D_Dubz

Hi All
I have lived in Perth for over 2 years. I originally came out on WHV with ARTC (electrical mechanic) sat 2 week CET course and got my unrestricted WA licence all within 4 months of landing. I also gained sponsorship for 457 in this time as my wife fell pregnant and we definitely didn't want to fly back!

we are now very keen to go for a PR visa, however I have recently switched employers who have taken over my sponsorship. This means the 18 months I spent with my previous employer counts for nothing towards the temporary resident transition stream. I am confident my new company are willing to sponsor me for the 186 visa but have no qualms about doing 189 off my own back if need be either.
BUT I have been told by immigration that I have to do a skills assessment, even though i hold a valid unrestricted licence I have been working under since July 2011 . I have looked at the TRA website and tried contacting them with no clear instruction as to what to do as none of the assessment scenarios on their website seem to fit my situation.

Does anybody else have experience of this?

old.sparkles

Hi D_Dubz,

I think for a skilled visa you will still need to get your skills assessed by Vetassess or Vic Uni . Think there is a third RTO that can do trade assessments for visa purposes in QLD - Future Skills maybe. At least once you get through the visa process, you still have your license.

D_Dubz

Thanks. This is what I thought. I will contact Vetassess on Monday, as nothing on theirs or TRA's website explains what route to take to get a skills assessment for permanent migration if you already live in Australia.

you would think the licence and 2 years Australian work experience and working for a big national company would actually be more proof of "skills and experience necessary to work in Australia at the trade level for their occupation so they can contribute immediately to the Australian workforce." to put it in their own words!

old.sparkles

I have to say, Vic Uni did my assessment but failed to do a practical so I;ve only just done this so I could get my provisional license. There were 5 others doing it and 3 of those were doing it for the second time, and 2 of those already had licenses. I would guess that at least one failed when I did it, and apparantly quite a few end up doing it more than once.

D_and_h

Hi mate
I am in a similar situation now. I have had my wa license for over a year and sponsored on a 457 for a year however I want to get pr ASAP as I feel it is only going to get harder in the future and didn't want to wait another 12 months before applying. Plus if you see a decent job opportunity in a different division of my company I can't go for it
How did you get in applying for a skilled visa?
How long did it take?
Do you really have to get your skills assessed as I have my full a grade from doing getting the ARTC and ETL course.
Thanks for help

D_Dubz

Hi mate,

I still haven't managed to get round to it due to various personal reasons but have everything in place and it shouldn't take long as my company are willing to sponsor me for PR.

Unfortunately, unless you wait until you have been on your 457 for the same company for 2 years, there is no way round the skills assessment. I have A grade licenses for WA, VIC and NSW now but will still have to do it. The only thing I was told which is slightly more beneficial to me is; I was told if I can prove working under my licence in Australia for at least 2 years they will waive the practical assessment and just give me a technical interview instead.

Good luck

D_and_h

Thanks for reply mate.

No worries, I will just have weigh up whether it's worth it or just wait the two years. I'm not worried about the tests, it's just the blag of having to get everything together to be assessed.

At least they recognise having the license and working as an electrician.

Thanks and good luck with the pr mate

AJCS

Were you able to get your VIC licence under mutual recognition or did you have to do their exams as well?

D_Dubz

I got both NSW and VIC licences under mutual recognition. No exams involved. NSW was a piece of pi$$, VIC did put up a bit of an argument about how the licence was obtained wanting to see transcript of results of my trade licensing course (which CET don't do) but still had it accepted.

AJCS

Thanks I have SA,WA and NT licence. Applied for Vic licence through mutual recognition with SA licence it was originally done through Peer but wouldnt give me it, do you think if I applied with one of the others it would go through?

D_Dubz

Wish I could tell you! I guess you would have to do it with whatever one you got originally and sat exams for.
I showed them my certificate and transcript of results for my nominees contractors licence I held in my previous job in the hope it would give me a bit more credit, not sure if it helped or not, but when the guy phoned me to say they approved it he just made it clear if I wanted to sign off jobs I would have to get a Victoria contractors licence, which I don't need for my job anyway.