I am living and from Ireland and i am looking to move to oz with my wife and two kids we are 32 and 31, kids are 5 and 1, preferably Brisbane, i am in the construction trade, fibrous plasterer is what its recognized as in oz, the only problem is i have no papers but i have all the experience, i have been self-employed for the last 8 years, but the last 2 have been very quite, i have had 20 men work for me at the one time, as well as subbies, from doing a bit of research i have found that i will need a skilled visa which takes 12-18 months and this is according to visa first, they have told me i will need to do a skill assessment and the total cost is about 7500 which is a lot.
I am wondering would it be best to head to oz on my own first on a 3month HV and see if i can get an employer to sponsor me?, my wife has an uncle living near Brisbane and he is there for the last 30 years, i don't really know what to do, all i do know is i need to get out of here because its a big struggle atm.
Any help and advice is appreciated.

Hello and welcome to the mad house I am from Ireland too (Dublin) I also am using Visa First and have paid them 5.500 euro including ss fee just wondering how yours is so much more than mine. I have my wife and 3 kids on our application. We applied Feb 09 and are waiting like everybody else for the new smp's to come out I think your relation sounds like a good route to take im sure you will get some good advice on here the guys here have helped me out lots before good luck

Not sure if you mean in euros but firstly 7,500 sounds like a lot for skills assessment in any currency so shop around if you are using an agent. Sometimes it seems like tradies skills assessments are the hardest so using an agent seems like a sensible idea especially with your paperwork issue.

You also need to be clear what occupation you are applying under and what schedule of the SOL it is on, unless it is on schedule 3 you will need state sponsorship as well.

You are too old for a WHV so that is not an option.

Also just a general note, but emmigrating because you are trying to escape something in the UK, doesn't always turn out well and you should also spend some time thinking about what Australia can offer not just waht you want to escape.

Brisbane wouldn't be much better than Ireland for trades right now.