The U.S. has to be the easiest place in the world to get an aircraft
mechanic's ticket. Here in Canada there are four requirements: Formal
training, which normally takes place in a tech school and will take
close to two years; Experience, which is 48 months, and up to 24 months
of the tech school training may count toward that, but in any case it
will take you four years in total; Tasks, which must include at least
70% of the ATA tasks listed for the type of aircraft the license
covers; And four written exams, same as in the US, except that in
Canada you can't get exam question and answer books: you have to
actually know the stuff, and you have no idea what they might ask you.
All of the schooling, experience and tasks have to be documented and
certified. There are two Maintenance licences, the M1 which covers all
non-turbojet, non-transport category aircraft, and the M2 which covers
the rest. There's an S (structural) license, and an E (avionics)
license, too. Restoration can count but it has to be done under the
supervision of a licensed mechanic. Homebuilts don't count: they're
airplanes as far as registering, airworthiness, insuring, pilot
licensing and air law are concerned, but not for building or
maintaining.
You gotta want to be a mechanic pretty bad to do it here.

Dan