DavidD93

Not too sure exactly what my question is but more of if Australia is viable for me and my girlfriend to move there or is it just a dream?

Current situation is me who is 26 and currently working as an Electrical maintenance engineer for a FMCG company in the North of England making 55k a year and renting an apartment in Sheffield, currently have a level 3 in Electrical engineering and the same NVQ to match, also have my 18th edition but I do not do any house wiring. My girlfriend who is now 23 has just graduated university where she studied social work. She works as a supervisor in boots while she currently finds a career she wants to pursuit. We have been talking about moving to Australia for a few years now but now it has come down to it and with proper research I just didn’t quite grasp just how expensive the process for an Electrician to move is and get the right certs, we both have combined a good lump of money saved up (around 80k), I have no issue in spending the money do complete my license and pay the visa fees which we have been looking at a skilled visa, but I just don’t want to get out there and be left with so much uncertainty for example the 1 year of training as an apprentice and not being able to find a company to take me on or the wage being so low we just burn through our savings on living costs. Is anybody else been in a similar situation and can shed some light on the potential worries we both have and whether or not it is worth moving. Also we are looking to move to QLD and preferably Brisbane as we like being close to the city as we are both young but also not too far from some nice beaches. So basically the question is the process as daunting as some of the websites make out? Am I qualified enough to move out of there and achieve an Electrical license?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

David

moneypenny20

Have you ever been to Australia? Before you consider looking at visas and transferring skills etc I would get yourselves a WHV and come over and travel around the country doing any work you can to finance your trip, Actually live the life, not holiday. If you still feel Australia is where you both want to be, go home and plan the move. I love it here, millions love it here. Many many others do not. People say they love the heat and want to get away from the cold and damp of Britain. Get here and find they can't cope with the heat, and dream of being cold. That's one example, there are a million and one others. There's an old saying we don't use very often any more - same shit, shinier bucket. It's simplistic but honest.

I don't want to put you off, it's your dream and it could be the best thing you ever did. However it might not and you need on the ground experience without spending your life savings. I'll shift this over to the Immi forum where experts can help you with the ins and outs of getting visas. You might also want to check out the Electricians Forum - stacks of useful info there.

Good luck.

DavidD93

Thank you very much for your reply, I suppose your right about actually going over on a WHV and trying it out, worst thing I have to lose is my job. I suppose due to us traveling a lot we automatically assume we will love it out of there but like you say there are plenty of people who hate it. Thanks again!

quoll

You're on twice the national average wage at 26 and you're thinking of chucking it in to live in Australia? Blimey.

DavidD93

Do you think this is a stupid idea?

BuckinghamshireBoy

Well, I don't.

But best go have a looksee for yourselves.

verystormy

Amazulu

Go for it - you're young enough and have time on your hands to see if Australia would be for you. If you're earning good money now, then that could be the case in the future. Plenty of people have chucked something in and gone on to bigger and better things - on the other hand the opposite has happening, but you'll never know if you don't try. Australia is a great place to live and industrial sparkies with a skill set in controls and automation are in demand (unlike roof ratting house wirers who are 10 a penny and are churned out in Australia and the UK like sausage meat). Ultimately, do what you want to do and not what some other f**ker thinks you should do

Good luck!

quoll

Yup, just take those lovely long holidays that you get in UK but dont in Aus. One first world country is very much like any other, there's nothing magical about it.

Paul Hand

Nope - live the life you want ... money is not everything.

Amazulu

pleccy2000

Not at all.

BEVS

Can you take a sabbatical from your employment or at least think to take a year or two from employment. ?

If so, why don't you both consider a Working Holiday visa. Perhaps one for Oz and one for New Zealand or Canada.

That way you get to experience a country a little bit whilst travelling around. It also allows you to do a little work to help fund the time away.

Sometimes when you have a yearning it is best to scratch that a little bit and one of the safest and best ways is to spend a little time away.
Sometimes that confirms the yearning and sometimes it confirms that the best place is the land you are already on.

ozzieeagle

Have you got the balls to back and indeed stretch yourself is the question

If you've got talent in the UK it will be more than recognised here. Maybe even more so, as the wages you quoted are closer to the average wage in Aus than the double it seems to be in the UK..... As the below link will show.

Be prepared to go with the flow. My Youngest Daughter trained as a Electrical Engineer, aged 25, She's now one of the Youngest Customer Success Managers in the country with a major IT company in the POS IT industry, on ridiculous wages. The changed of direction came from the time she worked part time to fund her university education.

https://www.livingin-australia.com/salaries-australia/