Motopsycho87

Hi all. I'm considering making the jump to Oz, reasons being as such (so correct me if I'm wrong!)

Weather - the weather in the UK is downright depressing, our winters are long and cold, our summers are short and cold...

Lifestyle - the UK is generally a miserable nation, everyone is insular, going going outside is no fun, we're packed together like worms and anything fun is illegal, which bring me to...

Dirt bikes - I live for enduro/Motocross, from what I'm told the places you can ride are so expansive you could literally get lost and die. Compared to the UK, the only legal offroad is the odd half mile stretch between a couple of main roads.

The people - in the UK, being opinionated is practically enough to get you drawn and quartered, from my assumptions Oz seems to allow a greater degree of free speech.

Did I mention the Sun? Beaches? I love the idea of never needing to travel too far for a holiday because where you live already ticks the right boxes.

So, about me. I'm 29, male, will most likely be single if this goes ahead, no children. I'm in good health, qualified mechanical engineer (lvl2,3 NVQ and lvl4 HNC) and don't really have much to lose.

I've completed an expression of interest on SkillSelect, where do I go from here? I'm pretty clueless to the whole process, but I'm pretty happy on selling everything I have to cover the fees, just need a good outline of the process, length of time it all takes, how to sort a job, and whether or not you guys think it will live up to my expectations?

Cheers!
Kyle

msmyrtle

Before you lodge an EOI, you need a successful skills assessment in your hand. The one for mechanical engineers is Engineers Australia: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.a...lls-assessment

If you only have a HNC, it is very likely you would either need to complete a CDR, or look at a technologist/technician role. Have a read of the roles and responsibilities for each level.

Fees - prepare to start spending lots of money. Skills assessments, IELTS (if you need the points), medicals, police certs, visa fee, (then down the line) flights, shipping stuff...

Pollyana

Welcome to BE

Presumably you are quite a way down the road then, as you say you have completed an EOI - you must've done the Skills assessment and IELTS etc, so the next step is just waiting until they send you an invite, then you pay a shedload of cash, upload your documents, get the medical and police check sorted and hope for a grant.

On the lifestyle side - we have weather here too you know. So hot people stay indoors to try and stay sane. So hot you can't do stuff outside without frying at times, Have a look at the temperatures that the east coast has been having so far this year....... We also have torrential rain, amazing hail storms, bushfires, cyclones. Do not base a move here on a need for sunshine. Contrary to the 'Wanted Down Under' image many people never go near a beach, especially during the week, hours are too long at work and it gets dark too early.
We also have a lot of miserable people - people wrapped up in their problems - which are the same as the UK - money, jobs, crime, drugs, schooling.....every problem the UK has will be found in Aus. And Australia doesn't love the outspoken - it loves the lay back and wait till it hts you in the face, the 'she'll be right' attitude. Start voicing opinions and most people run quick so as not to get dragged in to stuff.

Several people on here with knowledge in engineering and job markets so I'm sure someone else can chime in on that - good luck!

carcajou

It does get cold and rainy here too. In my little part of the West it was below freezing most mornings from April to October (I had to scrape ice off my windshield every day) and even a few times in November. Small Town Australia also is in the throes of a huge drug (meth and ice) and crime problem, many towns have started Facebook neighbourhood watch groups.

If you have already submitted an EOI - I assume as Pollyana and msmyrtle said you already have a positive skills assessment back. If not - your EOI cannot get selected.

Once your EOI gets selected and you are sent a visa application, in effect you are providing documentation that what you entered on your EOI is correct. Timeframe depends on how long it takes for you to get all of that together and then on how long it takes them to process it. They will advise you when to do your medicals and police checks. If you have overclaimed points on your EOI, your visa application automatically is rejected even if you are still above 60 points.

Ours took 8 months, though there was a poster on here recently said his only took a few weeks. Last decade it was taking years so DIBP have come a long way.

Your reasons for coming - I find "lifestyle" to be a loaded term in migration. You will be working as hard and as long here, if not harder and longer, as you did in the UK and as an engineer I am assuming that will all be indoors away from the sun and under flourescent lighting. In the big cities traffic is ferocious and as Pollyanna said many people here never go to the beach.

We love it here, but come with your eyes wide open.

Jilliebee

If you're only 29 you could always think about coming over on a Working Holiday Visa - sort of try before you buy before you sell up and leave everything behind

quoll

Have you actually ever been to Australia or are you basing your views of what it might have to offer on Wanted Down Under or Home & Away?

Others have already given you a more realistic view than you probably have but it's basically just another first world country with the same problems. The weather can be even more crippling than the cold - you can rug up against the cold but there is no option against the heat - if you like getting up at 3am to have a child shower just so you can sleep, go for it! Familiarity breeds contempt to a degree and when you are working in a place it isn't a holiday destination. Fewer holidays too (20 days a year is standard) and depending on your occupation you might not get a day in when you take it. And if you are opinionated in Australia you'll get taken down a few pegs - or taken to court for offending someone.

Try it on a WHV and don't burn any bridges in the process.

Amazulu

Er, airconditioning

Pollyana

I think she's referring to the outside activities that so many people think are unaffected by Australia's lovely temperate weather......

carcajou

Pollyanna, 42 degrees where I am right now, and multiple total fire bans in place regionally. We do have some spectacular beaches nearby which I went to yesterday. Came home looking like a lobster and that was with multiple applications of full-strength suncream.

Pollyana

Exactly. Easier to do stuff when its cold and you can wrap up warm, than it is to do stuff in the current heatwave conditions facing most of the country. Aircon is all well and good but doesn't help with the 'lets go to the beach every day' idea that many peole move here with.

We do daily reports at work covering the weather across Queensland, with reference to other States. This is the longest period in which we have been headlining the heat conditions, rather than storms/floods/cyclones.