Hinchy

21 male, 6 months ago i finished my full apprenticeship to be a electrician with my 17th edition and inspection and testing completed and IPAF licence . I recently got my green card with my parents living there already and moving this January , I need advise on the process of converting my qualifications to the US standards.

Thanks .

civilservant

Quite simply, you can't. There are vastly different standards in the US, which will require you to retrain.

You might get away without doing the formal qualifications if you can get yours translated, but I'm almost certain you'll need to redo a form of apprenticeship.

How to Become a Journeyman Electrician (US): 5 Steps

You should also note that licensing requirements can and do vary between States.

scrubbedexpat099

US practices are very different, hopefully what you have done so far will helpget your US qualifications but there is no swap.

Pulaski

As Boiler and CS said, your UK license is close to worthless and even though you might be able to take reduced classroom training prior to taking the exams, I don't believe there is any way to avoid having to start over with your practical in-the-field experience that is required to get a license to work as a self-employed electrician.

King Gimp

There is no way. Believe me - I have tried - I have the same set of papers 236, 2381, 2391, IPAF, IOSH member and a bunch of other stuff also. That said, I didn't have any difficulty finding work over here, just not as a spark. You are still at an age where doing it all again would make sense if you are going to be in the US permanently.

Find your local IBEW chapter - they can help.

IBEW > Home

Bob

Or hang out at Home Depot and get jobs with all the other shifty, under the table folks, who aren't licensed trades?

Pulaski

That might work in MA, but I have never seen anyone hanging out at any of the Home Depots in NC, nor the Lowes, looking for casual work.

scrubbedexpat099

NC is special, everybody knows that.

Very common in CA, not so much here.

King Gimp

The on ramp to I95 at exit 8 in Stamford CT is the place round here for 'day labor'

Looks like anything from changing light bulbs and sheetrock repairs to contract killing is on offer.

Bob

You need to get out more.

If it ain't Lowes or Home Depot, it's somewhere else that day labourers hang out.

All that landscaping, road laying etc, doesn't happen with fully paid, on the up staff :/

It wasn't a serious suggestion, but it happens even in podunk states like Maine.

Pulaski

I assumed you were correct, and so headed off to consult Google. What I found was this:
And this:
And this:
And a load of discussions about people looking in different places and finding nobody.

I have now reached the conclusion that you are not correct.

ETA Mrs P tells me some hang out near the concrete plant, and that some of the crowd down by the soup kitchen are looking for a gig.

GeoffM

FWIW there are frequently people hanging out at the far end of the car parks of Home Depot in trucks or battered old cars - all three HDs around here. But not Lowes for some reason!

We needed a spa moved about 6 houses down the road, and found a pair at HD who were actually in the process of taking a different spa to the dump, so ideal candidates. Brought two more people with them which was fortunate as the thing was damn heavy. For 5 minutes of work they earned enough, while the "pros" wanted thrice the amount for half the people. I doubt either paid (or would have paid) taxes.

But for qualified trades like sparkies, no.

Bob

Depends, might be qualified in other countries but not wanting to start over to get qualified over here.

The missus knows an electrical engineer back home, working as a sparky under the table here. He's here on a student visa and not able to get a job on campus and said a couple days work on the blag keeps him going. Similar situation for quite a few of the folks apparently. They're not all completely unskilled and the land/construction crews know it and the rest probably rely on craigslist.

Though they're all hanging out at the McD's in town, $1 for any sized coffee and usually get picked up at breakfast time.

Pulaski

It is both legal and normal for a fully licensed electrician to employ trainee and unlicensed electricians to work under his supervision, so a licensed electrician might consider a trained electrician not licensed in the US to be a pretty useful "find".

GeoffM

So you'd trust somebody unqualified to fiddle with your house electrics?

There are some things I do myself. There are others that are best left to people who know what they're doing.