I think it essentially places a points system on employee nominated visas now. This was discussed a while back in the thread.. ASNSW was saving this as a back up if the labour agreement did not go through. When I spoke with ASNSW in January, they were not willing to utilize the employee nominated scheme (subclass 121) to bring over individuals. For some reason they seem to be stuck on using the labour agreement when there are other options available for us! Maybe they are reconsidering it now? Maybe we can regain our ICP status..

This was also the impression i got.

I had a similar discussion with NSWAS. Since the labour agreement didn't seem to be going anywhere i asked whether the ambulance service might consider my application if i were to get a spouse visa since my Mrs is Australian. Their reply was that they hadn't really considered the option and there was little point going down this route as the new all singing, all dancing labour agreement would be in place shortly.

This suggests to me that they are only really considering the labour agreement as a way of obtaining visa's for over sea's staff.

Having seen how long this labour agreements taken to sort out (considering its been tried and tested) i thought it senseless to spend time and effort trying to break through the red tape and bureaucracy that another type of visa may require to action.

Paul

Hi all,
Anyone had any news on the LA?
It's getting really frustrating now, been well over a year since testing/med/interview!
The wheels of beaurocracy turn slowly down under!

Hi everyone,

Nope, I haven't heard anything from NSW Ambulance for sometime now, the last I heard was that unofficially they were expecting the agreement to be in place on the 1st of July, but I'm guessing this has not happened.
I have considered applying for WA and have spoke to another colleague who is currently going thru the selection process. From what I hear it all sounds really positive in WA, excellent training packages with more recognition of UK qualifications and a guaranteed place in the metropolitan area (unless you express an interest in a a rural area) However, WA is not where I wanted to be, I still have my heart set on NSW so I'm holding out for that.
When I went for selection with NSW and did that brain numbing personality test I was told that the results from that and everything else (medical, aptitude, interview etc) were only valid for 12 months. I wonder what they are planning to do with us should the LA come thru, will we have to go for testing again? Perhaps we could all charter a plane over !!
I've got frustrated with it all again now so I'm off for a run before night shift !

Did I miss something? 100,000 what?

The last official piece of correspondence I received said "we anticipate the renewal of the labour agreement to be in place by the beginning of 2010." Maybe they accidentally transposed the numbers and meant to say 2100! I applied to Western Australia as well, and was offered an over the phone interview, but turned it down. NSW is where I want to be, but don't know if that is going to happen anytime soon, or even at all anymore.

hi guys,frustrating isn't it. I spoke to NSW on the 1st july and they were still very optimistic that the labour agreement was going to come in.i telephoned them again a few days ago and was assured that as far as they are aware the labour agreement is still expected.Like you guys i also looked at WA but i have family in NSW so that is where we want to be.

so back to crossing my fingers

I'm currently in the recruitment process and have also been waiting for an interview date. Last email I received from NSW Ambulance was a couple of weeks ago saying they were still very optimsitic about the labour agreement renewal in the very near future and that they would email interview dates as soon as this is in place. So nothing else I can do except wait!

Its frustrating isnt it.

Having your life put on hold and being in limbo with regards to such a big life decision. Its also strange that NSWAS seem certain that this elusive LA will be soon to return even going so far as to give particular months or dates for its great come back which thus far have turned out to be incorrect. This is what worries me most. If NSWAS were saying they didn't know when or if the LA would return i could understand and would probably start exploring other avenues. However, the fact that they keep giving rough timescales and dates for the re-introduction of the LA which continually turn out to be incorrect suggests that they really dont know. I wonder where they are getting their information from because I can see no reason why they would be telling all us hopeful expats to hold on just a little bit longer with out a reasonable belief that the LA will return.

The problem I guess we all face is how long can we hold on. This has been going on for a while now and apart from NSWAS telling us incorrectly that the LA will return we've had no other assurances. On the flip side of things we don't want to waste lots of time, effort, and money researching other potential routes of immigrating only to find after all this that the labour agreement is back in place.

Last time i spoke to NSWAS they told me that there was no point in considering other visa options as the labour agreement would be back in place very soon. That was quite some time ago! I guess realistically it may be time for me to start seriously considering other routes into Aus because it seems that waiting for this LA could go on for sometime/ever.

In the meantime i'll go back to crossing my fingers.

Good luck to you all.

Let us know how you go.

Paul

ASNSW website is still stating that international recruitment will resume later in 2010'
It's been a long long frustrating wait. Got to the stage of choosing one of 3 stations for induction training etc (after testing, med etc) then that was it, standstill!
Still keen tho, as I was impressed with the standard of their service and the apparent lack of 'de-skilling' as compared to QAS.

Here's hoping news follows soon for us all

Phil

Dear hopefuls,

My wife spoke to the NSWAS recruitment team last night with regards to the LA and got a less than positive response. As opposed to saying that the LA will definitely return shortly, (which has been the case in the past) the chap my wife spoke to said they really dont know when the LA will return.

He also said NSWAS would consider employing those with permanent residency and this might be the best way for someone in my situation to apply.

I've gotten to the point now where it seems like a bit of a fruitless waste of time to hang around in limbo waiting for a potential LA which may, or may not materialize. A bit of a long shot since my wife and I are getting older and looking to settle. It appears to me that things really aren't progressing at all sadly.

I've decided to bite to the bullet and apply for permanent residency on a spouse visa.

Sorry I have nothing more positive to add.

Good luck and here's to hoping for some better news.

Paul

The more time that goes by, the less of a chance the LA will be approved. If ASNSW really wanted to bring us over, they would utilize an employee sponsored migration scheme, but it seems to me we are not needed as bad as we once were. I think they underwent a huge recruitment of Australian candidates and as a result ambos are more available. I also think theres a lot of politics surrounding overseas personnel taking Australian jobs.

Unfortunately, I just don't think there is a huge political will to bring us over anymore.. Thats just the big picture i'm seeing from over here.

Good luck to all!

Anymore updates anyone?? I emailed them again for an LA update 2-3 weeks ago, nothing back!

Same here, sent e-mail last month. No reply

Latest change to ASNSW website in regards to international applicants:

"Applications from internationally trained Qualified Paramedics cannot be accepted until further notice. Information will be available on this website once dates are confirmed"

Guess they thought that by stating, as previous, that recruitment would recommence later in 2010 was now no good, seeing as we are now in November!!!

Although this could be good news....."once dates are confirmed"....does this mean things are moving?

Hope so!