I am currently serving in the British Army as an IS Engineer ( or CS Eng as it is now known apparently).
My wife are I are interested in emigrating to Canada as soon as we can, and have been looking at the route to joining the Canadian Army.
I have dual citizenship of being both British and Canadian, but I can't seem to find any info on how to go through this process, and if it is at all possible.
Any help would be appreciated.

If you have full canadian citizenship, your best bet is to contact a CFRC (Recruiting Centre) in the area you will initially move to. They will process your application, as a 'Skilled Applicant', and complete a medical, background check and interview, and they will ask for a posting preference.

Should all this be successful, which it no doubt will, you will be given a conditional offer of employment, which will detail your starting rank, pay grade, credit for time served, qualifications granted and qualifications granted 'provisionally'. What that means is basically they will probably grant 80-90% of your quals, and simply owing to the fact the Canadians have SOME different kit and procedures, you can make up the remaining 10-20% of training either in unit or on short refresher courses.

Once you accept the offer, you'll be given a posting message to your new unit. You'll most likely be posted on IR ( ), for the first month or so, during which time you will have rations and quarters paid for, and a seperation allowance. During this time, you'll complete the IRP (Intergrated Relocation Program), which will pay for:
- the moving costs to your new location (from a location in Canada).
- Daily incidentals up to $65 per person, and hotels up to $130 (nice double room in other words) for each day that you are waiting for either your effects to arrive, or a quarter to be assigned to you
- mileage from your old canadian location to your new location
- should you buy a house at your new location, they will pay all survey fees, lawyer fees, and in most instances, the mortgage insurance premium

Plus a raft of other benefits.

What you NEED to know:
For all this to happen, it's best if you are living in Canada already. By all means start the process now, but they will not pay any costs for you and your wife to come from the UK, as I believe the aussies do.

Bring your entire service history with you, and I mean absolutely EVERYTHING.

Be prepared to wait 2-3 months for the whole process to happen. The time is taken up by your qualifications being review in what is known as a PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Review) by the Director Army Training.

If you are offered a rank lower than your rank now, do not sweat it or worry too much. That is, unless they only offer Pte of course! I dropped a rank coming across, but within 6 months had found my feet, gotten qualfications granted, learned the ropes, and was promoted back to my equivalent British rank. Also, your unit will push for your quals to be granted should you turn up with a good attitude, and quietly blend in. By this, I don't mean be the grey man, but don't turn up saying 'well this is crap, we did things this way in the British Army' so on and so forth.

Please feel free to ask more questions on this thread, we can make this a sticky perhaps?? And I, and other transferees, can add to it.

Originally Posted by bowmanator

I am currently serving in the British Army as an IS Engineer ( or CS Eng as it is now known apparently).
My wife are I are interested in emigrating to Canada as soon as we can, and have been looking at the route to joining the Canadian Army.
I have dual citizenship of being both British and Canadian, but I can't seem to find any info on how to go through this process, and if it is at all possible.
Any help would be appreciated.

Try dropping a PM to my mucker hat_mackem. We served in 15/19H together. After Options For change, he emigrated to the Hat (hence his nickname) where his wife is from, and he is currently serving in the South Alberta Light Horse (as a reservist cos he is an old twaaaaaaaaat like me).

Tell him Boggles sent you.

Edited: Or send me an e-mail to AlienFTM@hotmail.co.uk and I'll forward it.

Info on here is good but wandering if you could offer some more. I am currently serving under FTRS (full time reserve service) and as such once this is completed looking to sign short service contract. I like others have heard that being in British Forces can drastically reduce the time taken to emigrate if transferring to Canadian Forces. I have asked the Canadian High Commission about the transferral but have heard nothing back in 4 months. Do you have any info that would prove useful?

A few things to consider:

We still require Canadian citizenship (which means you'll need to get into the country first and wait out the time required for full citizenship);
On very rare occasions, does the CF give a waiver of citizenship for an applicant;
The reserves will accept a person with landed immigrant status but they will not be allowed to hold a commission;
If you are at all concerned about age, we accept recruits right up to age 55;

However:

FIRST OFF - Do you meet the 3 CRITERIA to join the Canadian Forces?


First:
Are you a Canadian Citizen?

You MUST be a Canadian Citizen.

If you are not, then you must attain your Canadian Citizenship first.

Second:
Do you meet the AGE requirements?

