Instrument technician in England
 

Hello everyone,

Right im looking at moving to Australia in a few years and really dont know where to start as my trade is not on the TRA. I am an instrument technician from London and would like to move to Melbourne or Perth in order to have a new life with my family.

What i am wondering is:
1) How i would get over to australia to begin looking for a career?
2) Is there many instrument technician jobs available - oil rigs, refineries, power stations etc
3) Would i need to do any Australian qualifications even though im fully qualified in this country?

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Re: Instrument technician in England
 

Hi and welcome to BE. This comes up quite often, so the advice here is quite generic -

1. You will need a visa to enter Australia. There are two types essentially, permanent and temporary. If you do not qualify for the permanent one just yet, but have an idea of staying here permanently, you can try a temporary one that will lead to permanent eventually, but you will be accepting a high degree of personal risk.

You mentioned that your occupation is "not on TRA" - assuming you speak of the SOL (skilled occupation list) - that could mean that permanent skilled migration might be out. Going temp in hope that it will be put on the list in a few years is probably the worst idea TBH

You can try to see if your occupation is on some other list, pertaining to the skilled visas - such as ENSOL for employer sponsored permanent visa, or try to see if you may qualify for a Regional sponsored migration scheme (RSMS)

Which leaves employer sponsored temporary visas, but unless you go there with open eyes that it will run out in a few years and you will most likely have to go back home, I would not recommend betting on it.

There are other possibilities, such as Working Holiday 1 year temp visa with work rights if you are under 31 (mostly, to sit things out), Student visas (need to sell a kidney to fund it), or, as a standing joke, marrying an Aussie would put you into the family visa stream that eventually lands you with residency rights

2. try jobseeker.com.au, seek.com.au, mycareer.com.au to see what's out there in the area you are interested in.

3. For tradies, most likely yes, consider the cost of retraining/recertification and potential loss of income and potential reduction of following earning potential.

Re: Instrument technician in England
 

My partner is an Insrtument Technician and we are looking to move to Perth, on the SOL the job is listed as:
Electronic Instrument Trades Worker (General) 342314 Trades Recognition Australia
Electronic Instrument Trades Worker (Special Class) 342315 Trades Recognition Australia

Re: Instrument technician in England
 

Thanks to both of you for your replies. I hope that eventually all the hassle is out the way and i can just get on with my new life in a new country! Until then its back to life in sunny london lol

Re: Instrument technician in England
 

Hi Scott,

We moved to Oz in 2005 and I have been working in Oil and Gas Pipeline Construction for 4 years. Although I'm not an Instrument Tech I know (from looking through jobseeker websites) that there is demand for your trade. If you have hazardous area experience it would probably stand you in better stead. A good oz friend of mine is an Instrument Tech living in Adelaide and FIFO to Qld on a 15/13 roster. He earns around $1200 per day on a contract basis. Not sure what the rates are for metro based jobs though.

I would be surprised if you couldn't secure work in mining/oil and gas (onshore or offshore).

Cheers

Re: Instrument technician in England
 

I did`nt need an Instrument tech qualification to get a job as one. I was a maintenance electrical/instrument tech at a paper mill for 7 years prior to coming out. I was getting nowhere looking for electrical work. Things have picked up since I think. Then out of the blue an agent got me an interview with a major instrument company going on my listed experience, Which they asked me to expand on. Said it would take me 2 years to get up to full speed anyway(product knowledge, etc). Been with them 2 1/2 years now. Good luck.