Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
Mar 20th 2007, 11:15 am
#1
BE Forum Addict
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: WA but NOT Perth!!!!!
Posts: 3,318
Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
We are both gutted at the moment regarding OH's job.
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
Mar 20th 2007, 11:17 am
#2
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 4,918
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
We are both gutted at the moment regarding OH's job.
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
((((((( hugs )))))))
Mar 20th 2007, 11:20 am
#3
BE Forum Addict
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: WA but NOT Perth!!!!!
Posts: 3,318
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
Thank you 
Mar 20th 2007, 11:22 am
#4
Sunny Sydney
Joined: Aug 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 6,241
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
More hugs from me too Bridie. What a nightmare.
Gill
(((((bridie)))))
Gill
(((((bridie)))))
Mar 20th 2007, 11:32 am
#5
Account Closed
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,199
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
We are in the exact same position as you. We did the TRA thing and expected that once they had approved this things would be OK in OZ.
Hubby is air-con and refrigeration engineer. Once we arrived in Perth he couldn't get a job as he had no licence. Apparentley he needs 3...gas, elecrical and refrigeration.
OK then...where do you get them??? No-one seems to know. We have been here 10 months now, paid loads of money to the gov and colleges to get these licences, but still NO licence.
OH has been told he doesn't need to bother with college, but to do on the job training ( which is a joke!!!! he's done this trade for 20 years) then send in more paper work and do a test. More money at the end of all this.:curse:
So as i have said before, whats the point of a TRA if they don't want to know when you get here!
Is it just a sham to get you here, then you can't escape!
Hubby is air-con and refrigeration engineer. Once we arrived in Perth he couldn't get a job as he had no licence. Apparentley he needs 3...gas, elecrical and refrigeration.
OK then...where do you get them??? No-one seems to know. We have been here 10 months now, paid loads of money to the gov and colleges to get these licences, but still NO licence.
OH has been told he doesn't need to bother with college, but to do on the job training ( which is a joke!!!! he's done this trade for 20 years) then send in more paper work and do a test. More money at the end of all this.:curse:
So as i have said before, whats the point of a TRA if they don't want to know when you get here!
Is it just a sham to get you here, then you can't escape!
Mar 20th 2007, 11:41 am
#6
Anything,Anytime,Anywhere
Joined: Jan 2004
Location: The Magic Roundabout
Posts: 8,141
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
[QUOTE=bridie;4537574]We are both gutted at the moment regarding OH's job.
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.[QUOTE]
If he had previously had more "actual" fulltime experience than 4 months parttime, as an electrician, he would probably not have to do an apprenticeship here.
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.[QUOTE]
If he had previously had more "actual" fulltime experience than 4 months parttime, as an electrician, he would probably not have to do an apprenticeship here.
Mar 20th 2007, 11:46 am
#7
Anything,Anytime,Anywhere
Joined: Jan 2004
Location: The Magic Roundabout
Posts: 8,141
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
We are in the exact same position as you. We did the TRA thing and expected that once they had approved this things would be OK in OZ.
Hubby is air-con and refrigeration engineer. Once we arrived in Perth he couldn't get a job as he had no licence. Apparentley he needs 3...gas, elecrical and refrigeration.
OK then...where do you get them??? No-one seems to know. We have been here 10 months now, paid loads of money to the gov and colleges to get these licences, but still NO licence.
OH has been told he doesn't need to bother with college, but to do on the job training ( which is a joke!!!! he's done this trade for 20 years) then send in more paper work and do a test. More money at the end of all this.:curse:
So as i have said before, whats the point of a TRA if they don't want to know when you get here!
Is it just a sham to get you here, then you can't escape!
Hubby is air-con and refrigeration engineer. Once we arrived in Perth he couldn't get a job as he had no licence. Apparentley he needs 3...gas, elecrical and refrigeration.
OK then...where do you get them??? No-one seems to know. We have been here 10 months now, paid loads of money to the gov and colleges to get these licences, but still NO licence.
OH has been told he doesn't need to bother with college, but to do on the job training ( which is a joke!!!! he's done this trade for 20 years) then send in more paper work and do a test. More money at the end of all this.:curse:
So as i have said before, whats the point of a TRA if they don't want to know when you get here!
Is it just a sham to get you here, then you can't escape!
Mar 20th 2007, 12:00 pm
#8
Never been to Australia
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Homeless
Posts: 495
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
B,
I spoke to a women at Tafe last week, they are doing a restricted licence course starting next month.
She also said they had someone coming from licencing to discuss people like Malc and myself that have qualifications and experience that don't exactly fit the Australian criteria, I'll find the email when I go in tomorrow just in case its someone you haven't spoken to.
Kevin.
I spoke to a women at Tafe last week, they are doing a restricted licence course starting next month.
She also said they had someone coming from licencing to discuss people like Malc and myself that have qualifications and experience that don't exactly fit the Australian criteria, I'll find the email when I go in tomorrow just in case its someone you haven't spoken to.
Kevin.
