rainyandtom

Hi all we fly out to NZ in Oct 2010!! with no job offer and wanted to go straight to a college and do the NZ part.

Does anyone know the best college/training provider(as in quickest/cheapest)

And the dates? or just a link to the website would be so helpful. theres too much choice on the web and someone who has been there and done that will be able to point us in the right direction.

do you know if the exams are done at EWRB or at the training centre?

Thankyou so much in advance this will help us out alot

ta
Rainy, Tom and little Lilahni x

Jockstar

Not sure about how you go about getting the full licence. But back in 99 i done a firts aid course and with my qualifications i was given a provisionial licence.

gavin1

Hi,
you have to do a few different things to gain registration. Firstly you need to do a course on safe work practices, first aid et., this takes an afternoon and you can do it here or i believ in the uk also, think it runs regularly, ie every week where we are in taranaki. You will need to get your skills assesed by ewrb and they need detailed references from former employers, this is very important they are really fussy about the details needed, i had to try get them from nz by badgering former employers in the uk from here so it is best to get it organised from uk. Look on ewrb website it will tell you how much you need to prove (think its 8000hrs/4 years). If you did your technical certs in uk you submit copies to ewrb with work experience letters and that should get you exempt from the theory exams and coursework. They should then offer you a provisional licence, which means you can work in nz under supervision, until you complete your full registration.... Which is your regulations exam (which i took 4 weeks ago, just waiting for results!!) You can do the exam in june or novemvber at various colleges around nz, they also offer a week course beforehand to get you ready for the exam. the exam is 120nzd or the course and exam is around 600. You can get past papers on ewrb website to practice beforehand. After this you pay the fee for registration which is 103nzd then 92nzd for a years licence and you are away!!!
Bear in mind though I have been here for 2 years on whorking hol visa/ now got residency and have only now started sorting out my electrical licence. I worked under the employers licence and have never had a problem finding work, though i believe they may be in the process of changing it, it is better to get your licence sorted as you get a better rate of pay anyhow. Anyway hope this helps a little, cheers.

gavin1

forgot to say you may have to do stage 3 practical assesment aswell depending on what ewrb say, i did mine in wellington at weltec, it costs 580 and runs june and november also, you just have to be pretty onto it with your testing as that is what they are most concerned about but any qualified sparks shouldnt have any problems with it.