gunforhire

Hi all,

Sorry if this is the millionth time you've seen a thread like this, I did a quick search but didn't find any existing threads that suited my situation.

Right now I'm in NZ, after spending a year in Oz on a WHV. Loved it, made a bunch of friends and want to go back on a permanent basis. I'm confused about how to go about doing it though. I've had a few email exchanges with an agent with Visa Bureau, but that's only left me even more uncertain of what to do next.

I graduated from uni with a year of professional experience in Computer Science in Dec 2010 back in Belfast. Right now, I don't qualify for an independent skilled visa - I need to work another 12 months in IT before I can even start my application, and also turn 25 which will give me the 5 extra points I need to pass the points test. I turn 25 next February so that's not really an issue as I'd need to work for at least that long to get the minimum experience I need anyway.

My understanding of it is that I'd need to get the experience, proof of that from my employer, a police check, medical check, skills test, etc to make my application. By Visa Bureau's guess that could take 18 months from next February (assuming I applied then) to be processed and it'd cost me in the region of £5000 all in.

Because of the time and money involved I'm considering sponsorship by an Australian business, but I don't really know where to begin that process. Do I need to have the skills test, police check, etc before I can be considered for sponsorship? What I've read so far online hasn't done much to clarify the situation and I'm reluctant to pay some of the sponsorship focused sites because they seem pretty dodgy. Even if I got the necessary skills tests and so on, I don't know where to start looking for jobs that would offer sponsorship - everything I've found on the likes of Seek require that you already have the right to live and work before you can apply.

Then finally there's the change over to the SkillSelect system in July which is going to change things again. All of this is proving to be a bit of a nightmare - I'd like to know what my options are so I can start getting things in order. Has anyone here gone for sponsorship in the IT industry and have any useful information for me from their experience?

Thanks for reading, apologies for the wall of text too!

Bermudashorts

Your chances of getting sponsorship in IT from overseas and on the back of l knows work experience are remote indeed. Focus on your career and getting work experience then try again in a couple of years. You are young and Australia will still be here.

Bermudashorts

*limited work experience

That is what the above should have said, autocorrect on mobile problem earlier.

gunforhire

Hmm, that's what I was worried about. I'd read online that there were a bunch of IT opportunities with some of the mining companies so I was hoping that would've been of some use to me. Seems like my best bet might be to get another year's experience under my belt and go for the independent visa then.

Interestingly enough though, I qualify for a skilled worker visa for NZ already, although I'd have to live here for another 2 years after I got that before I became a resident. From what I've been told by my relatives here though, once I have residency for NZ I can legally live and work in Oz because of some reciprocal agreement they have. Thanks for your take on things!

Bermudashorts

Getting residency in NZ is not enough to live and work in Australia. You would need to get NZ citizenship, which would take five years. The agreement is uneven, my Australian PR is sufficient for me to live and work in NZ. Although, I would not do it, as I could shoot myself in the foot later when the Australian visa expires and I need to get a resident return visa.

gunforhire

Well that sucks! Guess I can forget about that option then. Seems a bit unfair to the Kiwi immigrants, although I guess there are a lot more people wanting to work in Oz than NZ. Good to know at least.

Bermudashorts

I agree it is an option not worth considering if Oz is your goal. It is an uneven arrangement, however a NZ immigrant presumably wants to move to NZ not Australia so most won't bother worrying about whether it is "unfair" or not. I am am immigrant to Australia and whilst I have this apparent benefit, I would not for a minute think of using it because of potential problems down the line.

You are young and Australia isn't going anywhere, sometimes we just have to work at things. With some more work experience behind you, there is every chance you will make it over in the not that distant future.

hoofie2002

A lot of IT work for mining companies is contracted out to other companies to start with and the vast majority of it is based in cities.

sympatex

Hoofie - i'm interested in this, i am several years down the line from where gunforhire is as I graduated in 2004 and have worked in IT ever since. I have started my application for 175 (independant skilled) VISA. I'm waiting for a response from the Australian Computing Society, so probably still a year to go.

I have friends in Perth and everything going well for me, would hope to have a VISA by early next year and Perth would be my first stop in looking for work. I have looked through seek.com.au but can you recommend any alternative sites or methods in looking for employment?

I'm an analyst by skillset, using SQL (Oracle and Sybase/MS) but have built up quite a broad range of skills in IT (master of none!) Solaris and shell script, building solaris & windows servers amongst others!

Any advice welcome (apologies gunforhire don't mean to hijack your thread but you look like you want to be in the position i'm in now, and to some extent i'd like to be 6 years younger!)