LarsGoodall

Hi all, this is my first post, so apologies in advance for any faux pas.

My situation:
I am leaving the Royal Marines in December 2016. My experience is from my time in the military and I have no skills or qualifications to gain points on SOL.

I am 38 years old, I have a wife that is 39 and two kids under 16 years old.

Civilian Qualifications (worthy of note?):
NEBOSH Gen Cert in Occ Health and Safety - H&S advisor is my current role in RM
Prince2 and APMP (completed Feb 2016 - hopefully!)
ILM Management

I have the opportunity to gain extra qualifications, one option is to gain a city and guilds in Air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanic - obviously I will have no experience.

We are all desperate to move to Australia, but hours upon hours of going through various government and agency websites have left us deflated. I refuse to believe that this is it though, there must be a way?

My plan from here:
To visit Australia with my family in Jan 2017 for a month to apply for jobs with a view to getting sponsorship - i.e. winning them over in interviews. We will queue up things at home - letting/estate agents, shipping/storage etc Should it all go well and I get an offer.

Am I kidding myself here, or can anyone suggest a path I can pursue to make our dream a reality?

Arnold21

Hi,

This is my first post too & I totally agree the government website is a nightmare; I am looking to make the move with my son who is 14 and my profession is not on the SOL neither.

I am meeting with some friends at the weekend who went over to Brisbane for a few years but have come back; they are going to point me in the right direction, so if I get any useful info I will be happy to share this.

Good luck - I think we will need it!!!

dfjordan

I dont want to be negative, just realistic. Ignoring what it is that makes living in Australia so attractive to you, it's going to be difficult to apply for jobs, if you have no skills to offer. Remember that like many countries at the moment , Aus is suffering economically, so unskilled/lowskilled work is hard to find. Moving anywhere is expensive, and for example, I dont know if you have thought about housing costs.
My opinion would be to stay where you are. Sorry.

Arnold21

Thanks for your post; the profession I am in within the UK falls within Education and holds a Senior Management position that brings it's own qualifications, skills and experience; the issue is that my profession is not on the SOL list, however all of my skills and experience are transferable.

LarsGoodall

Thanks Arnold21, please do let me know. I know employer sponsorship is an option, its just convincing people that our transferable skills are worth an employer investing in. If I hear anything I'll keep you posted.

LarsGoodall

I appreciate your pragmatic response dfjordan. However, I will try to exhaust all options before I resign myself to defeat.

Arnold21

My friend in Oz has just told me to look on Seek recruitment: SEEK - Australia's no. 1 jobs, employment, career and recruitment site I have been having a look and there are lots of jobs that I feel my skills will meet their criteria. If you have a look as some of the jobs, they give you the links to the company websites. I think there will be lots of 'surfing' on the internet going on.

Like I said in my first post if there is any info, I will pass on.

LarsGoodall

Great! I have just submitted an EOI for a visa here SkillSelect
The visa I have expressed an interest in is the Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 186) (Permanent)
It took a while, not sure if its exactly what I want, but it looks like I am able to approach employers - a bare minimum?
I'm learning as I'm going. Will check that website you've provided - thanks.

teza

Oh dear. Firstly. You need your occupation to be either on SOL or CSOL to be eligible to move to Australia. For CSOL you need either state and/or employer sponsorship. Employer CANNOT sponsor you for any kind of visa without your occupation being on the list.

Secondly you need a valid skills assessment (and IELTS if required) BEFORE you can lodge EOI.

LarsGoodall

I am a Health and Safety Advisor in the military. This IS on the SOL . Unfortunately it states that you need a degree in H&S, which seems like overkill. I also only have 1 years experience. I am hoping to gain more qualifications before my discharge date in Dec 2016 I also hope to convince a prospective employer that my military skills and experience combined with my NEBOSH quals are worth investing in.

msmyrtle

You need to have a sponsor in place before lodging a 186. It's not a system where you put your name in and hope to be picked up.

Teza is correct that you need a skills assessment and English test in hand before you lodge an EOI.

Have you really looked at the requirements set by the skills assessing authority? Some occupations will give you credit for on the job training and experience, maybe H&S is one of them.

With respect it reads as though you are blindly rushing and clicking randomly on links hoping you will get somewhere.

Finally, have you looked at applying to the Australian military? There have been posters in the past that have moved from the UK military to Aus that way. Australian Army Overseas and International Applicants - Defence Jobs Australia

Good luck.

Pollyana

To both of you new guys - please heed the advice you've been given!

And......
You can't submit an EOI wihout a Skills assessment in place.

Even if an employer wants to sponsor you they cannot if your job isn't on the CSOL or SOL - you MUST fall into a category that is on the lists.

Seek is just a job site. The point of truth you should be reading is Australian Government Department of Immigration and Border Protection

garyp

I agree with the above particularly trying to get sponsored by the forces in Australia. I remember reading on here in the past they also fast track your path to citizenship (or they did) as that is a requirement to serve. You can go on and do the H&S in the future once you get your foot in the door.
I did manage to get sponsored for a PR visa a few years ago in my occupation applying online and going to Brisbane for an interview which they also payed for. I believe that may be more difficult these days but don't give up hope, follow your dream.

Pollyana

You still need to have a job that is eligible for sponsorship

For the poster in the Forces, that is definitely the easiest way in.

Bermudashorts

It is a massive mistake to do an EOI before having a positive skills assessment in hand. This would lead to a visa refusal and several thousand pounds down the drain in the end purely on that technicality. So this must lapse, but by sounds of things you are in no position to apply just yet anyway. But do not do another EOI before you have all your ducks lined up, are sure you qualify for a visa and have points and skills assessment in place.

As somebody has mentioned, no employer is going to go looking for EOIs in order to fill roles. Whilst the immigration system talks about occupations in demand, this is a very long term view and truly there are very few shortages.

It sounds like health and safety might be your best bet, it is assessed by Vetassess so you should look to see what they say about qualifications. If vetassess says that a degree is required there is absolutely no way around that. Do you have a degree at all, even in a non relevant occupation? Often with vetassess a non relevant degree with extra work experience can substitute for a degree in a relevant subject.

I suspect you might need to do a few years in the UK before Australia becomes within reach.