I'm a Canadian citizen considering moving to Warszawa Poland I speak/write/read both English and Polish fluently. I'm here to look for some kind of direction and help where I could find work in my field as an Electrician.
I have my Red Seal Electrical Journeyman Ticket and am looking for work in Poland, or shift work anywhere in Europe.
What are some opportunities for oil and gas or mining jobs in Europe or Asia (Shift work fly in fly out) ?
Would it be difficult to find work as an Electrician in Warsaw.
The pros are, good tradesman, are thin on the ground and there will definitely be a demand for your services. The Cons, however, are lots 1st I am pretty sure your Canadain qualifications will mean nothing here, and if you want to get any jobs more than just fixing a grandma's light switch you are going to need Polish Papers which means starting from the absolute beginning again.
The life in Poland is great in terms of if you can earn enough money but you will never be rich here trust me
I need to find some more information about my qualifications transferring over, the Red Seal from my understanding is a high standard to hold and recognized internationally. I might need to take an equivalency exam but either way if I had to start again then I suppose I would. The reason for the move is my wife she still lives in Poland, we are unsure if she will like it here in Canada so the alternative would be moving to Poland, i'm just looking for some information in case something like this would come up.
I checked the wages for my industry and they are substantially lower than in Canada but compared to the cost of living in Poland they're not bad, I would have to say they're equal to our cost of living and wages.
I wish you the best of luck and hope your qualifications are transferrable. I would seriously doubt they are. I have many UK Qualifications both professional and personal and nothing so far is transferable.
After spending 7 years getting my Yacht Master certificate, I was told as I live in Poland, and am not visiting they are not valid. I had to attend a level 1 powerboat inshore powerboat course, which I failed, becuase the instructer felt that my Polish wasn't good enough. That is just one example of how if you piece of paper doesn't have a Polish stamp on its useless.
Again I hope yours is transferable but I would die of shock if it is.
Where does your wife live if its drivable to Germany that would be a way better option as it would be easier to transfer your quals over and you would earn 4 times as much.
After spending 7 years getting my Yacht Master certificate, I was told as I live in Poland, and am not visiting they are not valid.
What? That's complete nonsense - who told you that you needed to exchange it? I've got a Croatian licence for small boats and no-one has ever questioned it here.
I have many UK Qualifications both professional and personal and nothing so far is transferable.
Most qualifications are automatically recognised, especially academic ones. You don't need to transfer them, they're (at least until Brexit...) automatically valid here.
I don't speak German, I think it would be harder for me to find work in Germany if I can't even speak the language
In Germany with English, you will have more chance to get a Job as 90% speak almost perfect English
I don't want to be Mr negativity. I dreamt too about coming here with a handful of English Qualifications in my hand and starting in the same high position I had in England but quickly discovered that my best option was English teaching. Can I survive? Yes, but forget making money the only way I have a decent lifestyle is because my English money paid for a house without a mortgage. In Germany, I could have started where I left off but after calculating the costs of travel and renting a place in Berlin I choose the teaching.
I think step one is to find out are your qualifications transferrable, but forget doing it on the net like a normal country, I am willing to bet that it will involve lots of trips in person to various government offices with lots of people just shrugging their shoulders at you.
On the positive side, I love where I live and wouldn't go back to England, but that may change the next time I have to change my car or some other big expense because my English money is gone and my Polish salary just doesn't go that far.
Only interjecting my two euros worth into the discussion thread, but without knowing the language of any European country, excluding of course purely for tourism/vacation, the chances of personal success are limited to nill!
I can't repeat often enough how many colleagues as well as friends of mine merrily blundered their way off to places as "attractive" as
Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, believing that there was no honest-to-gosh need to learn the respective languages of those countries. Live and learn. They went through hell until they abandoned their misconceptions finally and decided to get serious by learning the language...not merely "hello!", "good bye!" etc.
Germans especially aren't impressed, not to mention the French:-)
You are right that eventually, you will definitely need to learn the language of any country you wish to prosper in and I am only sharing with you my experience and my learning in order to give you a real view of what happens here.
I came here luckily with enough money to last 6 months without employment and thank god I did because I think this is the minimum time you need just to find out if you can work or not and if not formulate a plan B. Lots of people come here because its a beautiful country and they expect that because it is in Europe it will operate very similar to other European countries. When you are talking about anything official this is simply not the case.
My advice would be to start the process as early as you can get an extended holiday from work and come here with the sole aim of establishing if you can convert your papers and if so how long will this take at least then you will arrive with your eyes open. I have come across a lot of people coming here to follow a dream just as I did and they end up going back with their tail between their legs 2 months later.
I agree with France but in Germany, the demand for foreign workers is so high that standards are very much lower and the pay is not affected.
In Germany with English, you will have more chance to get a Job as 90% speak almost perfect English
I wouldn't agree with that. I was chatting to a German who works in recruitment recently and she told me that outside of Berlin there is no realistic chance of getting a job if you don't speak German - and she recruits for quite senior business positions. It's not a question of the Germans speaking perfect English. They may well do so, but naturally they want to communicate at work, in their native language. For example,they're not going to hold internal staff meetings in English to facilitate their one non-German speaking colleague. Even in the IT industry in Germany, which has quite an international mix, outside of one or two large companies in Berlin, you need to speak German.
