George318

Hi everyone,

I have spent months reading everyones advice and opinions and just want to say a big thank you as its really helped us. We have decided that its now or never and decided to apply for a student visa as our only option to get into Australia.

Having had such great reviews on Brisbane School of Hairdressing I decided to apply for the 2 year course Certificate iii in hairdressing. Having thought we had made a positive step to our future I have received an email from the school saying they no longer offer the two year course due to new legislation, the alternative would be to complete the diploma in salon management for a year as well to be completely honest this wasnt something we had considered.

Just wondered if there was anybody who knew of or had recently applied for a two year course in hairdressing??

Also is there anyone is Oz on the student visas - which courses have you attended were they any good?? My boyfriend may consider doing a course instead but stuck for ideas.

thanks in advance

George

Bushman

www.thisisaustralia.com.au will have the info you need. Give them a call and tell them your situation. They are very good and will help you out. My partner is going to do the Child Care Co-ordinator course at Coolangatta TAFE. Look at Lifetime international in Coolangatta for a bit of info.

Bushman

George318

cheers for that will check it out!!!

trainee_pilot

we came to sunshine coast in Jan this year initially on 2 year student visa as partner was studying hairdressing at SC TAFE. To say this course is a complete con is an understatement, there have been issues with the hairdressing industry not recognising the cert iii being done in 12 months as its virtually impossible to get 240 hours AND the 900 hours experience required while studying at college. The 2nd year course in Salon management should not have been 'sold' to international students so the TAFE has been in trouble with the Authorities. Its been one big mess and the International Students are treated like 2nd class people.

Be very wary of what the TAFE's promise with 'study to PR route' as they will glady take your money and then want very little to do with you.

Thankfully I am on a 457 now (which was our intention from day 1) and the Student Visa was a means of getting into Australia legally, we love it here and have no intention of going back to UK.

Sorry to bring bad news but if you think its going to be easy to get your PR after studying hairdressing for 2 years then you are in for a rude awakening as have the other 8 students on my partners course.

TP

Brockies

OMG we are going to Namsour SC TAFE OH doing brickie course in July 2008 for 2 years with a high probability of PR so we have been told. Do you think its just with hairdressing our every international course in TAFE?

trainee_pilot

Can only speak for Hairdressing at Mooloolaba TAFE and we were told the exact same thing last September when sounding out the possibilities for a student visa. The 240 hours is unpaid and even some students have been unpaid for the 900 hours experience as well. Its been a hard slog for my OH, thankfully money isnt an issue but some of the other students are really struggling to make ends meet. Apparently the cert iii should be a 2 year course and the TAFE's have only recently changed them to 1 year which means its nigh on impossible to get your total hours in within 1 year. If you do somehow manage to get your hours in they will most likely be unpaid so dont rely on earning anything while your on a student visa.

I wish you luck and pm me if you want more info but like I said before, we love it here and would have done anything to get in, once you're here then its a damn sight easier to stay lol

TP

George318

TP,

Thanks for the advice.
I think like many we are going to have to go down the student visa route as a means to enter Oz but maybe on a different course.
Like you say I think its the entering the country which seems to be the longest and most time consuming aspect. I know we have to be realistic but we have made the decision and if we go to Brisbane and I complete the course after two years then have to come home at least we will have tried and no more of the what ifs.

Glad everything worked out well for you in the end!

thanks again

George

pumpkin blossom

I have noticed this with agents too, they will try to send you on any old course saying it will get you in. The agent mentioned above told us we could go out on a child care course and then get in as a child care coordinator. Another told us the same, but another told us no it that job titel is not exempt from the work experiance and needed 3 years as a supurvisor, not just working in a child care place.
I contacted TRA as they are the ones who should know for sure who said no, you need 3 years experiance as a suporvisor as well as the two year course.
Neither of the two agents who had been phoning me and e-mailing me ever got back to me at all once I told then what the TRA had said. Feel free to draw your own conclusions to that.

timprncpl

Hi George

I am the principal of a private hairdressing college in Brisbane.

There is an alternate hairdressing option to the combined Certificate III and Diploma you have mentioned, namely a Certificate II and Certificate III combined.

