it contracting in OZ

Old Jul 16th 2006, 11:19 am
  #1  
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Default it contracting in OZ

Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and recently got granted a 309 visa. I'm a network security specialist by trade, mainly checkpoint firewall1, but also pix, loadbalancing, routing switching, etc etc with around 6 years experience. I also hold ccsa/ccse/ccna/cissp.

I was wondering if anybody could tell me the pro/cons of contracting in Australia - as I am on a temporary visa this seems to be the logical way to go. I've tried to find out how the tax situation / IR35 works over there on the web but haven't had much luck so far. The most likely place I'll end up is Melbourne, but I haven't ruled out any of the other big cities. Do they have umbrella companies in the same way as the uk? and will my type of visa put employers off?

Any tips appreciated,

Thanks

Paul
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Old Jul 19th 2006, 10:14 am
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

I'm in a similar situation, in the UK I contract myself out from my own company and had intended to try something similar in Oz. But in all honesty I haven't yet found out how contracting in Oz works at all yet, so I'll be interested to see what this thread uncovers!

Cheers,
Ed
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Old Aug 2nd 2006, 11:05 pm
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Hi Paul,

We arrived in the Melbourne area just over a month now. I was a contractor for many years in the UK too. First thing is forget any advice given to you about companies sponsoring you...complete crap. The Aussies are lazy bastards and can't be arsed with it, plus they have to stand you and your family's air fairs home if it goes tits up! Hence they won't entertain it. Some big players like Telstra may and I'm told IBM will, but don't hold your breath.

There are a lot of people out there looking for work, many of them Brits, so the whole process is agonisingly slow and the Aussie agencies are useless. You MUST keep pestering them. You'll also find a bit of 'bigetry' from some employers too.

There are many different agencies all running the same jobs, so you'll probably see a job replicated elsewhere. The employers are VERY picky and seem happy to wait for a better match rather than do any on the job training.

The good news is that there is a lot of work around, but getting infront of an employer is not easy. The other good news is that most if not all of the agencies are close to eachother on Collins St, Queens St and Bourke St which is a 5 min walk from Flinders St station. (Don't expect Virgin trains by the way. Be prepared to interlock knees with the scrote sitting opposite in rush hour).

I'm setting up my own PTY, (Ltd), company which is costing $1800. Most of that goes on legal fees I'm told. Getting tax file numbers is easy to do and you'll need one for this. Any accountant will sort this out for you.

Get your driving licence ASAP as many places demand ID and the DL is the best means. If you're from the UK, go to the local VicRoads office and make an appointment to fill out the necessary forms and they'll give you a DL on the appointment. They'll put a hole in your UK DL that voids it. You have a choice of a 3 yr or 10 yr Aussie licence - we went for a 10 year that costs $160.

Don't bother with perm jobs if you haven't got perm res - you're back into the sponsoring loop again - just contract until you get perm res then you can swap if you want to.

You'll also need to look at Super Annuation funds that are like pensions but don't seem to some fat bastard Maxwell figure using your cash for his own ends behind it all. There are loads to chose from. We bank with the Commonwealth Bank and they give you a free consultation, but sell a variety, not just their own. You accountant can advise on this too.

So, after a bit of leg work, the mechanics are pretty easy. Getting a contract is a little harder dependent on your expectations/budgets/experience etc. Be prepared to do something else in the mean time before the right job comes along.

Hope this helps,

Andy




Originally Posted by paul_s
Hello All,

I'm new to this forum and recently got granted a 309 visa. I'm a network security specialist by trade, mainly checkpoint firewall1, but also pix, loadbalancing, routing switching, etc etc with around 6 years experience. I also hold ccsa/ccse/ccna/cissp.

I was wondering if anybody could tell me the pro/cons of contracting in Australia - as I am on a temporary visa this seems to be the logical way to go. I've tried to find out how the tax situation / IR35 works over there on the web but haven't had much luck so far. The most likely place I'll end up is Melbourne, but I haven't ruled out any of the other big cities. Do they have umbrella companies in the same way as the uk? and will my type of visa put employers off?

Any tips appreciated,

Thanks

Paul
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 5:26 pm
  #4  
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Originally Posted by andy bentley
Hi Paul,

We arrived in the Melbourne area just over a month now. I was a contractor for many years in the UK too. First thing is forget any advice given to you about companies sponsoring you...complete crap. The Aussies are lazy bastards and can't be arsed with it, plus they have to stand you and your family's air fairs home if it goes tits up! Hence they won't entertain it. Some big players like Telstra may and I'm told IBM will, but don't hold your breath.