A former Irish colleague lived two years in Berlin and spoke better German than Polish after 5 years in Poland... they had to learn German to get anything done and so they did while in Poland there were people to help them get settled and they got too used to not speaking Polish too soon...
Some years ago a student of mine got a scholarship to study for a year at an English department (one of the eastern lander I forget which) I asked if she spoke German and she didn't and had no interest in learning and told her she'd have to learn in a hurry and she was very skeptical (she came back after a year with very good German).
Germany is much better at getting new arrivals to speak the local language than Poland (or the Netherlands or Scandinavia for that matter) are
start the process as early as you can get an extended holiday from work and come here with the sole aim of establishing if you can
This is a good idea if I need information the best place to start would be in the country I will be living in. We will see what road we take, I have no problem with my Polish it is my first language so fluency is very exceptional but I have never lived in Poland so I am not sure what to expect. I visit regularly at least once a year for a month to see relatives and extended family but travel and leisure will be much different from living and working.
I have read that skilled trades are in high demand in Poland is this still true, how is the economy are they expanding are they building a lot
Being in Poland even for months at a time is never the same as living there. I spend nearly 6 months in Poland every year in intervals of a month. After 3 weeks in Poland I swear like a trooper as things begin to annoy me so much and I speak the language very well.
You will also have to consider your employment options, as in - will you want to work for someone else, will you open up your own business. If you have Polish nationality, Polish passport this may be easy, but with a Canadian one - you may have to jump through hoops.
I have read that skilled trades are in high demand in Poland is this still true, how is the economy are they expanding are they building a lot
I would say that this is true certainly if you have the right pieces of paper you will have to turn your phone off it will be ringing so much, but the pieces of paper are the key. Also, the economy is very different in different parts of Poland and the wages match this I have found that you can earn up to 3 times more in a city if your skill is in demand.
I would start at the Urząd Pracy but expect to be turned away with a shrug of the shoulders at first. I have found you need to use all your charm to get more than a brush off if you can find someone willing to help you I think they should be able to put you in touch with someone. You will probably be told like I was you need your residence card and confirmation of residence first though.
How I did it was bought a big cappuccino and used it to bribe my way past the initial refusals and eventually for the price of a couple more coffees I found a person who was willing to help me.
Good Luck
If you get it sorted and are going to live anywhere near Pomorski I may be able to help you with a job PM me if needed
for the price of a couple more coffees I found a person who was willing to help me.
You must live in a small town - or else you have a time machine and are living back in the 1990s :)) The OP plans to move to Warsaw. I seriously doubt that anybody in a government office in Warsaw is going to be swayed by a Cappuccino these days. They probably buy one every morning on the way to work.
are they building a lot
Warsaw has been a giant construction site for decades now. So yes, there is plenty of building going on.
I presume then you've lived in Calgary your whole life, but are simply a bilingual of Polish parents born abroad, is that right?
Yes born and raised in Calgary first generation. I met a beautiful women in Poland and now we are married, she still lives there and we are trying Canada first.
If you have Polish nationality, Polish passport this may be easy
I believe I can get citizenship through birthright if I am still eligible I am first generation Canadian but I've been told I need to have claimed that by 21yrs old, or second option would be sponsorship through my wife who lives in Warszawa, Poland. But I have read the process is long.
Richthecat, thank you for the advice I will look for more information at the Urzad pracy and slowly begin to understand what I am up against. It is never easy immigrating to any country you really need to prepare.
Also thank you for offering to help this might be in a few years or more though before we plan this move to Poland if it happens at all, I hope my wife and I can stay in Canada and just travel to Poland but we will need to see how she fits in here first.
If your parents were Polish and have documents (birth records, marriage records or can get them in Poland) you would be wise to start the process of obtaining your citizenship as soon as you can. The process will take about a year provided you can supply all the necessary documents. If your parents do not have birth or marriage records they can be obtained from the towns in which they were born or married. This all costs. You will have to have all your documents (birth, marriage) translated by a sworn Polish translator. It all takes time and money.
You can claim Polish citizenship at any age, provided you can prove direct link to Polish parents.
Just another thing worth considering. Even though you may get confirmation of your Polish citizenship, your birth and marriage would then have to be recorded in Polish register of births, deaths and marriages. This is a completely separate process. Once successful you may obtain a Polish ID and a Polish passport.
This brings up another concern of mine, I read that once my parents forfeit their citizenship for Canadian citizenship then I can't get this birthright citizenship anymore. I'm not sure if my parents still hold Polish citizenship status
If your parents have forfeited their Polish citizenship, then your application to become a Polish citizen based on their citizenship at the time of your birth might be a bit shaky.
You may have to consider other countries where your skills might be in demand.
your application to become a Polish citizen based on their citizenship at the time of your birth might be a bit shaky
On the other hand, isn't it super easy for people like potworek to get longterm residency (including the right to work) and after a couple of years to gain citizenship
Anyway, yes, anyone with at least one Polish grandparent or two Polish great-grandparents (and this is counted in terms of ethnicity, not citizenship) can get permanent residency in Poland immediately.
