fenno

I have been laying bricks in england for 22yrs (since i was 15yrs old)so as you can appreciate i did a 100% practical on site 4yr apprentiship. This means i have no official qualification like an NVQ. Will i still be able to find work?

aliread

I don't know about Bricklaying but in my trade Carpet fitters come from the uk with no qualification (manly because there is not one in the Uk) just with experience and doing a 4 year apprenticeship and they get jobs with no problems at all . You just have to prove yourself on site

Dorothy

You may be able to find work, but will you qualify for a visa?

king kong

not sure of the criteria now , but i knw the immigration used to accept voctional experience for visa acceptance , the paperwork needed was far higher though.
you would need to get as many references as you can from the people youve worked for and shown a continuity of work without much if any time on the dole etc . This i found was the hard one when i applied 20 years ago and i had guilds . Its not impossible but be prepared to do a lot of leg work bearing in mind sub-contractors and main contractors are not legally bound to keep records of you going back 7 years ,so you may of worked for them but wont show because the paperwork hasnt been kept for tax reasons .
This is exactly what happened to me , i couldnt get one main reference from a company called Turriffs , a fair amount of grovelling via letter and my city guilds and my other refernces got me through . Good luck im sure youl get in,aussie needs bricklayers its 10000 brain surgeons they dont need .

Wendy66

You've served an apprentiship so all that will go down and you have been working in the trade for much more time than they state, best thing to do and free to start with is to contact an agent and they will go through it with you, they are only allowed to take on clients that have enough points to qualify for a visa and the initial contact until you sign up is free, we went with an agent, they took care of everything. Contact a few and see who you get the best feeling for.

We went with A&M Migration, they are based in Suffolk, UK and Perth, Aus but doesn't matter where they are as it's all done by email/post and phone. We filled in this form back in January 2005 I think it was and got the go ahead that we had enough points, quick chat with Christina the agent and off we went on the journey of a lifetime

http://www.australianmigration.co.uk/form.html

Good luck

Dorothy

That is not true at all. A migration agent can sign up whoever they want/whoever wants to pay them money. Each agent is free to structure their payments in any way they please. All payment upfront, nothing until your visa is granted, installments, whatever.

Perhaps with the agency you used that is the structure, but it is not a regulation.

johull

My husband is also a builder, he had a City and Guilds in estate management from when he left school. We went through the skilled route and had an onsite assessment. We went through overseas emmigration in Edinburgh. We had a skills assessor visit us at home to help my husband with the paperwork. We were granted a skilled visa just over a year later.

easty1976

[QUOTE=king kong;7937728]not sure of the criteria now , but i knw the immigration used to accept voctional experience for visa acceptance , the paperwork needed was far higher though.
you would need to get as many references as you can from the people youve worked for and shown a continuity of work without much if any time on the dole etc .

I think this is still how it is now too, I think having no formal qualifications makes the whole process that much harder and like you say the paperwork you send in has to be that much more impressive add to this you will most definitely have to do a trade assessment. The good news however is that having no qualifications will have no bearing on your chances of finding work; at least that is my experience, been here nearly three years and not once been asked about qualifications. On the downside not sure how you would go in trying to get a licence if you were thinking of working for yourself, you would perhaps have to do a course over here to be able to do that.

munch

Hi,
To gain a permanent visa you need to qualify on points and do a skills assessment, they first assess your paperwork; references, experience, qualifications etc then you will be notified if you can continue onto the practical assessment.
This is done usually at a college out of term time and is over 2 days, at the end of it you gain an Australian recognised qualification. (Not that you need that once you get here and I don't think they know what they are over here anyway!).
My Husband went through it all when we can over, cost a bit if I remember and it was on top of the visa costs. The skills assessment replaces the TRA and is only held so many times a year as they send people over from Australia to test you. Not just Bricklayers that do it, most trades have to now.
To be honest they want to see that you can do what you say you can do and have you reading plans, building pillars and gable walls etc, they then interview you which is quite informal.
All seems pointless because when you get here everybody wants at least 2 years Australian experience before they'll touch you, they aren't bothered about your qualifications. They also want you to have an ABN, blue card (both can be done over the internet) and own transport. At the moment bricklayers are getting anything between $200 - $240 p/day.
Good luck, find a good agent and you should be fine with your experience.
Debbie