Help and advice needed
 

Hi All

My wife and I are considering moving to Australia, New Zealand or America we have not made up our mind yet

I would like to hear from people that have already moved, about how they are finding life, culture, work, house prices and what the reception is for British ex pats etc etc. I would also like to pick the brains of people that have experience to check that our qualifications are acceptable for points with or without jobs in advance.

My wife has a general nurse diploma from the Tashkent City Medical
College completed in 1979 (this was when Uzbekistan was part of the
Soviet Union). She also has a Beautician Therapist diploma from the UK.

I have a commercial air divers certificate HSE parts 1,3 & 4 as well
as an HSE divers medic certificate. I have been working as a website
manager and will be taking the following courses that I hope to
complete at the end of the year :-

A+ Hardware Operating System Certification

Network+
Server+
Security
Cisco CCNA 640-801
Cisco CCNA
Cisco CCNP BSCI 642-801
Cisco Certified Design Associate
Cisco BCMSN 642-811
Cisco BCRAN 642-821
Cisco CIT 642-831

General IT

C Programming
CISSP Security Professional
Client/Server
Data Warehousing
FOCUS
LANs
Linux LPIC 101
Networking for Technical Users
Notes 5 Programming
Novell 560 CNE
Novell 570 CNE Advanced Administration
Object-Oriented Analysis Design
OOP Using C++
Oracle
Oracle8
Oracle9i Database Fundamentals 1Z0-031
Oracle9i SQL 1Z0-007
PowerBuilder 5

I will also be taking the Open University Foundation Degree in
Information and Communication Technologies, though this is unlikely to
be completed before I make my visa application.

If anyone has any other little tit bits or advice / recommendations I would be grateful.

Best regards

Rod

Re: Help and advice needed
 

What have you and your wife been working as in the last few years? (you say you are a website manager, but since when?) Are her nursing qualifications recognised in the UK?

Also, is your wife now a British citizen?

Re: Help and advice needed
 

Hi

Thanks for replying so quickly.

She is now a UK citizen and I do have an aunt and uncle in Queensland. for the last 3 years she has been doing beauty therapy work, but before that she was working in the dermetology department in Tashkent. As for me, I have been working on an e-commerce site for 3 years, from initiating design, research etc etc (not the coding side of it I might add, I left that to the proffessionals !!) as far as the other IT stuff I have been doing that on and off for years though formally for 2 years and I am aiming to get my formal qualifications this year, I was hoping that would get me work and of course the visa.

I was also wondering about how people have found Australia, I understand people have different experiences, but generally you will get a feeling about the availability of work, the reception Brits get when they move there, the lifestyle (the last one is a bit of a no brainer it just couldnt be worse than the UK now !) where are the best places to live etc etc...

Cheers

Rod

Re: Help and advice needed
 

For the lifestyle stuff you need to browse through the main Aus forum here -
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54

Re: Help and advice needed
 

Hi Rod,

Not sure those courses will help you with migration to Australia - however if you've got some other qualification that might assist. The trick is to obtain a skills assessment in an occupation on the skilled occupation list - form 1121i at www.immi.gov.au - and also have recent work experience in a skilled occupation (and not necessarily the same occupation).

I would say, though, that your comment that you left the coding of websites "to the professionals" more or less proves that you won't be acceptable to ACS since as a minimum they would want you to show six years of experience as a professional. What you're doing might be in another occupation on the skilled occupation list, however; and your relatives may be able to sponsor you for one of the relevant visas, so I hope it goes well.


Cheers,

George Lombard