johnknight001

dont tell me you play ping pom for a hobby

truditjh

Certainly looks that way, just hadnt realised how addictive it can be

johnknight001

out of interest why aus after trying nz

truditjh

NZ just wasnt right, for various reasons, some were wrong place wrong time, naivity, family issues. Just didnt feel right, at the point we made the decision to return we kinda had to for personal reasons, we had looked at the option of staying for citizenship then going across the sea, but at that point in time we felt it best to return, trouble is once you do you look at things with different eyes, and I think to an extent that we have outgrown the place we both grew up in, and the way its going is not something we want to be a part of. I'm not saying that maybe Aus is right, but hey life is what you make it and if you aint happy you have to look at what the issues are and what you want to achieve, and where best you think these can be dealt with. So what the heck, we have enuff points etc., just the financial side of things to deal with, and who knows....

johnknight001

fair play to you, we are not much different, i have always lived and worked abroad, i dont have any reall isues here apart from the usuall, i just know that the uk is not the be all and end all, life is for living and all that. there have been some good and promising posts recently for plumbing and it all looks reasonable to go for it. is your husband self employed or working for a company.
john

truditjh

Currently self employed, has been for about 3 years, but worked employed prior to that, he is also on Corgi's register as an inspector - again contract work. Do I understand that by having being Corgi registered it will make it easier working in Aus ???
Trudi

johnknight001

from what i gather it only means you can get your gas licence easier, but there is not a great deal of natural gas work, apparantly its the plumbers licence that you need, are you going the vettasses route for plumbing or tra for gas.

truditjh

To be honest I dont know, we havent looked into the finer details of it, only really made a decision to go into the process over the past few days, having been thinking about it for a while. Currently doing alot of reading and reading and reading, you know how it is. How diff is the work to the UK ?? Is it any diff to NZ ??? He did work there for a while, had to brush up on his brazing skills, took him back to his college days.....

johnknight001

i think the most common route now is the vettasses route for general plumber, it is supposed to allow you easy access to a provisional licence once there, also required for immigration for trade recognition, however i believe you can go another route and use the gas quals but how that would affect you getting work in plumbing i dont know. john

mandoz

Stop hijacking my thread!......Just kidding

truditjh

... crawls away to hide under a rock

mandoz

... crawls away to hide under a rock

No....get back over here...its always good to talk to those in same situation


Thanks for taking the time to reply! As one of the posters said it's so good to hear from those who are doing well. Its not going to be the easiest road, but its not impossible.
We were thinking two- three years to get to the 'own business' stage, but were worrying about getting work in the interim on just a provisional licence.

Do you know what sort of pay is available when employed on the prov licence? We are a family of four so need for a fair income and avialable work is paramount.

Btw where abouts on the sunshine coast are you?

Thanks again
M

mandoz

Also thought you all might be interestes in this thread here http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=404770 sorry dont know how to do links

mandoz

or maybe I do??? (scratches head) flooked it!

Colly-Gill

Listen guys, we have just got notice of our visa (Thursday 3rd July) we hope to be in Australia (Brisbane) by end of October. Promise to post on this thread because I've hoped at some point along the way some plumber would post his experience good or bad. Good luck with the process.

Colin and Gillian