The difficulty for Australian training providers (public TAFE or private providers) is that offerings to international students must not differ from those made to domestic students. Accordingly training providers attempt to be creative to assist prospective international students meet both the domestic requirements AND the (normally 2 year full time) study requirements for international student visas!

I am able to arrange further information to be sent to you, should you wish.

Tim Isaacs
Principal
Wynne-Hoelscher Academy
CRICOS Provider Code 02768B
[email protected]

George318

Hi Tim

thank you so much for your response. I did look at your school I requested some information on the courses you offer via email think to a guy called Rob a few days ago but as of yet are yet to receive anything. If you could sent me the details that would be great.
Do you have many international students attend your college?

I look forward to hearing from you soon thank you once again

George

balkanghost

In fact the private colleges know more than TAFE as they are private versus govt., and have better industry links.

Be very careful of TAFEs offering PR advice, it is illegal and they often give wrong advice. In case of SC TAFE their previous marketing person crossed the line in this respect....left to work for partner......coincidentally a migration and education agent.....conflict of interest...state sector doe snot understand.....

Will have list up soon of colleges doing trades etc. in each state http://www.aiec.biz for now Vic or QLD have most options.

Michang

Like in most cases the people with negative experiences are the loudest. I'm not saying that you should ignore those (I certainly don't) but I have also heard of people who went to the hairdressing course at TAFE in the Sunshine Coast and they were positive about it. I also hear stories that people do the hairdresser course purely to get into Oz and find it difficult to fisnish the course or get the 900 hours in. This is not a light choice to make. If you decide to do a hairdressing course you should do this first and foremost because you want to do hairdressing, it will be very hard to complete the course and the 900 hours of experience if you are not motivated to your assignment.
My wife intends to do a hairdressing course next year too, she is motivated to learn the trade but we are not sure yet which education provider to use yet. We will be on holidays later this year in Australia and we will visit the instances (TAFE, Brishair and WHA) as a part of our selection process.
I will be going back to university to become an accountant so we will both be students in Oz. Exciting but scary...

trainee_pilot

My OH was motivated to learn a new trade which happened to be hairdressing and suited our goal of 'getting into oz'. This is a break down of what she has had to do so far this year.

Attending the lessons (3 days a week 9-5)
Complete the course work (evenings/weekends at home)
Complete 240 hours experience (1 day a week for 8 hours - unpaid)

Then there is the 2nd year! Depending on which course she does either 4 full days at college or 5 full days, of which she'll have to to gain another 140 hours experience as well as completing 900 hours experience for both aspects of the course.

Oh and to top that, during term time she is restricted to 20 hours a week for work, paid or not!

FInally, she has been told that until she has done all this she will then have to work in the hairdressing trade for 12 months before PR can be applied for! So the 2 year PR route that many places advertise is not strictly true as this will, in effect, be 3 years.

If this comes across as being negative, then so be it (we are not bitter as it has improved our lifestyle no-end) but IMHO, the more information there is on here to help people prepare for their new life the better.

TP

Michang

I fully appreciate your input and I also think it of highly valuable for us as we are about to embark on a similar journey so thank you for your critical notes.

It does seem like hard work, but why are you doing the second year? For PR purposes the assessment rules are that one needs to obtain an appropriate trade certificate and have 900 hours of relevant experience, which does not need to be after gaining the certificate as long as it is relevant.

Did you or your wife speak to any people who attended the other hairdressing schools (Brishair or WHA) in Brisbane? I'm curious about experiences from these people too.

pumpkin blossom

You can't get the Skilled – Graduate (Temporary) visa (subclass 485)
without having two years study in Australia http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener.../485/index.htm
Even if you could fit the 900 hours work experiance into your years course (which the TRA web site says should be after completeing the course, although some people have been told their course is ok) then you would have to leave Australia and apply for the normal skilled visa which can take a year.

Michang, can you show me anywhere where it says the work experiance just has to be reliavant, as that would certainly be far more useful to me.

trainee_pilot has your wife been told that she needs to work for an extra year to get extra points, as a few people seem to have been told that, but unless it is for extra points, it doesn't seem to add up to what immigration say.

Thanks