Mind describing how you managed that for my sake and that of my Brazilian friend looking at returning to Canada?

Nothing special, got recruited by a Swedish company that does visa sponsorship, never got asked about the lack of a degree and the company applied for my visa as a high-skilled worker, they asked for the documents they needed (nothing major, my CV, a form detailing my previous occupations and contact details from previous employers were basically it) and I got the visa approved a month later.

If a company is willing to sponsor your visa then it's really not hard over here.

That's certainly interesting, thanks for expanding on your experience. How many years of experience did you go in with? That's the other standard route that doesn't involve a degree. For example, if I was interested in working in the U.S, I'd either need a degree or 12 evident years of experience.