Hi Guys,

Due to the state sponsored visa my future wife and I are bound for Darwin. She is a teacher and is the one getting the visa. I am a police officer, I have been told by the English side that I cannot transfer out to Oz but having just got back from Oz I am fully aware that the Aussies are desperate for officers. Is there a restriction on getting officers from the UK as I am also aware that my force (the met) has sent someone to Oz in an attempt to get people back to the UK. I have tried emailing Oz police direct but they say I cannot even apply until I am a citizen which is a minmum of two years.


If this is the case anyone got any ideas of a suitable job?? I really don't want to work in an office and the last 7 years is all police experience and alot of it.

thanks guys

James

I hope you don't mind but I've PM'd you...

Hi Jimmie,

Can't help with your question but wanted to welcome you to the forum. Hope you are enjoying using BE.

I gather from Jen1977ni's post above that she has sent you a pm, unfortunately in order to utilize the private message system you have to have made at least 3 posts in the forum, and I'm afraid they can't be throw away posts made just in order to access the pm's. I am sorry for the inconvenience but we have to have this in place in order to deter spammers who try and target members via pm. However you will still be able to read the pm, because if you have set up your preferences accordingly, you will receive a copy of it via email, you just won't be able to reply to it yet.


Regards

Sue

well the system needs updating because what I did byassed it completely and I was able to read my PM. Aside from that hello and nice to chat to some Oz poms. Anyone actually living in Darwin who can give us some ideas of what to expect realistically instead of what the brochures say?

we have travelled alot of Oz and done the West and the South East from Sydney down to almost Adelaide but due to the recent floods etc in Sydney we never made Adelaide itself.

I will point you in the direction of a thread I started recently....

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=607152

Also if you go to the top of this page and click on search and advanced, you can type in keywords to find other relevant threads....hope this helps.

info on darwin-"anyone applying for northern australia sponsorship", I did a reply on page 2 with some general info.

Re NT police despite them being fairly desperate it would appear you are correct:
either an oz citizen or
permanent resident and eligible to be a citizen.

However I dont know specifically about the NT but some oz forces have activly recruited in the uk in the past and doing a quick search south australian police finished an overseas recruitment drive last december-so you never know, things change-I would worry about it when over here.

As far as another job maybe something in security??? prob not what you want but would help with the bills while waiting for something else.Various job sites which you could have a look at.

Has your wife got a specific school she will be working at yet??
regards old

NT Police normally have a class starting every 6 months or so, the last intake started about 2 weeks ago. My brother and SIL both work for NT Police. However, be aware there would be a very good chance once you graduate that you would be sent out of Darwin. I believe that people transferring from interstate still have to do the training course, however promotion is quicker than in other states I think.

No She doesn't have a school yet but we have had a response from Darwin High who have asked her to contact them in November. She contacted about 10 schools and they were the only ones to reply

Hi Jimmie,
There are lots of schools that need staff here, most jobs are available around Christmas time, as this is when staff tend to move home. Christmas holidays are like the summer ones in UK, about 6 weeks. They also get 4 weeks off in Jul/Jul, so maybe more jobs will come up then.
I'm not sure how easy it is to get a teachers job with UK quals, so I won't go there.

I'm not sure if it's an option for you, but there is a way to speed up your citizenship eligibility, you can join the Army Reserve, which will mean you can get citizenship in 6 months, rather than the standard 3 or 4 (not sure what it is now). There is military police unit here that I believe has some NT Police as reserve members. It may be worth a look and it won't hurt for networking opportunities.

Hope this helps

My OH teaching quals are the worldwide ones, she has already passed teaching austalia so she can teach in Oz.

Its 2 years now til citizenship. I have emailed the NT gov with a view to maybe using my skills with them. It seems stupid having the extensive skills I have aquired over last few years and they have the same emerging issues around domestic violence and anti social behaviour that I specialise in.

Will wait and see

here's an interesting article...

bear in mind that it's just a news article based on a study. The opinions of people who actually live in darwin will be far more useful,
cheers

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...20/2575813.htm

ps - read the comments too, they are probably worth more than the article itself, heh heh.

Jimmie, I just looked on the citizenship website - the residence requirement is now 4 years.

See here: http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applyi...ligibility.htm

Hopefully the NT Govt. will be keen to recruit you. There are certainly some DV issues around the NT.

apparently not interested. Not until I am a citizen anyway. What a waste of my experience and skills. They will come in handy while acting as a security guard.

My friend, who moved up to Darwin last year, enquired about joining the NT Police. She had the same response. Not interested until you are a citizen, which she will be in a couple of years so not sure what all this "eligible to be a citizen" is all about!

I have just had this reply from WA police

Hello James,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in the Western Australia Police.

It is not clear whether or not you will have permanent residency in Australia when you arrive or if you are just being sponsored. It appears that you are being sponsored by the school which may allow you to stay for a certain time but does not guarantee PR.

Should you have PR then that is sufficient to apply for all state/territory police forces in Australia but does not include the Australia Federal Police, which requires Citizenship.


If this is correct then a PR should be enough also for the NT police so why are they saying citizens only?