Hi
I am a British electrician with all the relevant UK qualifications e.g. inspection & testing, 17th edition, Pat testing, Part P. Ect.
I know that I need to become a A class electrician in Australia what I need to know is
• Can I sit the A class exam before arriving in Australia
• What are the governing bodies for electricians in Western Australia
Any information on this subject would be gratefully received

Cheers
Welsh Jeff

Check out the Working Abroad by Profession pages a bit further down the forum.

How you become an A Class electrician depends on what kind of visa you have or are going for. If you are the primary applicant and are going for a 175 visa, then you need to look at the Vetassess website. http://www.vetassess.com.au/migrate_...ade_skills.cfm

This involves a paper based initial assessment and then a practical. Once you have passed the practical you get what is call a OTSR. You can then apply to Energy Safety of Western Australia, where you will need to complete a 2 week Electricians Trade Licence course to get your A class licence. But this is once you are in Australia.

If you have a wife/partner who is the main visa applicant you can then apply to the TRA which is cheaper than Vetassess. The course can be studied in your own time and then you spend a couple of days at PEER and get your licence.

Load on the Electricians forum about both options.

Happy searching!

p.s. Just seen from your timeline that you already have your visa. Did you do the vetassess route? If not you can go down the TRA route.

Hi
thanks for the reply. I have a TRA visa for electrician special class and want to be as prepared as I can before I leave for OZ in the next few months

Check out this thread then as you can apply to Energy Safety in WA. I take it you have the ARTC already?

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=653161

Not sure what the ARTC is. can you elaborate?

When you went through the TRA for your electrician special class, what did you get at the end of the process? For the General electrician, you get an ARTC which stands for an Australian Recognised Trade Certificate.

When they approved my skills assessment all it said was
"Application Type: Class VE, subclass 175 Skilled - Independent".
A while later they changed the tra for another method of assessing.
the visa I have is Class VE, subclass 175 Skilled - Independent. does this mean anything?

When you put your visa application in, what did you have to submit with your application to show that you had a successful skills assessment. Was it just a letter or did it say something specific?

I think you will have to apply for an ARTC. Here is a link.

http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Progr...ages/home.aspx

All UK qualifications here in WA count for diddly squat, Aussie sparks think they have the highest standards in the world(and tell you so!), they dont!!

Hi,you apply to the TRA for visa purposes only once you hear back from them saying your a general electrician you apply for visa, then you apply back to the TRA for a ARTC wich is basically the same stuff you sent to them for your visa but more info is required as it is a electrician that reads it this time not a pen pusher if your successful you get a ARTC certificate (they only send this out to a oz address) next is the PEER in SA for your regs course you can start this in the uk as they can post it over for you, once you do the course book you need to go to oz to sit the test, pass this they give you a certificate which you take somewhere(I`ve not got this far yet, still in uk) with your ARTC cert and get your sparks card wich i believe can be transferred between states.

hope this helps, Del

PS: have you tried the working by professions forum on the main page, there is a electricians forum i found it very helpful, look for posts from stevo lots of good info from him.

Link for electricians forum - http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=97

Thanks for the link Pollyana