i feel like im going nuts
 

hello all
im so not getting anywhere at the moment , we signed up with gomatilda to help with our situation , i am a electrical maintenance technician in the industry working with robots, plcs etc , could nt get the tra as did not have 900 hours college, want to apply for vetassess as general electrician but the person who is dealing with us from go matilda has sent this email

i have done a little work domestic once for a friend , but not work side of things , do you think it is worth trying the vetasses route. this is our only chance of getting over there,
any help or advice needed

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

forgot to say i have over 10 years work experinence in this area.
on the vetassess initail assement it does say industrial would they just test me on this than rather testing me on something i have little knowledge about

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

I would have thought they would do the same test for everybody. I spoke to somebody who has done the practical in December, he was tested on wiring up a DOL motor starter, wiring up 2 way lighting circuit, some testing, install some plastic conduit from consumer unit to various points also safe isolation procedures among other various domestic items. Please feel free to ask any questions, I am doing my practical in April and will post what I did. The person I spoke to also said that there may be changes to the April assessment, so we will have to see. I can't say whether you should go for it or not. Hope this helps a bit. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hi Markzoesean,

We thought we would have the same problem, my hubby is qualified as an electrician but didn't have domestic experience, we wondered if they would class his experience as relevant. We applied to Vetassess and he passed the paper based assessment, we're just waiting for the practical now. We didn't use an agent.

Hope this helps you.

Mel:)

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hi,

I've read a couple of other threads and notice that you've gone for the Vetassess, just wondered how it's going!!

Mel:D

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

hello

we passed the vetassess paper base it was optional but still a pass , it was because we didnt write enough detail on some of marks work experince.
defo not going with go matilda for the visa doing it ourselves just a bad experince with them with the vetassess paper base , we were told to delete quite alot of electrical experince out of ref but any way not go into that ..
vetassess have took payment for practical in october but have not heard anything yet, where did you stay when you went to london ? does anyone know which college it is .
cant wait to get out there and start a new life in a better country
speak soon
zoe x

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

hi mark, i work with plc's (although i'm a qual sparks) but once you do your vetassess assessment they ask you to select from a list of "electrical occupations" i got a certificate III in electrotechnology.

i thought the paper pre-assessment was tough, so if youve nailed that, crack on (its a lot of dough though:mad:)

so its prob worth it. i have an unqualified friend and he was successfull and is currently working in brisbane.

our agent are ASA, not the cheapest, but theyve been fantastic. represented 3 of my friends successfully in the last 18 months, all now with pr status.:D

the college i had the practical was willsden (near wembly on the nth circular)

hope that helps

D

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hi, sorry for not replying sooner!!

I'm sure he'll be fine. there's so much info on these threads about the day and what happens, so it gives him a chance to brush up a little!!
We didn't use an agent and we we fine filling in the online application and attaching docs - at least you get to hear first!!!

It took a while for us to get our date, it was only about two or three weeks before the assessment, then the date we had obtained from someone else )at an expo) wasn't right so I would advise you to wait for the letter confirming the date even if you ring them to find out whats happening. My OH stayed at the Bridge Park Hotel - just average but cheap and within walking distance - it the college in Willesden, there's not many hotels in the immediate vicinity!

We're just waiting for things to start happening with our visa now!!

Good luck, I'm sure you'll get confirmation soon, just hold in there!

Mel:D

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Zoe,

I understand that my colleague Stephen Dickson has been in contact with Mark, and has explained what appears to be a misunderstanding on your part.

As you know, I am also here if you have any concerns.

Best regards.

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

hello all again a quick question, i am considering moving back to the uk as the tra are screwing me around something rotten,is the vettass or whatever you call it recognised by the tra as a artc

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hopefully someone else can help out here but the Vetassess route has been set up instead of the TRA. It changed in September last year and people are still trying to figure out the in's and out's of it. Docgp on this forum has been really looking into this, so you may find some more hope on one of the other sparkie threads - you may need to go back a few months as he looked into it around May/June time.

Hope that's some help, really sorry to hear that you're considering moving back to the UK - are you sure you want this rain!! - Yes, it's raining again!!

Mel:D

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

just a quick question, why did you need 900hrs at college? didn't you do an apprenticeship?
i served my time as a maintenance electrician, went to college one day a week for the first two years (apprenticeship was for four years total) which is no where near 900hrs. i went through tra as an electrician special class no probs.

lee.

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hello All,

Vetessess is for anyone wishing to emigrate to Australia as a tradesman, this is for immigration purposes and it assess your talents for your trade, if you are succesful you will be given an OST Cert, which in return you can exchange for a training licence in the state of your choice

ARTC is for any overseas person already resident in Australia, wishing to have their trade talents recognised, if your an electrician you will recieve either FITTER or MECHANIC, then you can apply for a training licence in which ever state you wish to work in.

TRA is the establishment under which both these systems work, now it gets complicated, because you can choose different way to attack any problems you have with gaining your licence, may i sugguest that you spend a couple of hours picking through the threads here, it will give you an insite for what is required, it may help you to write another thread listing the problems you are having, maybe someone on here as already gone through it and can give you a way ahead,

Hope this may clear a few things up for you

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

Hi ozoz, Vetassess replaced the TRA route for general electricians wishing to immigrate back in September 2007. You apply to vetassess and have a paper assessment, if that is successful you then move onto the practical part which is carried out by a Tafe assessor over here. Once you are successful with this you get an OTSR (Offshore Trade Skills Recognition) and this allows you to apply for a supervised licence straight away.

I think then that you will need to apply to a Tafe college to get up to speed with the Oz regs and way of doing things. This involves time, money and an exam or two. Once you have successfully passed this you then can apply for the A licence which allows you to work unsupervised.

This is the theory anyway, and as Melbert says no one is really sure how this all works. Because the process is so new I don't think many people have got to the end of the process yet. They may be out there but I haven't seen any posts on BE which completes the process for us.

I'm not sure if you would be able to do this though as you are in Oz.

Hope this helps a little..... Have you considered finding other work not in the sparky field? Don't wish to be condescending or anything but do you know that you are not restricted to just sparky work so in theory you could do anything! :D

Best of luck with what ever you decide.

Re: i feel like im going nuts
 

dont think vetassess do all trades, the route i went is still through tra. they did take over for the general electrician though.:thumbup: