British Expats

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-   -   Advice Needed! (https://britishexpats.com/forum/electricians-97/advice-needed-754097/)

pauljpickering88 Apr 7th 2012 4:05 am

Advice Needed!
 
Hello,

Just hoping somebody here can give me abit of friendly advice, here's my situation.

I am currently working for a American company in Afghanistan, so currently I am not paying any tax to anybody, was thinking of going back home only to be told by the tax man that my worldwide income would be taxable if I come home prior to April 2013, so it got me thinking.

The base I am on at the moment is supposed to be closing in July and depending on where they send me could mean the end of me being here, but obviously I cant go back to the UK as the tax man will be waiting to bend me over.

I've been reading through a through threads on here and have got the jist of whats required regarding obtaining a licence to work which all seems reasonable, Perth seems the chosen destination for most British sparks.

The one thing I cant seem to find any info on is what I would need to do if I just wanted to go on like a one year trip (Maybe more if I like it) Visa Wise, what route would I have to take, any information would be much appreciated.

Any other tips/tricks/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Regards, Paul

derren7 Apr 7th 2012 4:40 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by pauljpickering88 (Post 9993051)
Hello,

Just hoping somebody here can give me abit of friendly advice, here's my situation.

I am currently working for a American company in Afghanistan, so currently I am not paying any tax to anybody, was thinking of going back home only to be told by the tax man that my worldwide income would be taxable if I come home prior to April 2013, so it got me thinking.

The base I am on at the moment is supposed to be closing in July and depending on where they send me could mean the end of me being here, but obviously I cant go back to the UK as the tax man will be waiting to bend me over.

I've been reading through a through threads on here and have got the jist of whats required regarding obtaining a licence to work which all seems reasonable, Perth seems the chosen destination for most British sparks.

The one thing I cant seem to find any info on is what I would need to do if I just wanted to go on like a one year trip (Maybe more if I like it) Visa Wise, what route would I have to take, any information would be much appreciated.

Any other tips/tricks/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Regards, Paul

Hi Paul,
Welcome to BE. If you're 30 or younger then could apply for a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) which lasts for one year and can be extended if certain conditions are met. If you're over 30 then I'm not sure what your options are but it' s worth trawling through the link below for starters.
www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/
Regards Derren

pauljpickering88 Apr 7th 2012 5:05 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 
Cheers Derren, I will have a look through it now.

I am only 23 so sounds perfect for me, do you have any experience of going over there, I have a few quid in the bank so I'll have no quarms of going over and just seeing how it goes, I'm only allowed 90 days back in the uk so wouldnt have time to stay in England waiting for stuff to happen, How long does it usually take for the visa? do you know?

pauljpickering88 Apr 7th 2012 5:14 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 
Had a look through it, looks pritty simple, 6 months with 2 different employers, could get used to not working 7 days a week like I do here :)

So as I see it, apply for a Visa go on holiday to start with and start looking whilst im there, I'm guessing I would still need to do the quals to get a decent job.

derren7 Apr 7th 2012 6:32 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by pauljpickering88 (Post 9993075)
Had a look through it, looks pritty simple, 6 months with 2 different employers, could get used to not working 7 days a week like I do here :)

So as I see it, apply for a Visa go on holiday to start with and start looking whilst im there, I'm guessing I would still need to do the quals to get a decent job.

Hi again Paul,
I did a WHV about 15 years ago and had a great experience. Drove all around Australia. Although I did manage to find work without a licence it was very time consuming and frustrating so at times I had to do labouring and farm work to get some dosh.
When I applied for mine at that time it took several weeks to granted a WHV but these days it can be granted in a matter of minutes I believe.
If you do want to do electrical work here , and I say here because I recently moved to Brisbane from the UK, then you will need to get a licence.
Once you have been granted your WHV then you'll need to think about applying for an ARTC. This is not a licence but merely recognition that you are are an overseas trained electrician. It's quite an involved application requiring lots of documentary evidence. Once granted it allows you to undertake gap training to get a full licence, and this training varies from state to state.
There's loads of info about this kind of stuff within this forum but feel free to ask any questions ( I'm sure you will need to because it's not a straight forward process).
Regards Derren