There are a lot of people out there looking for work, many of them Brits, so the whole process is agonisingly slow and the Aussie agencies are useless. You MUST keep pestering them. You'll also find a bit of 'bigetry' from some employers too.

There are many different agencies all running the same jobs, so you'll probably see a job replicated elsewhere. The employers are VERY picky and seem happy to wait for a better match rather than do any on the job training.

The good news is that there is a lot of work around, but getting infront of an employer is not easy. The other good news is that most if not all of the agencies are close to eachother on Collins St, Queens St and Bourke St which is a 5 min walk from Flinders St station. (Don't expect Virgin trains by the way. Be prepared to interlock knees with the scrote sitting opposite in rush hour).

I'm setting up my own PTY, (Ltd), company which is costing $1800. Most of that goes on legal fees I'm told. Getting tax file numbers is easy to do and you'll need one for this. Any accountant will sort this out for you.

Get your driving licence ASAP as many places demand ID and the DL is the best means. If you're from the UK, go to the local VicRoads office and make an appointment to fill out the necessary forms and they'll give you a DL on the appointment. They'll put a hole in your UK DL that voids it. You have a choice of a 3 yr or 10 yr Aussie licence - we went for a 10 year that costs $160.

Don't bother with perm jobs if you haven't got perm res - you're back into the sponsoring loop again - just contract until you get perm res then you can swap if you want to.

You'll also need to look at Super Annuation funds that are like pensions but don't seem to some fat bastard Maxwell figure using your cash for his own ends behind it all. There are loads to chose from. We bank with the Commonwealth Bank and they give you a free consultation, but sell a variety, not just their own. You accountant can advise on this too.

So, after a bit of leg work, the mechanics are pretty easy. Getting a contract is a little harder dependent on your expectations/budgets/experience etc. Be prepared to do something else in the mean time before the right job comes along.

Hope this helps,

Andy
Hi Andy - hmm sounds like it's going to be harder than I thought - out of interest what line are you in? I was hoping to get work pretty fast as my sort of skills go out of date quite quickly.

On another note - are there any umbrella companies over there that avoid you having to setup your own company? From what I've read about the australian tax rules there doesn't seem to be too much advantage in having a ltd company so I was going to do it this way.

Anyway thanks for your advice - really useful

Paul
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Old Aug 3rd 2006, 11:17 pm
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Paul,

yeah there are umbrella companies out there, but I couldn't name any for you. They operate PTY like IR35. If you're working in the same place month after month, you'll get taxed like a permie. I don't think they will look at sole traders so you have to be a PTY. The tax bands have just changed too. When I get a bit more info I'll let you know. If you turnover more than $50K which highly likely, you'll have to register for GST, (VAT). You'll end up being an unpaid VAT collector like in the UK unless you've got more than just labour to claim against of course.

Yesterday I rang an agent 3 times and left 2 messages over a job...he never rang me back. I can't quite understand the mentality!

I'm into project management of Telco stuff having contracted to BT and just finished working for BSkyB/Easynet.

Andy


Originally Posted by paul_s
Hi Andy - hmm sounds like it's going to be harder than I thought - out of interest what line are you in? I was hoping to get work pretty fast as my sort of skills go out of date quite quickly.

On another note - are there any umbrella companies over there that avoid you having to setup your own company? From what I've read about the australian tax rules there doesn't seem to be too much advantage in having a ltd company so I was going to do it this way.

Anyway thanks for your advice - really useful

Paul
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Old Feb 5th 2007, 3:26 am
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Originally Posted by paul_s
Hi Andy - hmm sounds like it's going to be harder than I thought - out of interest what line are you in? I was hoping to get work pretty fast as my sort of skills go out of date quite quickly.

On another note - are there any umbrella companies over there that avoid you having to setup your own company? From what I've read about the australian tax rules there doesn't seem to be too much advantage in having a ltd company so I was going to do it this way.

Anyway thanks for your advice - really useful

Paul
Hi Paul...

Contracting rules here are similar to IR35 (called PSI - Personal Services Income, check out the ATO site for me details). There are companies that do the umbrella services for you - CXC is one.

If you need more info let me know.

Cheers

Paul
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Old Feb 8th 2007, 12:09 pm
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Originally Posted by andy bentley
Hi Paul,

We arrived in the Melbourne area just over a month now. I was a contractor for many years in the UK too. First thing is forget any advice given to you about companies sponsoring you...complete crap. The Aussies are lazy bastards and can't be arsed with it, plus they have to stand you and your family's air fairs home if it goes tits up! Hence they won't entertain it. Some big players like Telstra may and I'm told IBM will, but don't hold your breath.

