver with anything other than a CDL.
Even after passing the test I had to get written proof form the UK that I had driven Class 1 there for more than 2 years.
Yup, you get a new US licence, which is usually marked “Only valid for work with a visa”. Which means you still need to find a work visa to live over there by another method.
Harvest visas are said to be easy to get. I hope so, I’m going into London on the 14th of June for my visa interview for just that visa. But they are very short time limited, 6 or 9 months or so is the usual duration. I hope to do the trip most years from here on, and, if nothing else, it will hammer my income tax figures through the floor 
To say nothing of fulfilling a life-long dream.
PM me or BigTruck for info. It’s a bit late to do it this year, but you will be fine if you want to go out for next summer.
Dcollin:
I have been seriously thinking about living and working in canada but i’m not sure where to get started. I’ve heard that there are some companies in the UK which can help you find trucking jobs in canada and also help with visa’s and housing etc. Is this true and can anybody give me any advice
Another Canada thread?
First: Will you qualify to immigrate to Canada?
I don’t pretend to have any answers, but as a truck driver you’ll not get to the head of the line.
Second: If you do get here, be prepared to have to compete with the same people you are competing with there for the jobs, Polish immigrants and people from India. The container haulers all seem to be Indian or Trinidadian.
There are very few union jobs left.
Beware of schemes that promise a lot; immigration is rife with scam and fraud.
Don’t get snowed by "buying"a truck and then leasing it on to the carrier you buy from. I doubt that would be a “business class” immigration anyways.
Should you get a decent job, be prepared to be away from home for days or often weeks at a time. It’s a big country and takes awhile to drive across. Most loads go into the States, so all your immigration papers better be exactly correct.
Go to Toronto, if you can’t get a job in Toronto, you won’t get a job anywhere else in Canada. Toronto is where the jobs are, but be prepared to pay nearly 350,000.00 for a small house.
Remember, we have a season called W I N T E R
it’s bearable in Toronto and Vancouver but bloody cold in the rest of the country. Those jobs based in Saskatoon…think minus 30 to 40 for weeks on end. Winnipeg is called WINTERPEG for good reason.
I’m amazed that Canada has such a reputation with British truckers. It’s a hard business here too.
Try and immigrate by all means…welcome if you qualify, but don’t forget it will be difficult to get through the bureaucratic maze. It will be hard on your family when you get here.
Good luck
I think the main reason people want to go to Canada, is the fact that they speak real English, have good choc, and are less wierd than the Americans.
It’s also the view that there is at least a chance of getting into Canada, whereas there’s almost no hope at all of moving to the USA.
The grass is always greener on the other side 
until you get there! 
And maybe we should campaign for truck driving to count as a skilled occupation? Would our Jays fan help out there? Being a bit of a local and all.
Oh, and yay Toronto BlueJays will rule the World Series this year - promise!
Thecritic:
The grass is always greener on the other sideuntil you get there!
Not in Canada it isn’t, you only get green grass for about 5 months of the year 
I know quite a few Canadian drivers who get paid in Canadian Dollars and so earn a third of US drivers for doing a great deal more.
Most of the drivers from up there are required to trave across the border for most trips, this involves about a 5 to 10 hour wait at the crossing for security checks (Since 9/11) any non Canadian driver would have extra problems because he would have to be issed a visa waiver, this is usually only issued to tourists. The only other way to work as a regular driver who is required to drive south of the border is to become a full Canadian citizen, which unless I am mistaken takes 4 years of full legal residency.
By the way the driver is not paid for waiting at the border. 
I have to say that most of you seem to live in a dream or watch too many US trucking movies. There is nothing glamourus or exiting about driving over here, Old fasioned and out dated trucks, pay by the mile, not hourly. You can and up working a 20 hour day for a pittance, no job security, only one weeks holiday a year (If you are lucky) … O could go on for ever.
I work for a very good company who treat drivers with respect, which is very rare, especially in Canada.
I am Married to a US citizen and I have aUS citizen Daughter and US citizen Stepson. If I had non of these I would be back there working in proper conditions in a flash.
Work conditions and security for me have gone back 20 years.
allikat:
I think the main reason people want to go to Canada, is the fact that they speak real English, have good choc, and are less wierd than the Americans.
It’s also the view that there is at least a chance of getting into Canada, whereas there’s almost no hope at all of moving to the USA.
Make up your mind Alli… do they want to go to Canada because its better there, or because they can’t get into the US? You can’t have it both ways. It would be nice to read just ONE thread in here that doesn’t contain some kind of insult directed at Americans by people who don’t really know Americans… a 2 week vacation in Florida hardly qualifies… If you think the way we speak is so offensive, or the chocolate is so inferior, or that we’re just too “weird”, then I suggest you stay in England… this country isn’t big enough for that big British chip on your shoulder.
I am still wondering why my mate wants to set up a business in England while living in Canada.
If you look at the post " Anyone Fancy Canada " , read the story.
This man has been there for a while, and is still not driving.
Regards - Niall.
I wasn’t trying to be nasty about the US, I loved my last time there. It’s a wonderful nation, but the question was about why Canada, so I just made some of the points that could count in that decision.
American isn’t the same as English, sure they’re very similar, but you have to admit they’re quite different. Different evolutions from the same root. Which is better? Who can say. The wierd factor? There’s wierd people everywhere.
I can’t say whether the US or Canada is better, that depends more on the person concerned than anything else.
I’d personally give up the real English and the better chocolate to live withing a couple hours of Mile High Stadium, but that’s me…
And 2 week vacation in FL for me to base my opinions on? Urm… no. Try 2 months living in NC, as well as doing the great road trip. It’s a wonderful nation, full of amazing places and great people. Like a lot of countries in fact.