WXGIRL

Hi I am hoping that someone can help us

We are over on a PR State Sponsored visa in QLD my husband is a electrician & he came through the Vetassess route. On arriving in QLD we made a appointment straight away with our local Tafe to sort out his course. At the meeting we was told that he can't start the course without a job in the trade, but after nearly a year of applying for jobs we have found that no employers are prepared to take my husband on without his licence!!.....So, we are stuck in this loop with nowhere to go.....Need a licence to get a job & can't start the course to get the licence without the job!!!! Plus my husband didn't serve a apprenticeship, but went to night college to obtain his qualifications, so he can't go down the TRA route.......We would be SO GRATEFUL if someone could give us some advice....Thanks

Pollyana

I'll move your post into the Electricians forum - lots of guys in there who have been through this kind of thing so someone should be able to help

steve`o

sorry but i want some info




you must have a vettesess certificate so you must have satisfied their criteria as an electrician so why carnt you get an artc from the tra?


excert from the tra regarding an artc application

Electrical Trades
The person must be at least 19 years of age and have:
1. completed successfully an apprenticeship, or equivalent traineeship, including successful completion of appropriate formal training(3), in the electrical trades and, if necessary, had a period of employment experience on work ordinarily performed by a tradesperson in that classification(2) which, together with the period of apprenticeship, totals not less than 4 years; or
83
2. completed the training program for an electrical craftsman prescribed by any Industry Training Board approved by the Central Trades Committee, including successful completion of appropriate formal training(3), received the Craftsman's Certificate and had a period of employment experience on work ordinarily performed by a tradesperson in that classification(2) which, together with the period of training, totals not less than 4 years; or
3. been a regular serviceperson and reached the standard contained in the agreement between the Service and relevant Union for recognition as a skilled electrical tradesperson; or
4. according to the guidelines adopted from time to time by Central Trades Committees, satisfied a Skills Assessor who is an electrical tradesperson, or a non‐electrical Skills Assessor on the advice of a qualified electrical tradesperson, that the person:
(a) has been employed for not less than 7 years on work ordinarily performed by an electrical tradesperson in that classification(2); and,
(b) is capable of performing the work of that classification in Australia.
Endnotes
(1) An apprenticeship in the engineering trades is to be interpreted as including any period of fulltime schooling after the age of 16 which is specified on a deed of Apprenticeship or Certificate of Completion of Training or other documentary evidence as part of an Apprenticeship of 4 years duration under the provisions of the agreement between the Engineering Employers Federation and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Union.
(2) Any period of formal training in a Government Training Centre and any subsequent in‐plant training or improvership shall be taken into account in reckoning the period of employment for the purpose of this paragraph.
(3) (a) The appropriate formal training is the level 2 certificate from the City and Guilds of London Institute, or equivalent.
(b) Applicants who have not completed appropriate formal training are required to satisfy a Skills Assessor that they are capable of performing the work of that classification in Australia


http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Progr...eriaManual.pdf
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Progr...Pages/faq.aspx



the reason i`m pointing you this way is that with an artc as an electrical mechanic you can enrol in distance learing with peer in SA thisroute would give you a SAelectical workers licence without having to do the permit to train log book etc etc here in QLD

http://peer.com.au/Training/Overseas...1/Default.aspx



regards steve


PS where aboouts in QLD are you?

WXGIRL

Hi Steve thank you for your reply

OH was issued a 'Off shore technical skills record' by vetasses whilst in the UK, which means he can apply for his Provisional Licence, we have found so far that this means nothing here! We are in Townsville & have been told by our Tafe that he can't start the course which will lead to his licence until he has a job in the trade & employers aren't prepared to take him on with only the provisional licence

We are finding the whole situation very confusing!

So from what I have read does the fact the my OH didn't do a apprenticeship & he worked in the field for 3 1/2 years that doesn't stop him?

We REALLY appreciate your help.....Thank you

steve`o

was that 3.5 years including the training or after he was qualified ?
if it includes it i think your going to be stuffed getting an artc if it was after he had become qualified then you`d be adding the whatever he did at night school as "formal training"
so for example if it took three years i`d say he has 6.5 years experiance inc formal training getting him over the 4 year minimum for a formally trained spark ( dosnt have to be an appretiship as long as it was a proper formal qualification ie city and guilds at your local tech )

Huggkat

Hi,

Probably not going to be much help but this is exactly the situation we faced when we moved out here last year (and hubby had 18 years experience). Eventually, it was a friend of a friend who kindly set my hubby on as a casual worker so he could go to TAFE over the next 6 months to get his licence. It then took him 4 months after getting his full licence to get a permanent job (he applied for over 50 jobs during the whole time, got 1 interview and luckily got that job).

It is extremely depressing/annoying but unfortunately it seems to be the reality here. I would suggest that if your OH doesn't have any friends in the trade, the best route may be the PEER course that Steve'O was talking about (sorry, don't know the ins and outs of that).

As for the OTSR - my hubby got this also and used it to get his ARTC so it may depend on what you are classing as his years of experience.

Kat

WXGIRL

Hi Steve

OH done 3 years night college - City & Guilds qualification & then 3 years experience working for a company - making it a total of 6 years.....Is this going to be ok? Am so sorry for all the questions

Thanks again for your help

WXGIRL

Hi Kat

Thank you so much for your advice. Yes it is extremely depressing / distressing & annoying. Unfortunately, we don't know many people out here at all & none of them are in the electrical trade. We are hoping that the PEER course is something that we can do

Huggkat

Keep your chin up and stick with it - my hubby nearly turned around and went back to the UK when all this was happening (he even enquired about getting his old job back without telling me!). But it all worked out in the end and he's now loving the job he's in.

We've now been here for nearly 18 months and are currently buying some land and building a house so we now feel more settled.

If you want someone just to air your frustrations to then feel free to PM me at any time.

Kat

steve`o

replied via PM / Email

regards steve

WXGIRL

Hi Steve thanks for that

WXGIRL

Hi Kat thank you so much for that

It is frustrating seeing as OH ticked all the boxes, sitting vetassess exam etc before arriving here & now it seems like we are stuck with OH not being able to do what he is qualified in!

We just don't want to give up! & I think that if we keep trying we WILL get there in the end......It's just the in between bit which is hard

Jockstar

Doesn't really help. But I have lived in a few states and travelled years ago. NSW is by far the easiest place to get work if unlicenced. But is also one of the more expensive(Sydney) to live.

SparkyUK

I landed in Melbourne 5 weeks ago and have my "L" grade licience already. After a few days messing around with Atrc and tra, i thought sod it and went straight to vetassess them selfs. They put me right i just had to take my english certs and my vetassess stuff down to energy safe victoria, they gave me the "L" licience (about 1-2 weeks by post). They gave me a booklet on where to go and who to present my stuff to to get my licience. If you drop me a pm on where you are i will send you the relevent offices adressess, phone numbers etc. I never had to go through the atrc and tra routes.

Well admission time ........ i was woking within 2 weeks of landing but the job is installing the new "smart meters", so all you people can shoot me down for doing that now . But a job is a job until i get me "A"grade.

SparkyUK

Just had a thought, I posted some stuff on the vetassess test day in england. This weekend i will write another essay on what to do when people get here, but will only what i had to do. Hopefully that will help.