Hi everyone,

First post, long time lurker. I have a couple questions about NavCanada. I am a current American citizen enrolled in a degree in Air Traffic Control from a major university here. The FAA has changed the hiring process down here making it pretty hard to get jobs, and I have wondered about becoming a controller in Canada. Now I know obviously you do not do a degree program like that so I know that it doesn't give any preference, but is it possible for an American to get in NavCanada. Obviously I know I need either citizenship or permanent residency for this, so that then becomes the process of getting that done. How easy is this, and is it realistic? I know we have many graduates at Edmonton Center, not sure of their citizenship, but we do send grads. up to you all! Thanks for all your input/help. I have been doing a lot of research on this as to not be blind about it, but figured I'd ask for some advice.

From what I've heard about the FAA you have a better chance of landing a seat in the US. Stats from the last open bid were somthing like 27,000 applicants for 1200 training seats for the country, so ~4% of applicants get through. With NAVCANADA they only get about 4000 applicants per year, but also only have 50-80 training seats annually; so ~1.25% of applicants could see training.

If you do get citizenship/permanent residency then Edmonton FIR is probably your best bet as this region has a small applicant pool and a lot of turn over as we cover most of Northern Canada and people are always looking to move back South as soon as they can.