URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

We have been here 7 months now, and for the last 5 months have been trying to get a provisional license for hubby. He has been refused on quals (as no apprentaship taken), have appealed based on the fact that he has been plumber for 20 years, been refused and told to do skills test. Fine - but after waiting 6 weeks to hear from skills test, have now been told there are 78 modules to be tested and will cost $15k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this right!!! Has anyone else done a test recently? Where did you do it and how much did it cover and cost. Please help!!!!!!!!

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

complaian to the minister of construction as this system very exspensive and unfair ive been here 7mths now iam resident call me if you want 073774141:curse: talk sometime john 16 yrs running my own business in uk

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

hi
in the uk we are having to sit the vettasses skills test before applying for visa, can he possibly contact them, i dont know if it will help but it is worth a go. best i can think of.
john

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Did your husband get his skills assesed by TRA prior to migrating?
If so can he not apply to TRA for an ARTC certificate as a plumber then apply
for his license.
Is the license you have enquired about not a contractors license?

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

No he didnt to TRA, I was able to get a Visa more easily with my skills.
I have now telephoned the Plumbing Board to 'express my concerns', and after asking the right questions and getting people to actually look into this, have found out that the $15k is for testing 75 modules over 4-6 weeks at $200 each, but is for plumbing, draining and Gas licenses (even though we have only applied for a plumbing one ??). The plumbing license is only 22 modules, and they have said that if my husband makes an appt to see the skills test people rather than phone, he can probably get quite a few credits for the quals and experience he has. Amazing isn't it, there is no explanation about this in any of the documentation, and the skills test people already have all his quals, references, resume etc as they requested it before they would give him a date?!. :confused: It just goes to show it's about asking the right questions to the right people.

It has taken 5 months and 3 days to get this far from the original appeal we sent to the Plumbing Board. (Our original application was 6 months ago.) Maybe we didnt do enough research when we came - we knew he would only get a provisioanal license, but had no idea it would take this long.:unsure:

Once my husband has been to see them, I will try and remember to post an update just in case there are any other poms out there in the same position!

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Please keep me posted as I am about to travel out in the next few months
cheers beastyboy.
PS time served + latest quals ie nvq 123 acs etc

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Update.....
Not sure if anyone wants to hear this but we are now 9 months in and seem to have got nowhere....
Well, filling in forms for Plumbing Board and then Skills Test is clearly not enough. We have now been sent another form - 35 pages!!!! to complete, and also separately a letter saying that they are changing how to apply for a license and to call them to see if we want them to keep our original application! :confused:
Will keep you posted!
(PS Hubby has Heating and Ventilation quals and with these he is able to work as a Mechanical Plumber)

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Nice to hear an update and sorry you are no further forward. Have you tried getting in touch with VETASSES who carry out the skills assessment over in the UK? Couldn't hurt.
Simon

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Hey Pam,

Sorry to hear of all the problems you and your husband are having. I'm not sure what changes the VETASSESS process has made? When I received my classification from TRA it didn't help me to gain any licenses in Australia.
We arrived in Tassie 3 years ago and the Plumbers and Gasfitters wouln't recognise British quals, they would allow you to gain a provisional licence( go and work for $16 an hour for a plumbing company) which lasts a year and then set about gaining a full licence, not sure the time or costs involved but from experience I would say it wouldn't be easy or cheap. At this time Tassie didn't have a 'pathway' for recognising CORGI gas qualifications either. I was advised that I should discuss this with the Victorian Plumbers Federation.
If we have to go to all the trouble of having our qualifications and experience verfied by TRA shouldn't we then be granted a probationary license for a nominal period(6months?) during which time we would work for a plumbing/gasfitting contractor to allow us to gain the knowledge of different 'local' practices and standards whilst also proving that we are indeed qualified?
It's all very well the Aussie government saying they need skilled migrants, unfortunately most of the licensing/training issues are dealt with through the relevant state governments (Workplace Standards/TAFE),these departments are either unprepared or in some cases unwilling to help migrants. It is about time the federal and state departments sat down and got this mess sorted out!

Good luck, Peter

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Brigall,

Only certain trades can be assessed via ARTC, I don't think plumber is one of them.

