Hello, I am extremely confused and was wondering if someone could walk me through step by step how I can work as an electrician in sydney. I have a working holiday visa and I will soon be going over there. My girlfriend is Australian so it is a possibility I shall be trying to get a partner visa eventually so I want to become a licensed electrician. So far I have the phone number of a tafe that said I shall have to speak to someone from there and show all my city and guilds certificates to show that I am an electrician. I really want to be in work as soon as possible but I don't think you can work as an electricians mate unlicensed. I've read so much stuff and it's making me even more confused!

Could I also just note the tafe said I need to do RPL? I imagine that means showing my Certs

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

In NSW you can work alongside other sparks without having a license (from info given on here) so you should be okay finding work. To obtain a license you would need to get your skills assessed. As you wont be applying on the skilled route, you can try for RPL with the TAFE. If you can obtain the Cert III that way you should be able to get your license :)

They may get you to cover wiring rules and OH&S which can get expensive (PEER cost is around $2500 with books here) but being fully licensed will improve how much you can earn :)

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

This is very interesting news, thanks for your help. I just can't understand why it says clearly it's against the law in NSW to do anything unlicensed but others say it's fine

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

Nit sure - maybe doing all the pulling in and stuff, and actual connections and testing done by the licensed spark.

There are a couple of sparks from NSW who post here occasionally - maybe one will pop by to clarify :)

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

In NSW you can work as an unlicensed sparky. In theory you will have licensed sparkies on site supervising. In reality there may only be 1 or 2 licenced sparkies. Sydney is booming at the moment. Heaps of work around. Different rates of pay. But the difference between a licensed or unlicensed sparky who work for the same company. May only be 50cents to $1 per hour.

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

Thanks for replying Jockstar. I have noticed they need unlicenced Sparks on seek too I'm sure if it was illegal to do they wouldn't advertise it.

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

It's not illegal in NSW. In other states its different.

Re: Fully qualified spark travelling to aus
 

Ok mate, I think the reason why I'm worried is because on the NSW fair trading website it says if you do anything with electrical wiring or whatever then you can be fined up to 22k if caught and I'd probably be deported. There is nothing I can see on any website that says I can work supervised on electrics.