hollynic

My husband and I are looking at moving over in the next year with our two young daughters. I am a qualified nurse of 8 years and he his a plumber (gas engineer) of over 10 years. My question is which type of visa can we apply for? He travelled to Australia in his early twenties on a working visa so I don't think he can apply for one again can he? Would we have to go for permanent residency? Also if we went for sponsorship which one of us goes for it? Or do we both need sponsorship?

Thank you
Holly x

old.sparkles

Working Holiday visas are for those under 31 with no dependants.

Nurses can apply for a skilled visa providing they are eligible to register with AHPRA and can pass ANMAC assessment. You would need to be degree qualified for this.

Plumbing is a licensed trade - skills assessments involve a self evaluation with Tradeset, an assessment of your qualifications and experience, and a practical assessment. Run through Trades Recognition Australia, you use a RTO (recognised Training Orgainisation) such as Vetassess to do this (there are others but Vetassess is the most common and for a long time were the only company doing this)

You would also need to meet the points test requirement, English, Health and character criteria. The best place to start is DIBP's website - https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work


There is the possibility of sponsored visas but most of these are offered as 457 which is a temporary visa. The process is not a quick one as skills assessments take time - if you are looking at moving next year then you should be starting the process now. It does not matter who is lead applicant as the other can be included so look to see who can pass the skills assessment and points test.

hollynic

Thank you for that very helpful response. I have a nursing diploma and and operating department practice diploma is this not enough? Does it have to be a degree. I've filled out an expression of interest (EOI) form. I presume they wi get back to me with the next steps I need to take? It's quite confusing.

Holly

quoll

Yes, it does have to be a degree

hollynic

Do you just need a degree for sponsorship or do you need a degree to work as a nurse in the hospitals in general?

Pollyana

No,you need the degree to register with AHPRA in order to work as a nurse in Australia.

Have a read of some of the threads in our nursing forum and you'll see the problem. There is now a course I beiieve to top up the diploma but Ihaven't caught up with the details yet I'm afraid. If you contact AHPRA they should be able to tell you what you'd need to do to get your diploma to be the equivalent of the degree.
Nurses, Doctors, and other Medical/Healthcare occupations - British Expats


When you say you've filled in an EOI form, what EOI do you mean? You can't complete an EoI for DIBP for the visa without having a skills assessment in place

verystormy

There are two issues.
The first is visa. It might be better to have your husband as main applicant - only one of you needs to be eligible and your husbands occupation is as well as yours.
You need to do a lot of research on visas and points. You need 60 points. Wo ever is the main applicant will need to get a skills assessment for that occupation. Most people find they also need to undertake an English test in order to top up points.
The reason I say make your husband the main applicant is that there are moves to bring the visa requirement for nurses in to line with the registration, meaning they are considering making it a requirement for the visa that a nurse has a degree.
A separate issue though is that when you get here, your husbands skills will not be recognised for work. He will need to gain a license. This varies by state, but hhe will almost certainly need to work for a period as a assistant - like an apprentice. He will probably also need to undertake some courses at college.
The second issue is even with visas, as mentioned you will not be able to work without topping up your diploma to a degree

wc112

Hi Hollynic...I am in the same boat, just looking at how to go about migrating to Australia. Can I ask, how did you submit an expression of interest...it won't let me until I carry out a skills assessment with ANMAC.

wc112

Is it worth using a migration agent? I am finding it all very difficult. I can't submit an EOI as I need a skills assessment. However, when I try to do a skills assessment with ANMAC it asks for verification of current registration.

Pollyana

Are you not currently registered?

Have a read through the nursing forum
Nurses, Doctors, and other Medical/Healthcare occupations - British Expats

wc112

I am but it's in the uk

verystormy

I would suggest you chat to a good migration agent. There are a number that post on here regularly.

Pollyana

Thats all most people have when they go for their ANMAC skills assessment. Very few people get their AHPRA before they do their skills assessment.