my hubby was not a plumber but is now an apprentice.
He did not find it especially hard to get onto a TAFE course. They seem to quite like mature applicants...only downside is the appalling standard apprentice wages!

We've heard the wages are about 70,000 a year for a plumber - is that true, or is that for someone self employed? How long have you been in Melbourne and do you mind me asking how you chose Altona East - choosing where to live is really difficult?

thanks.

Hopefully he will be on somewhere around that when he qualifies- at the mo he is on rubbishy apprentice wages, which does not even pay for the cat food! Still we made the decision based on potential future opportunities!

We live in the West as I used to work in Geelong, its affordable and outside peak hours, it is only 10 mins to the city by car. (By train it is a 20 min journey from Newport to City centre). People seem to gravitate towards the east which is nice but hugely overpriced because of the abundance of good private schools in the area.

I used to live in Wandsworth Common- just up the road from you in Wimbledon!

My man's a plumber and he makes around $58,000 a year working for someone else and doing a fair amount of overtime - not brilliant really...

Hi Ozwomble

In reply to your original question – here is what we did:

Got provisional registration before leaving the UK in eligible categories - provisional registration is where previous plumbing skills are recognised but you still have to take Australian exams to get full registration when you get here. In my partner’s case he got forms to apply for registration from the Plumbing Industry Commission (www.pic.vic.gov.au). He then sent the forms and originals of his trade certificates to them and they decided to grant the provisional registration and also which categories to grant it in.

If you go to their website on the Registration and Licence page there is a link for people applying from outside Australia and NZ - click on England and there is a table showing what UK qualifications entitle you to be registered in what here. You may find that you get granted full registration straight away but they seem quite keen on getting as much money out of you as possible so tend to grant provisional in the first instance and get you to sit the exams.

Although he got provisional registration before arriving in Australia (and I would strongly recommend doing so – main reason being is that this allowed him to get a job and sit the exams in his first 6 months of work so he was earning rather than just waiting to sit them. That said, he was lucky that the firm took him on and agreed to sign off his work for him in the meantime) when he turned up to book himself in to sit the exams in the four classes they had granted the provisional reg. in he then had to buy a heap of books to go with them. We wish we had known this before as he could have read up before we arrived. The books are available to buy from the PIC and they can advise you as to which ones you need for each exam. Their main office is in Melbourne and you can email enquiries to [email protected] or call on +61 3 98892211. We did most of it by email and they are quite helpful.

The main difference between Provisional Reg. and full reg. which is a pain employment-wise is that your employer is responsible for checking ALL your work if you have prov. reg. and obviously most employers could do without the hassel and go for fully registered employees over prov. registered. We were very lucky that the firm would take him on with prov. Reg. and the PIC seemed quite surprised when we left them one week disappointed (we hadn't realised until we got here how restrictive prov. reg. was) and the next were all smiles and he was in employment!

Hope this is of some help - I guess the main thing is to get yourself employable (so registered) as quickly as you can and the best way to do that is to have the prov. reg. and knowledge enough to sit the exams as soon as possible after arriving. Also be aware that there can be a waiting list for sitting the exams so allow for that or get yourself on the waiting list before arriving...

The other thing is that it was never his intention to be self-employed - if this is the case for you there is another stage after being registered, which is being licensed in all the relevant categories. As far as I know it's a similar process but the exams are more in-depth and cost more....working for an employer may be a safer bet to begin with while he susses out the system!

found you!!!!

sorry to OP for thread hijack but at least it keeps it at top of page

how you doin paul? jed mentions you quite a bit, wondering how you are getting on and all....?

j