There are a lot of people out there looking for work, many of them Brits, so the whole process is agonisingly slow and the Aussie agencies are useless. You MUST keep pestering them. You'll also find a bit of 'bigetry' from some employers too.

There are many different agencies all running the same jobs, so you'll probably see a job replicated elsewhere. The employers are VERY picky and seem happy to wait for a better match rather than do any on the job training.

The good news is that there is a lot of work around, but getting infront of an employer is not easy. The other good news is that most if not all of the agencies are close to eachother on Collins St, Queens St and Bourke St which is a 5 min walk from Flinders St station. (Don't expect Virgin trains by the way. Be prepared to interlock knees with the scrote sitting opposite in rush hour).

I'm setting up my own PTY, (Ltd), company which is costing $1800. Most of that goes on legal fees I'm told. Getting tax file numbers is easy to do and you'll need one for this. Any accountant will sort this out for you.

Get your driving licence ASAP as many places demand ID and the DL is the best means. If you're from the UK, go to the local VicRoads office and make an appointment to fill out the necessary forms and they'll give you a DL on the appointment. They'll put a hole in your UK DL that voids it. You have a choice of a 3 yr or 10 yr Aussie licence - we went for a 10 year that costs $160.

Don't bother with perm jobs if you haven't got perm res - you're back into the sponsoring loop again - just contract until you get perm res then you can swap if you want to.

You'll also need to look at Super Annuation funds that are like pensions but don't seem to some fat bastard Maxwell figure using your cash for his own ends behind it all. There are loads to chose from. We bank with the Commonwealth Bank and they give you a free consultation, but sell a variety, not just their own. You accountant can advise on this too.

So, after a bit of leg work, the mechanics are pretty easy. Getting a contract is a little harder dependent on your expectations/budgets/experience etc. Be prepared to do something else in the mean time before the right job comes along.

Hope this helps,

Andy
hmm this is totally the opposite of my experience - I've been in melbourne for three weeks and have landed a 12 month contract at a good rate. The agency I dealt with were really good and are also putting me on their payroll as 'payg' so no ltd company neccessary, I did also look into an umbrella company but the extra tax breaks weren't worth bothering with. Another friend also landed a good contract within two weeks, so i think it probably just depends on what your skills are and what skill shortages exist in the market.....that said both of us have got certified in the last year or so, and have been working on a very large scale project in London which may have helped. Different people seem to have very different stories so it just depends I suppose.......the thing about contracting is that to always have work you need to be at the top of your game - which can be wearing after a while with all the studying etc.

anyway I hope you found the position you were looking for!

Last edited by paul_s; Feb 8th 2007 at 12:18 pm.
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Old May 19th 2007, 9:19 am
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Hi Paul,

Which agency did you use? Finding a good one seems difficult so I would appreciate the benefit of your experience. PM me if you prefer.

Thanks.
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Old May 19th 2007, 9:49 am
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

ccs - the only reason i went with them was because they advertised the job no other reason!
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Old May 19th 2007, 11:24 am
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Thanks Paul, don't suppose you have any contact details for them?
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Old Jun 5th 2007, 11:35 am
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

I work of a IT consultancy in Melbourne that has a contracting division called M&T resources visit (www.smsmt.com.au). I know the guys there and they have a good reputation if you are on their books. They also offer sponsorship but PR is general way to go.

Send me your resume and we can have chat.

My experience with agencies is that they are full of it and you really have to get down to their level and annoy the sh*t out of them to get a response. I was once given some good advise by a consultant working for Michael Page which was badger, badger, badger them. They get a lot of potential positions to fill each day, each one is worth about 10-20k to them so they are keen to fill them as much as you are to get a job. If you are in the front of their minds then it becomes easier. Call them twice a week to not only chase down positions but remind them who you are and what your skills are. I can recommend Michael Page and they have a technology division - infact they got me my first job here, the consultant who was great has went to the UK unfortunately. Robert Walters are also good - www.robertwalters.com.au. Adaps are also reasonable they have a contracting division - www.adaps.com.au.

Oh and avoid Interpro they really are terrible, they are only chasing dollars
But again send me your resume.
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Old Jun 5th 2007, 2:30 pm
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Default Re: it contracting in OZ

Apologies for my ignorance, mervbeng, but are you replying to me or the OP?

If me then I received your PM, thanks, but unfortunately only a 457 sponsorship is likely to be of any use to me, but I will gladly send you my resume if you think this is a possibility. Just let me know your email addy.

And a BIG thanks for the agency details, I'll give them a try and see how I get on.

Cheers.
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