sm79

Hi,

Was just wondering if anyone had any information as to whether my GF will meet the recent work experience requirement for application for the skilled visa for Australia.

She is a recently qualified primary teacher in Scotland (4 year honours degree) and is currently completing her one year probation period. For this work she is a fully paid member of staff with her own class, however since it is technically a requirement to complete this period before being fully qualified to work in Scotland I was unsure if this would cover the work experience requirement?

I have also posted this in the 'Australia' section of the site.

Many thanks

P.S. It is not necessary to complete the probation period to work in other countries, the degree in itself qualifies her as a teacher, hence the confusion

kar-kier

Hey,
We've just left Scotland and come over on the 457 visa to work in WA. She could come over right now, they don't recognise the probation year over here. My husband completed his 4 year degree is techy teaching in June 07, and was told that they would sponsor him to come over and work that July - didn't go as i was heavily pregnant. He finished his probation in June 08, and that is us here now. As he is graduated less than 2 years he gets an additional $1600 on top of his salary, and they take his probation year as a full years teaching experience.

Hope this helps!

Kareena

WS

Hi, sm79,

Yes, that probation year teaching in Scotland would fulfil the recent work experience of 12 months required for a skilled independent visa. .

sm79

My thanks to both of you for your helpful replies.

I also have to say I got a little excited when you said she could head over now - only thing is she'd have to leave me behind so I won't mention it at the moment

WS

If you are eligible and can wait a few extra months, the PR visa is usually the better option.

sm79

Originally the plan was to apply for 175, but since our application is non CSL, non MODL we're unsure as to how long the process will take.

My occupation (social worker) is currently on Victoria's state sponsorship lists, which would open up the possibility of 176, but since I'm newly qualified I have to wait at least 12 months to apply, and no doubt the list will have changed by then.

Hopefully the back-log of CSL and MODL eventually clears and processing times come down a bit, but at the moment I suppose we'll just have to keep our options open and our fingers crossed until we see how it pans out.

Wish we were ready to apply now!!!

hereshoping

I know how frustrating it is to wait- we had to wait 6 months to get more work experience before we could start applying. But now we're here I have to say we're glad to be on a PR visa not temp which would have got us here earlier.

You can both do your skills assessment while you wait - which will speed things up a very little.