Working and living in Australia
 

Hi guys, new to the forum and would like to say hello to everyone. My partner and I are currently looking at moving to Australia. We have spent months looking at how to get there including visa's, saved money etc. What do I need to do, being an electrician, to be able to move to Australia and work/live with my partner? Just looking for someone who has done this and any advice or tips they can give would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks.

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

Hi Jamie and welcome to BE :welcome:

Is your partner Australian? That will affect your visa choices.

Are you planning to work as an electrician? If so, have a look at what is required for a skills assessment as this will be the easiest route to getting licensed here (unless you fancy doing an apprenticeship again). Not cheap though - http://www.vetassess.com.au/skills-a...de-occupations

If young enough, you could head for NSW on a WHV (working holiday visa) and work as an unlicensed spark as an added option.

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

Sorry for the late reply. No she isn't Australian, but she has a very good job in the Emergency Services. I am 24 years old and did my apprenticeship at 16-19 years old. The ins and outs of it all is that we want to move and work in our current professions and start a family in the future, so it would be a permanent move. Thanks for the link, I'll have a look and see what costs are involved.

Many Thanks!!

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

The upside to being a spark is that the occupation is on the SOL so with enough points you do not need sponsorship - Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189).

Only qualified experience counts for points though, and trade qualifications are only worth 10 points, so you may need to sit an English test to have enough points to qualify for the visa.

The downside to being a spark is that you need a license to do electrical work, and you need work to complete the gap training to get a license. With an OTSR (Overseas Technical Skills Record) you can get a supervised workers license which allows you to work under the supervision of another spark, and once you have work you can complete the gap training to get a full license. Not all employers understand the ins and outs of it though. What type of work do you currently do?

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

I have done the online TradeSet to understand how the trades work in Australia. I understand, so whilst working under supervision with another spark, I can do the gap training which will hopefully lead to a full license? I currently work in the solar industry, have done for 4 years, installing and maintaining solar pv systems. Previous work has been domestic, industrial and commercial.

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

With that back ground you should be okay for work I would think.

You need the tradeset report for the skills assessment, as well as your references and qualifications. You should be able to find lots of info on here for the practical assessment and on the Vetassess site for everything else.

With only a few years experience though, I don't think you will make the points for a visa unless you do well in the English test. Have a look at IELTS or one of the other tests available (How can I prove I have superior English? )

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

As Old.Sparkles said the TradeSet report is for the start of your skills assessment leading to the Vetassess route. This is the route i went for my visa and even with 6 years Post Apprenticeship experience i required to do the IELTS Exam to claim the extra points for my visa. If you need any help with anything then give me a shout, and hopefully i can help you out using my experiance with the IELTS and Vetassess route.

Re: Working and living in Australia
 

I had plenty of experience but being older, I also had to do IELTS. somehow though I thought you could only get 8's or better doing the Academic test so I sat that one :lol:

I was also a guinea pig for Vic Uni which did not go so well and had to do a practical after I had the visa to be able to get the supervised license (I passed the assessment with no problem but they took forever and originally gave everyone a technical interview but that has since been resolved)