DaveyM

Hi everyone hope you are well in sunny Oz

My names Dave and new to the forum. I’m looking for some advice if possible as myself and wife have been thinking about immigrating to NSW where I have family.

I’m a 32 year JIB approved electrician with COMPEX and always been on Petro Chem and oil & gas refinery’s. However after coming back from an LPG project in Tunisia ( 2010) I have been office based developing maintenance procedures for the Instrument department. When needed on shutdowns I may get pulled into to carry out installation work but the majority of work is sat behind a computer building job plans for the Tiffies.

I’v found so much useful information regarding the immigration process and getting my qualifications recognised.(or not so recognised)

I have spoken to an agent and he has advised the route id have to take is through a ‘189 Skilled Independent Visa’ but will have to pass the IELTS ( English test) and a Skill assessment ( Practical and theory) through Future Skill’s before we can submit an Expression of interest (EOI). If successful with all this then this may lead to been invited to actually apply for the visa.

I’m on the understanding that once issued with the OTSR and arriving in Oz I will be restricted until Gap training has been completed and exams passed.

What I need to know is how easy is it to pick up work when restricted and how much am I likely to earn per hour while restricted for the 1st year?

Hope to hear from you all soon

Cheers

Dave

old.sparkles

Hi Dave and welcome to the forum

I've added the country to your title as this section is not country specific although you did mention Australia in your post.

I can't tell you what the job market is like in NSW, I'm in SA but if you wanted to work in oil and gas I would think you would be better looking at WA and maybe FIFO roles. I managed to get a supervised role on $55k salary but I work in industrial maintenance so may not be the best guide.

The advice given is not totally correct. UK citizens do not need to do IELTS unless needed for points. I couldn't tell if you need to do it or not but there is advice on points on DIBP's website (Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection).

Also, when it comes to doing your skills assessments, the most commonly recognised is Vetassess although Future Skills is also an RTO for TRA (as is Vic Uni). Once you have your OTSR, then you need to jump through whichever hoops the state sets - gap training, eprofiling, capstone, etc - for upto a year. Hopefully someone will be able to help with what NSW expect.

Jockstar

In NSW you can work as a sparky as you're in theory working with a licenced sparky(supervised). In reality. You will find that there may be only 2 licensed sparkies and the rest either apprentices or unlicensed. Plenty of work here at the moment. Though for your preferred work. I'm not so sure.

DaveyM

Hi Sparkles Thanks for the Reply. I read on the (DIBP) that for the 189 Skilled independent visa that you have to be competent in English.

Here is an extract from the DIBP

How can I prove I have competent English?
(You hold a valid passport issued by the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland and you are a citizen of that country)

Im going to give the immigration agent a call today as when they did a quick evaluation on myself they said I was approximately at 75 points so I fail to see why I need to pay the extra expense to do this.

I think the FIFO will definitely be the way forward, but TBH I would take anything local just until the wife got settled. No way would she want me working away just after a big move.

Thanks for the information

DaveyM

Thanks for the information Jockstar.

My Uncle said it maybe the case that you can work as a sparky but someone else signs the work off after inspection and Testing.

I’ve been contracting for 11 years now and even though I stick to oil and gas projects, I have in the past done commercial and industrial installation work. So TBH I have a broad background of work and would take anything at 1st to get my feet on the ground and to work towards getting the licensed status.

Nice to know there is plenty of work in NSW as I have family based in Richmond, so that’s where I shall be heading.

Cheers again

DaveyM

Hi everyone

This visa malarkey doesn’t run to quick does it ! It was Feb when I started the ball rolling and only just completed my trades test last Saturday.

I passed it 1st time thank god Its been such a worry.


My agent said its a case of sending off the EOI and waiting for an invitation.

old.sparkles

Yep - shouldn't take too long for an invitation though. Good luck

lucas1807

Congratulations on passing DaveyM. Ive got my general electrical exam on 26th Sept and Im bricking it to say the least. Have you got any advice on what to revise on. Ive read through previous post and the one Im most worried about is DOL starter etc. I know nothing about them as all I do is rewire houses mainly. Any advice would be great. Thanks Luke