helen52

Hi my daughter has gone to Australia for a year on a working holiday visa she is living with my sister in Melbourne, but so far has had no success in getting work.
an immigration lawyer has told her she needs to get her qualifications recognized in Australia, but I believe you have to pay for this she has a degree which we presume should be recognized as its a global qualification. does anyone know how much it costs to have your qualifications recognized or how to find out she thinks its hundreds thanks in advance Helen

verystormy

What is her degree and what sort of work is she looking for?

Bermudashorts

I don't really understand, is she trying to find a job or trying to apply for a different visa?

What is her occupation?

nicolac34

I'm assuming the immigration lawyer means a skills assessment for her particular occupation to apply for a specific visa?

Getting a degree recognised in Australia isn't a requirement to getting a job on a WHV.

helen52

Hi thanks for the responses she has a Bsc in equine science and is looking to stay permanently in Australia she is also on the 2nd year of a 3 year masters in equine nutrition, through the internet with the royal vet college and Edinburgh uni, the lawyer says yes she should see if her skills are recognized in Australia and also to tailor her skills around a job that is on the list of eligible jobs, such as science maybe work in a lab not necessarily with horses, but she says it costs a lot to send your qualifications to the board to have them recognized, at the moment she would do any work but when they find out what type of visa she has it no go just wondered what it costs to have your skills recognized

nicolac34

I depends who you need to send off your qualifcations to to get them recognised. If she finds a job on the list and looks up the assessment body it will say on their website. I know VETASESS is about $700.

However if she doesn't have work experience in her particular job (3 years I think) then she will struggle to get a perm visa anyway.

Her only option would be some kind of employer sponsorship, and even then I'm not sure because of the work experience requirement.

helen52

yes she has experience was in USA or 6.5 years, thought it was a lot of money to recognize qualifications that's a lot she has no money

Bermudashorts

Does she have recent work experience in a job on the SOL? Recent means at least 12 of the last 24 months. If she doesn't have that there is no point having qualifications assessed as she won't qualify for the skilled migrant visa anyway. So that is first thing to establish.

If she does have the recent work experience in a job on the skilled occupation list then she could continue to explore skilled migration. Skills assessment is a necessary step and costs vary by occupation, mine was only a couple of hundred dollars for example. However the visa application fee is about $3k so if she has no money then she can't apply.

That then just comes back full circle to her needing to find a job and hopefully an employer who will sponsor in due course.

newjersey

off the wall question - could it be that she needs a local license rather than a recognition of an overseas degree? In the same way as the electricians/plumbers need to take some TAFE courses/apprenticeship to start working. I thought that degree recognition is more of an immigration matter than trying to find a job matter and might as well be useless for what she is trying to achieve. I am totally off the mark?

helen52

can you explain in more detail please I am only her mother and do not fully understand visas etc, if you know of any way to get work or the license please tell me, she just thought that getting her qualifications recognized as you say like plumbers etc she wanted to know whether she needed to do anything else for her to work in this field in Australia we dont know where to start or how to save money. immigration lawyer told her how she may be able to stay for another year, but she really needs a sponsor, lawyer said for instance natural science was on the list and she could possibly tailor her skills to the job, does not have to be with horses, but the best way to get to stay

Bermudashorts

It is very hard to answer your questions when her occupation is still not clear. Some people like electricians and plumbers cannot work in australia without a licence, we do not know whether your daughter needs a licence because other than something with horses it is not clear what she does. Certainly it is not normal to get a degree recognized as a matter of course for a whv holder.

So try to establish is there some reason she cannot work because she its prohibited? Are employers or recruiters saying this?

Separately, can you answer my questions earlier on immigration, but please keep the two things separate. We all have to get skills assessed for a skilled migrant visa, that does not mean we would have had up do something in order to find work on a whv, most wouldn't.

Reaver

Further to Bermudas post, it would probably best if your daughter joined this wesbite for herself and asked directly, so people can get information straight from the horses mouth so to speak (pun intended... )

People on this forum reside all over the world, so she is just as likely to get an answer when she posts in her timezone, as you are now.

And while a degree is globally recognized, it is usually not just accepted straight "off the bat". Nurses, Lawyers, Engineers and numerous other more widely accepted professions all have to have their skills assessed to allow them to work in an Australian work enviroment.

Hope some of that helps.

helen52

yes thank you that does help , she should join the forum for herself, not sure what she has pursued but know everything costs money which we don't have, we have already thrown thousands to USA without success had lawyers rip her off etc. but unfortunately she had to leave the USA in the end as she could not get a sponsor as with the recession things are bad there, in the last 18 months she was not working with horses as she married and had to move with her husbands job, but she was allowed to do any kind of work and was working in an office, but its not on the skills list and she has not done it for long enough, and the marriage ended, he was sent to USA with his job but she cannot stay without being on his visa, unless she gets a sponsor of her own. previously she started as an intern in KER research center, and then became a barn manager in a horse rehab center that looked after horses that came straight from the hospital, she administered medicines and ran the place for the owner and was in charge of other employees, but it was a family run business and the owner found it hard when the recession came as people could not afford to send their horses there.
she does not want to return to the UK so I sent her over to my sister in Melbourne for a year, but she cannot keep her for ever.

newjersey

usually the *skills assessment* is only good for a visa application and is useless in trying to land a job. A degree recognition is in my understanding is a validation of your course content against Australian Qualification Framework and I am not sure what purpose that can serve in the OP's situation.

To the OP: The visa system, the part dealing with the skilled visas anyway, is all wrapped around an occupation, that has a code and a set of requirements. You can try to go through immi.gov.au/asri to find some that match, and pay most attention to the job responsibilities rather than the title. Then, when you found something that matches, you can try and see if it is on the list of occupations (called SOL and located on the immi site as well) that are eligible for a visa. If not, it's a dead end, because the WHV will run out and without a prospect to get another skilled visa, sponsored or not, there is little chance your DD can stay there legally.

newjersey

a stab in the dark - if her skills set fits into a veterinarian code, then it is on a SOL Schedule 1 which allows an independent skilled visa, given the other criteria are met. Try this
http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/occupati...terinarian.htm

It has links to the skills assessment authority and licensing boards, have a read to get a fell what the visa application would entail (apart from costing around $3-4K)

As Bermuda already mentioned, if she does not have 12 months work experience of at least 20+ hours a week in her chosen occupation, she may not meet the basic eligibility requirements for the permanent skilled visa.

It appears that a much more likely way to proceed is to keep on the job search in her chosen occupation and try to charm the employer into sponsoring her for the 457 temp worker visa.