Peter

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

we have been here for over 2 years and still are waiting for a provisional licence. Provisional refused because certs say heating and ventilating also although hubby has plumbed for over 15 years and did a plumbing apprentaship. He was sent to tafe to do migrants yellow ticket course done, 3 exams which has taken forever for the college to organise and have been through 3 tutors as they keep leaving. He has been waiting since last NOVEMBER to have a skills test organised and still waiting. phoned the college weekly but in so many words the tutor has confessed that they are making the course up as they go along and Steve is one of the few left that has stuck with it. I am assuming everyone else has either given up or gone back to uk. In sheer desperation he went back to plumbers and licensing board only yesterday and although very sympathetic and agreed that the college situation is ridiculous, still couldn't help. They told him that his name has been put forward ro do a pilot course which is cost free and will gain him a provisional but he is like WHAT THE HELL, ISN'T THAT WHAT I HAVE ALREADY BEEN DOING. The real shame is that he is working in the trade all be it illegally as a trade assistant and is training fully licenced and provisional licence holders who were lucky enough to have plumber written on their certificate. Needless to say this has been the nost frustrating experience but we refuse to give up, i am putting a case together as we speak to for the minister of education and Kerry O'pelt his so called tutor at yeronga college is gonna have his named dragged through the mud bigtime!!!

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Very interested to read your story as our experience has been very similar in S.A.
However, after 9 months of meetings and buck-passing, we took it to Parliament and after threatening to expose the ridiculous system on TV, I have been granted my full gas licence and provisional water, after initially being told I would have to complete 12 months gas training and 2 years water.
I would be very interested to talk to you as we plan on taking this matter even further.
PM me if you want to talk.

Ross.

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

oh wow well done!!! Have thought about contacting a current affair to see if they are interested in covering this problem but think i will try education minister first and see if he can't help. Will keep you posted on how we get on.

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

If your a plumber /gas engineer with 15 + yrs exp it doesnt count for anything in newzealand /aus we are classed as apprentices and that being the case the board pgdb say you have to be supervised at all times but we are NOT and they know this but dont take action because they turn a blind eye to it.there is a shortage but they still treat us badly i am paid approx $19.80 nz my advice is the lifestyle is great but if you dont earn enough LIFE IS SHIT .
DO YOURSELVES FAVOUR STAY IN UK WORK, HAVE lots of holiday,save for your retirement then move here :curse:

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

I presume you are in aus we are in nz and it is the same the pgdb is incompetent and doesnt know what it is doing they said to me that corgi wasnt any good and uk training is poor/ but training nz is crap ive talked to shane jones /john keys but they just seem bored:curse:

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

hi if you do contact a current affairs program I will be in it actually lets ask for others if they want to be apart of trying to put together a list of plumbers /gasengineers and there experiences and how we are being victimized by aus and nz

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

hi Peter it is the same in nz they encourage us to to come, tell us we can work just the same as in the uk then when we get here they dump us on a poorly run pgdb which is run by self important people, here in nz the new migrants want central htg so the plumbers are fitting old fashion substandard systems then with no htg experience they try to repair them the people need us with our experience to make sure they dont make the old mistakes that we made in the uk yrs ago example one pipe systems they dont have condensing boilers yet and nobody services there boilers in this second world country

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

Agree with what you are saying, but you're not going to change anything. I've been there and got the t-shirt and the video.

I'm interested to see how the first 'VETASSES' people get on when they arrive in aus.

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

I can't confirm this because I haven't checked but Ihave been told by a number of people that UK gas engineers/plumbers with CORGI quals can have their competencies recognised and presumably converted into equivalent AUS licenses via the Plumbing Industry Commission in Victoria. The story is that they got together with CORGI to understand the UK areas of competency in order to allow them to grant the relevant Victorian Licenses. I understand that many people will want to work outwith Victoria or Australia( NZ) in which case it should be fairly easy to use this Victorian License to gain a license in the state of choice.

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

I think if you talk to the right people and make the issue a little more 'political' then there is a chance that change will happen. I know a friend who was in a similar position in Tassie and thanks to alot of time spent by his wife pressuring different govenment depts and an assurance that she would make it public via the local papers, TAFE AND Workplace Standards quickly came up with a 'pathway' to allow migrant plumbers an opportunity to gain their local licenses in a timely and cost effective way.

I really believe that it is about finding and persuading the right people who can make the changes.

Re: URGENT! Anyone taken a skills test in QLD?
 

It amazes me some of the technology and systems being used, I think we can learn things from local tradespeople and they could learn a lot from our UK experiences. Isn't it hard to find a modern CH bolier in this part of the world!? Sophisticated is a boiler which can burn both long logs and short logs!;)