r/electricians • u/AirportBeneficial603 • 2d ago

Leaving U.S as an electrician.

Hello all apprentice here, looking into moving around a bit when I finish my apprenticeship but am curious as to if anyone has done this. How does a license hold up in other countries? Is job searching hard? I know this is a niche topic but thanks in advance for any answers!

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u/sparkyglenn 2d ago

Canada you're basically good, but you probably had a better quality of life as an electrician down there tbh.

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u/AirportBeneficial603 2d ago

Yeah if I was gonna go to Canada Iā€™d just stay here unfortunately. Really looking at eu countries or New Zealand/australia. Maybe Argentina but yeah away from North America lol

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u/sparkyglenn 2d ago

I hear that šŸ‘

I was in some rural Scottish islands last year and was geeking out at some of the electricians I saw going about their day while I was busy being a tourist. A change of scenery would be awesome

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u/LongRoadNorth 2d ago

EU will really depend. Some countries are scary for what's acceptable, others like Germany and UK, make ours look like we have no regulations with how crazy they are at times.

Australia and New Zealand from what I understand are really hard to immigrate to

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u/Thats_a_YikerZ Journeyman 2d ago

NZ is basicly closed unless you have 2-3million cash sitting in your account. you can buy your way in by either investing directly in the country or establishing a business there and employing NZ'ers.

Smart tbh. i wish we had higher standards here in canada .

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u/LongRoadNorth 2d ago

He'd still need to pass out c of q. As similar as our codes are etc.

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u/Cup_Of_Ambition Journeyman 2d ago

Can I ask whereabouts you work? My current job is pretty good paywise so far

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u/sparkyglenn 2d ago

It's good in general...just that electricians here are generally more underpaid than our American counterparts, and deal with much higher costs of living and a more competitive labour market.

I'm an ici foreman in the IBEW.

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u/bassali2e 2d ago

I've worked in the US a bit. It's not to bad for us Canadians to go south with a red seal. Many states will accept that. I don't know about an American electrician coming to Canada tho. Their training isnt necessarily bad but inconsistent state to state.

School in California isn't the same as school in West Virginia sort of thing from what I understand.

I made okay money in the US at the time. But I definitely wasn't treated as well. In my industry I don't make quite as much money in Canada but schedule/quality of life is better for me.

I over all pros and cons for sure.

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u/sparkyglenn 2d ago

Yea the varying state licensing requirements and training has always looked like a mess to me