Jockstar Apr 7th 2012 8:10 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by derren7 (Post 9993147)
Hi again Paul,
I did a WHV about 15 years ago and had a great experience. Drove all around Australia. Although I did manage to find work without a licence it was very time consuming and frustrating so at times I had to do labouring and farm work to get some dosh.
When I applied for mine at that time it took several weeks to granted a WHV but these days it can be granted in a matter of minutes I believe.
If you do want to do electrical work here , and I say here because I recently moved to Brisbane from the UK, then you will need to get a licence.
Once you have been granted your WHV then you'll need to think about applying for an ARTC. This is not a licence but merely recognition that you are are an overseas trained electrician. It's quite an involved application requiring lots of documentary evidence. Once granted it allows you to undertake gap training to get a full licence, and this training varies from state to state.
There's loads of info about this kind of stuff within this forum but feel free to ask any questions ( I'm sure you will need to because it's not a straight forward process).
Regards Derren


You dont need a licence to work in NSW as you will be working(in theory) with licenced sparkies.

pauljpickering88 Apr 7th 2012 9:15 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 
Pardon my stupidity...NSW??

derren7 Apr 7th 2012 9:37 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by Jockstar (Post 9993256)
You dont need a licence to work in NSW as you will be working(in theory) with licenced sparkies.

Hi jockstar,
Yeah, I forgot to mention that in New South Wales you can work as an unlicensed spark. On my WhV I spent very little time there, a couple of days in Sydney and that was it as I had to get back to Perth so as to not overstay my visa.
Regards Derren

pauljpickering88 Apr 7th 2012 10:03 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 
Good stuff, so apart from sorting a licence out then i'd be good to go.

What is the cost of living like, I would be tempted to go straight from Dubai as this is where I would end up If i leave my contract, they would provide me with a ticket to my point of origin but that would then mean a 24 hour plane journey, wheras its only 11 hours from Dubai, would I be fine just buying a ticket and sorting everything out when I got there or would this be ill advised??

derren7 Apr 7th 2012 10:29 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by pauljpickering88 (Post 9993366)
Good stuff, so apart from sorting a licence out then i'd be good to go.

What is the cost of living like, I would be tempted to go straight from Dubai as this is where I would end up If i leave my contract, they would provide me with a ticket to my point of origin but that would then mean a 24 hour plane journey, wheras its only 11 hours from Dubai, would I be fine just buying a ticket and sorting everything out when I got there or would this be ill advised??

Hi Paul,
Cost of living here ain't cheap but in my opinion it's comparable to the UK. Some things are dearer and some things are cheaper but on balance I'd say it's about the same as the UK. You'll find endless threads on this site about how horrific the COL is here but I think they have been blinkered by the fact that Australia used to have relatively low cost of living , but because of the economic growth in OZ over the past several years , inevitably, inflation rises and so do costs. This has been tempered somewhat , by generally, higher wages.
You can sort out everything once you get here but it may take time to sort out. Once your application for an ARTC is submitted it could anywhere between a month to 4 months to process. It depends on how busy they are. And then you have to factor in the gap training, again it depends on which state licence you intend to apply for.
Regards Derren

pauljpickering88 Jul 25th 2012 4:05 am

Re: Advice Needed!
 
Just thought I'd bring this back up because I have some more questions.

My base closed and now I'm on a new base, it isnt too bad so I'm still sticking it out in the good ole Afghan!

Been keeping up with the forum and reading through peoples posts, is it just me worrying or does it seem like work is slowing down in Oz, I was orignally thinking of going to Perth but the closer I am getting to April the more I am thinking I might as well go travelloing across thailan, phillipines (somewhere cheap) with the Mrs until I can go back to the UK and work.

Thoughts on this??

rinkerdink Jul 25th 2012 4:27 pm

Re: Advice Needed!
 

Originally Posted by pauljpickering88 (Post 10191482)
Just thought I'd bring this back up because I have some more questions.

My base closed and now I'm on a new base, it isnt too bad so I'm still sticking it out in the good ole Afghan!

Been keeping up with the forum and reading through peoples posts, is it just me worrying or does it seem like work is slowing down in Oz, I was orignally thinking of going to Perth but the closer I am getting to April the more I am thinking I might as well go travelloing across thailan, phillipines (somewhere cheap) with the Mrs until I can go back to the UK and work.

Thoughts on this??

Given your circumstances (from what I gather low responsibility and young and free) I'd recommend a working holiday visa and do just that. Enjoy it and experience Australia and see if you like it. Who knows you may love it and start trying to get sponsored or it could bore you to death in 2 weeks but you will only have the opprotunity for a risk free adventure for a finite time before life's tribulation slow you down. In short grab it while you can!!! Good luck


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