Mar 20th 2007, 12:07 pm
#9
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 945
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
B,
I spoke to a women at Tafe last week, they are doing a restricted licence course starting next month.
She also said they had someone coming from licencing to discuss people like Malc and myself that have qualifications and experience that don't exactly fit the Australian criteria, I'll find the email when I go in tomorrow just in case its someone you haven't spoken to.
Kevin.
I spoke to a women at Tafe last week, they are doing a restricted licence course starting next month.
She also said they had someone coming from licencing to discuss people like Malc and myself that have qualifications and experience that don't exactly fit the Australian criteria, I'll find the email when I go in tomorrow just in case its someone you haven't spoken to.
Kevin.
massive k on its way 
Mar 20th 2007, 12:15 pm
#10
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Poole, Dorset
Posts: 1,217
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
What a nightmare. I hope you can sort it out.
Mar 20th 2007, 12:47 pm
#11
Sparky Stu
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 612
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
We are both gutted at the moment regarding OH's job.
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
He did his C&G electrical qualification in the UK before we left, 2 1/2 years at night school, loads of homework, exams and £thousands of our own money. He passed and got his certificate just before we left the UK. As we applied for our visa under his engineering skills he had to stay in his job and just worked weekends for about 4 months as a spark.
When we arrived here we thought it would be fairly straightforward to get things transferred across. How wrong we were....
After months of phoning round in circles (TRA, licensing board etc etc etc) I finally spoke to someone who knew what they were talking about who said he needed to sign up as a mature apprentice, they would take into account what he's already done and he could do a reduced apprenticeship (sparks have to do 4 years usually).
So we spent another few months phoning round electrical companies and in the end we did a mailshot to all the sparks in the Bunbury region and finally he started work as an apprentice last October. Unfortuantely the apprentice company he's with are useless and it's taken months of his nagging to get anything done, and even then he's had to sort most of it out himself. The guy at TAFE took all OH's theory work and basically spent the last three weeks comparing the C&G syllabus to the Aus one (although he obviously hasnt done a brilliant job as OH said there was obvious stuff he somehow couldnt find!).
Upshot is, OH has to work as an apprentice for three years.
WHY?
We just dont know where we go from here. He can't stay with his current host company as they have messed him about no end recently and trying to find someone else to take him on is impossible, plus the prospect of another 3 years on crap wages (currently he's on just over $14 an hour) especially with our first child on the way is not particularly appealing.
We are just completely gutted as we had no idea this would be the case, particularly since he's a skilled bloke and perfectly capable of doing everything a spark can do yet no-one seems to be interested.
Sorry for the rant, just completely at a loss.......
Well good luck with everythig and hope you do get sorted out. Hope someone on here can help you out.
Stu
Mar 20th 2007, 12:50 pm
#12
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 945
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
Feel so sorry for you! Im a spark heading for cairns in june but iv 15 years behind me. This seems to be the big problem people have that once they have done the TRA they think thats it but its just the start. It should be made more clear on what is expected of you before you arrive. It must be so hard for familys trying to survive just to get the bloody licence. Something should be done about it with the TRA. I can only thank this forum as i had no idea what i was going to have to do until i found it. There is another forum i go on and you see many tradesman on there with no idea of what they are heading into.
Well good luck with everythig and hope you do get sorted out. Hope someone on here can help you out.
Stu
Well good luck with everythig and hope you do get sorted out. Hope someone on here can help you out.
Stu
Hi - we are headed for Cairns in June also!! hubbie is a plumber/gas engineer. good luck to us eh
Mar 20th 2007, 12:56 pm
#13
Potton to the Gold Coast
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,211
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
I had to apply to the TRA again once i got here to obtain a TRA certificate.
The origional application was for migration purposes only
The origional application was for migration purposes only
From what I understand, a TRA is designed to see if you are skill qualified in a particular trade to apply for a visa. They are not responsible to make sure you are licenced, as different states have different rules and regulations regarding trades and services. It pays to research the regulations in the particular state or territiory you what to move to, before moving, as there are many threads and sites on the subject.
Mar 20th 2007, 1:19 pm
#14
BE Enthusiast
Joined: May 2005
Location: Liverpool UK
Posts: 992
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
I know what you mean !!! I've been a lift engineer ( fixing lifts ) in the UK for 20 years, done the electrical apprentiship and HNC.. but to work on lifts in Aus. you need an electricians license to do what I do, no problem I thought !!!
Apparently Im not experienced enough to apply for my electricians license... must go to nightschool and ' learn ' to become an electrician first !!
Please let the first person I have to get out of a lift be from the ARTC !!!
Apparently Im not experienced enough to apply for my electricians license... must go to nightschool and ' learn ' to become an electrician first !!Please let the first person I have to get out of a lift be from the ARTC !!!
Mar 20th 2007, 2:31 pm
#15
Sparky Stu
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 612
Re: Obviously not that desperate for skills after all...
I think there is money to be made in giving advice to people on what will be expected of them when they arrive before they can work. The agency's that people use should also tell them a little more. I think people would maybe not move to oz if they new what they had to do at the other end.
Stu