Category: Jobs and Employment
I am seeking names of the best placed organizations, to assist me in secure paid employment in the following countries.
As a person with a visual impairment I would like some of these organization to have expertise in this area, with the focus firmly on achieving paid employment.
Further help with regards working in the below countries as a non resident would be a bonus.
All obvious organizations have been contacted, ACB, NFB, ETC.
list of countries:
USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada.
I hear both NZ and Australia are hard to get work visas unless you're a student, or have a degree, or a trade. I'm not sure about Canada, and the U.S. could be pretty tricky. I don't know if Vocational rehabilitation centers work with noncitezens, at least on the State level. If you haven't already, you could do some internet research. Hth.
Mark, when I looked into emigrating to Australia some years back I did extensive research and did speak to lots of organizations wrt A gaining entry into the country in the first place and B, gaining paid employment there. The reality is that it is still extremely difficult to go and live in other countries if you have a disability, predominantly because most don’t want to potentially have additional burdens on their welfare systems. And while it is clear here that you are intending to work and thus contribute to the system of the country in which you will reside, for some reason, they do still seem to be reluctant.
When I was looking at Australia I did get a letter of recommendation/support from the Australian council for the blind, I obtained this based on me sending evidence of my employment history to support my claim that I was capable and willing to work and thus contribute to the society in which I would be living. We didn’t emigrate for other unrelated reasons, but at the time the woman I was dealing with said that although she did expect my initial application to be turned down, she felt confident that I would be able to appeal successfully.
It’s worth considering that Canada had an outright ban on all disabled immigrants until about four years ago, so if you go down that route it will be extremely difficult. Also as far as I’m aware there is currently a hold on immigration to Canada at the moment so this may not currently be an avenue that s open to you regardless of your disability. But in the event you decide to pursue Canada as an option, it’s also worth bearing in mind that they have one of the most difficult immigration processes of any country in the world and it takes on average between three/five years to gain entry.
I know someone who emigrated to new Zealand from South Africa and is working for the new Zealand blind association over there, if you pm me I can probably put you in touch with her.
Hth.