powellfamily

Hi everyone. I hope someone out there can assist me as I am getting very confused.

We are a family of 4 me (Richard) my wife (Leigh) our 3 year old son and 1 year old daughter, I am a long distance lorry driver and own a very small haulage company (owner driver one man band set up) and my wife is a Police officer (my son and daughter don't work yet as all the pits have closed )


We live in kent near maidstone and have quite a good life I am away all week but make the most of our weekends, however we are desperate to make a better more secure life for our family. We love the hotter weather and crave the rare summer days that we have over here.

It has been a dream of ours to come and live in Australia for several years, we both have some family over there (all retired) and have a few online friends in oz and we just want to move for the better lifestyle weather and security. However we are struggling.

As my wife has 9 years Police service she cannot transfer to the Police in oz as they only recruit officers between 3 and 7 years service from the UK, and my skill as a lorry driver don't count as its not on the skills lists.

Is there any other option for us or shall we just give up on our dream, we are both willing to retrain to get onto the skills list, so that we can get to oz however am not sure if that will offer the security needed.

We want to make the move now so that the children are young enough to adapt so were looking to make the move within the next couple of years.

We are looking to move to the Perth area ( not the city but the subburbs) .

Can anyone offer any help or assistance

Many thanks

Richard

Amazulu

Probably not what you want to hear, but I reckon that you would struggle to emigrate here. Your best bet would be to retrain in a required skill. As your wife is a cop, she has a better skill set than you when it comes to emigration. Have you looked at other police forces apart from WA? They may have different requirements.

Good luck.

Bermudashorts

Afraid as above, it really does not look very promising for you.

Drivers have not been on the skills list for as long as I have been on BE. I have never heard that about police offcers before, would also suggest you check whether it is the case for other states or just keep an eye on it for any changes to the requirements. Other than that, there is just retraining..

If it is any consolation though, it is not a given that you get better lifestyle or security through moving to Australia. It is hotter though, can't deny that.

powellfamily

OK thanks for the replies. If I were lucky enough to get a company to sponsor me would that bean option?

Buzzy--Bee

How old are both of you? As others have suggested, retraining is the best option, eg nursing or midwifery perhaps.

You need to have completed retraining and any necessary experience well before you hit 45.

BB

powellfamily

I am 33 and Leigh is 28. I will look at the skills list and go from there then

Amazulu

You would still need to be on the skills list, so permanent residency would not be on the cards. Maybe you could get a 457 (temp work visa) thorough a company that will be prepared to sponsor you but I'm not sure. There were some posts a few years ago about drivers getting out on 457s - try and do a search. The 457 visa programme is being used as a political football by our socialist government at the moment - Google will tell you more.

geordiebloke

The 3-7 year rule is specific to WA police only and has only been brought in for the recent recruitment campaigns, so could very easily be changed back in the future.
Have a look at SA police as well, as they periodically recruit from the UK

brissybee

Please don't take this the wrong way, but there's an awful lot of personal information in this post. Up to you what you put out there of course.

Good luck with the move plans.

Bermudashorts

For the employer sponsored 186 (permanent visa) and the 457 (temporary) visa, the occupation still needs to be on the list.

There is an employer sponsored 187 (regional permanent visa) that does not require the occupation to be on the list, but it does require it to be at t least a diploma skill leve, which is going to rule out driver.

So in a nutshell, no this won't work either.

eddie007

Don't suppose the misses took long maternity leave is there? Or any break in service? Just trying to think outside the box....

powellfamily

She's had two lots of maternity leave would that count as a break?

brisbec

Yes, it counts as a break in service. If you take her total service and minus the maternity leave and it is less than 7 years she can apply......get on the stepforward site, give recruiting a ring when you've done the math and get form filling.....

Good luck

paddyo

Good thought!!!

paddyo

Total up all service and take out the breaks, that is your figure. Then look at other State police forces, it may not be where you want but your foot is then in the door and you could then transfer to Federal Police and work anywhere in Australia.