yorkshire4

okay, so weve only got 5 weeks till we visit Australia, we are staying in a suburb of Brisbane and cant wait for it.


what id like help with is this...
is there any point getting the ball rolling with regards to a permanent skilled worker visa, myself and my wife are pretty certain that we will love it and want to come and live there asap but what can we do, what is the process of application, should I get a medical and skill test done before application to improve my chances of a succesfull application?


just for the background info on us im an electrician 42, my wife is a dental nurse / practice manager 36, we have 2 children (boy 11 girl 14) our plan is to move next year when our daughter has finished her GCSE's


all help greatly appreciated and thanks in advance

old.sparkles

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

You cannot apply for a visa without first having a skills assessment in an occupation on the skilled occupations list (SOL) or consolidated list (CSOL) and meeting the points requirement for a skilled visa.

The good news is that electrician is on the list. The bad news is that without sitting an English test, at 42 you will not reach the points requirement for a visa. Even after that, it is a long journey to getting a valid skills assessment as an electrician involving self assessment, qualification and reference check, and practical assessment / theory test.

Dental nurse is not on the list under that name, but other dental assistant / technician roles are - Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL) Your wife would need to check whether the roles and responsibilities she has matches any of those, and then check to see if she could pass the skills assessment if you chose to apply under her occupation instead.

In the meantime, enjoy the holiday and if you have free time, go exploring this site for info (there is an electricians section, as well as numerous threads from electricians in this section), and the DIBP website (Australian immigration)

carcajou

The skills assessment is required before you can submit an Expression of Interest. You have to receive a positive assessment.

Medicals and police checks are not done until immigration notifies you to have them done, which would be at some point after a positive skills assessment, a successful Expression of Interest, you being invited to apply for a visa and you sending in that visa application.

To be able to claim points for English language ability, you also have to sit an exam and send in the results with your Expression of Interest. The test is not cheap but booking places do fill up - you may want to go on and take a look at where you can take the test and what dates are still open. The official results come back to you, two weeks after you take it.

As the skills assessment is thorough, perhaps you could start on it, but hold off sending it in (and paying for it) until you have visited.

yorkshire4

hi guys, thanks for the responses, for some reason ive not had them through to my phone but great to know theres still an option for a visa, even if theres an extra hoop to jump through, and the order in which this would be done!


best get cracking then!

yorkshire4

hi all!


so, 5 days back, here I am. we had a fantastic time and are going ahead for the visa, first stop seems to be tradeset, is this right? or am I better going through an agent?

carcajou

First stop is the skills assessment.

You will either get a skills assessment that is "positive" - meaning you can proceed - or "negative" - meaning no visa under the 189/190 skilled migration pathway.

Though you are a qualified electrician in the UK, the skills assessment is not a formality nor is it "tick box." Requirements are rigid and can at times be complex.

Others on here have done it by themselves, but my recommendation would be to hire a MARA-registered agent with experience/expertise in guiding electricians through the skills assessment process.

As well, I would now book an IELTS exam, since you will likely need it for the points test.

Good luck.

yorkshire4

great thanks !!!

old.sparkles

Yes, for an electrician, first part of the assessment is the tradeset report. You will need to also get your qualifications, resume, references etc for the application. Should be plenty of info on the Vetassess website, although you can also do the assessment with Victoria University or Future Skills.

sciteach

Hi Yorkshire4,

Read some of your posts from last year and glad to hear you are thinking of the move as we are too.

which suburb of Bris are you planning to go to?

did you find out if your dad ever lived in Oz?

yorkshire4

Hi, we have just returned and we stayed north of brisbane in narangba, it seemed to be in a good radius of every thing, shops, beaches and not too far from the city, when we get our visa we will probably stay there again before we settle near wherever work is.

And yes my dad did live in toowoomba, but only for a year as a child

sciteach

How have you found the work situation? Are there jobs available for your profession?

Dorothy

This is the immigration and visa section of the forum where we tryto keep threads on topic. If you want to discuss jobs and areas to live there's a general Australia section where you're more likely to get good information.