You must be 16 years of age to join the Primary Reserves, and have Parental Consent.

You must be 17 years of age to join the Regular Forces, and have Parental Consent.

Age of Majority is 18 years of age, and you can join without Parental Consent after your eighteenth birthday, not before.

You must be able to complete BMQ, SQ and Trades Training before Compulsory Retirement Age (which is 60 now).

Third:
Do you meet the EDUCATION requirements?

These will vary from Province to Province and for what "Entry Plan" you are applying for. In Ontario, for example, it is Grade 10 (Quebec Secondary III) is the minimum to join the Primary Reserves. Visit your local CFRC to find out what your Provincial requirements are. It is highly recommended that if you want to make the CF a full-time career, you graduate from High School with a diploma.

NOTE: In Ontario, you must be 18 or have graduated High School to legally join the Regular Force (or leave school for any reason).


You can get more information from your CFRC:

TOLL FREE: 1 800 856 8488

On the Web: www.forces.ca

-The CFRC is also starting to provide a "Chat Line" on their Web Site.

For more info have a look here: http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.p...c,82097.0.html

Yes it says that Canadian citizenship is required. However:

On very rare occasions, does the CF give a waiver of citizenship for an applicant;

Depending on the demand for your trade that can be waived. Try to contact a recruited in the on-line chat and get a contact somewhere in Canadian Forces Recruiting Group (if that's what it's still called) and go from there.

I'd start by reading this doc... http://www.forces.ca/media/_PDF/NonCitizen_en.pdf for anything to do with a waiver of citizenship. I do believe, that one still has to be physically in Canada before they can apply.

Originally Posted by niner_domestic

I'd start by reading this doc... http://www.forces.ca/media/_PDF/NonCitizen_en.pdf for anything to do with a waiver of citizenship. I do believe, that one still has to be physically in Canada before they can apply.

The process for foreign military is slightly different:

http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/...6.html#2571996

Thanks Tiff Meister for the link, but I am having problems downloading the document.

Could you PM me and I will send you my Civvy Email address.

Thanks

Hey, let's not put off some potential applicants here! I am still not a Canadian citizen after 2 years of Reg Force service with the CF (following 21 years in REME) and in these lean recruiting times the CF seem happy to take as many of us as they can.

I'm not a recruiter as you can imagine, but happy to take PMs or respond to posts from anyone considering the move across the pond.

(I haven't read the full extent of this discussion - but like to kill these "must be a citizen" lines every time.)

Here's my comments:

Originally Posted by niner_domestic

A few things to consider:

We still require Canadian citizenship ....;
On very rare occasions (Rodney comment: much more frequently today), does the CF give a waiver of citizenship for an applicant;
The reserves will accept a person with landed immigrant status but they will not be allowed to hold a commission;
If you are at all concerned about age, we accept recruits right up to age 55 (Rodney comment: I believe 58 based on 2 years return of service but hey who'se counting);

However:

FIRST OFF - Do you meet the 3 CRITERIA to join the Canadian Forces?


First:
Are you a Canadian Citizen?

You MUST be a Canadian Citizen.

If you are not, then you must attain your Canadian Citizenship first (Rodney comment: wrong, get a waiver).

Second:
Do you meet the AGE requirements?

You must be 16 years of age to join the Primary Reserves, and have Parental Consent.

You must be 17 years of age to join the Regular Forces, and have Parental Consent.

Age of Majority is 18 years of age, and you can join without Parental Consent after your eighteenth birthday, not before.

You must be able to complete BMQ, SQ and Trades Training before Compulsory Retirement Age (which is 60 now).

Third:
Do you meet the EDUCATION requirements?

These will vary from Province to Province and for what "Entry Plan" you are applying for. In Ontario, for example, it is Grade 10 (Quebec Secondary III) is the minimum to join the Primary Reserves. Visit your local CFRC to find out what your Provincial requirements are. It is highly recommended that if you want to make the CF a full-time career, you graduate from High School with a diploma.

NOTE: In Ontario, you must be 18 or have graduated High School to legally join the Regular Force (or leave school for any reason).


You can get more information from your CFRC:

TOLL FREE: 1 800 856 8488

On the Web: www.forces.ca

-The CFRC is also starting to provide a "Chat Line" on their Web Site.

For more info have a look here: http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.p...c,82097.0.html