shane85

Hi, I'm an Irish Electrician looking to emigrate to WA in the new year, I'm finding it very hard to find information on exactly what I need to do to work in my trade in Australia and what visa would be best to apply for, as the situation in Ireland is poor at the moment, I would be looking to get Australian Residency if I could.

I have been recommended to do a course in London for my ''Minimum Australian Context Gap (MACG) Training'' but I am thinking is it really worth it?

- http://australia.downundertradies.com/test-centre/ -

I really dont know what to be doing and any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

derren7

Hi there,
The very first thing you need to do is to make sure you have enough points to be considered for a visa. see the attached document. You need to accumulate 65 points.
You may also want to consult a MARA registered migration agent as initial consultations are usually free and they can tell you from the outset what your chances are.
The next step would be to have your skills assessed by VETASSESS. this involves theoretical and practical assessments at a test centre and costs in excess of £1000.
As for the MACG, I think this course is very expensive at £3000. You can do your gap training in Australia for a fraction of the price in Australia.
For example, in WA ,once your visa has been granted and you move over, you could do a 2 week course at CET in Perth for somewhere around $1300- 1500 which includes all the books you need and admin fees. This equates to around £1000 at current exchange rates.
Regards Derren

derren7

Sorry, forgot to attach document on previous post.

shane85

Cheers Derren, thats the the best help I've had in the last 2 weeks of trying to look into the process, thank you very much, I just have one or 2 questions-

I had a look at the attached document and I am clearing 65 points, does that qualify me for a particular visa or is that minimum requirement for any visa? I've been trying to get in touch with a migration agent in Ireland since last week, she must be a busy woman-

On completion of the VETASSESS assassessment and the Gap training, will I then have an electrical licence or is there more to it?

Thanks again for your help!

shane85

P.S - sorry about the spelling there, don't know what happened

derren7

Hi Shane,
Once you have successfully completed the VETASSESS assessment and done the required gap training then you would get a full licence. Up until recently, in WA , all you had to do was a 2 week course in Perth and then you could apply for a full A grade licence. It appears that the WA licencing authority, Energy Safety, have reviewed their procedures and now require overseas trained sparks to undertake on the job gap training for 12 months.
With regards to the type of visa I'm afraid I'm not particularly au fait with all the different types of visa but I can tell you that you should possibly be looking at obtaining a skilled independent (sub class175),or maybe a state sponsored (sub class 176) if you do need the extra points.
You can check for yourself by using the Australian Govt's visa wizard.
All the best
Regards Derren
PS. There's heaps of info about visas in the immigration, visas and citizenship section of the Australian forum.

Jockstar

I thought Irish sparkies don't need to do the vettasses route? Dont they have to go through the TRA like we used to?

Deyan

Yep, that's correct, I work with an Irish bloke who went through the TRA route.

derren7

Hi guys,
No, not anymore. VETASSESS now assesses more countries and Ireland is one of them. I think it changed earlier this year. See HERE.
Regards Derren