colinmacl

Easy enough as long as you can pass an English test..............

Yes it will as i said previously they cover far less here for insurance than the UK

About to watch it myself!

Basically medicare is the same as NHS. no one is refused treatment you just may have to wait. That is where the similarities end. In Australia if you earn over $160k as a family you pay extra tax so in that case it may cost around the same as your premiums of say $300pm. If you have private health insurance in oz it does not cover 100% unlike the UK so you will always be paying gap payments. Personally i think it is a total rip off, would you accept car or home insurance that pays 60%?. I would say save the $300 pm and if you ever need an op you can pay for it from savings. If you have a heat attack in the street the ambulance takes you to a public hospital so again its pointless. I have it for dental and ambulance as they can be expensive but most people just accept it as the norm here as they don't know better.

How many of those ABN's are people working on building sites who are not really business but are paid this way so as the employer can save money and get rid of easy. A young brickie on a WHV with an abn for example is not a business.

Amount of experience makes no difference with sparkys. Your mate was lucky he got his license before the changes and he would have had to still do a 2 week course. All sparks do the gap training regardless of previous experience. Vetassess give you the cert 3 once you complete the gap training before that during your migration they give you an equivalent which allows you to apply for a visa then upon arrival entitles you to apply for an electrical workers permit and do the gap training. That's just the way it is as of 1st July 2012. People with TRA ie holiday visas came on to the new system on jan 2013. No amount of research will find you a different answer. Best to listen to the sparkys who have arrived recently.

Sounds great but lets say you lose your job and the market goes down at the same time, then you are stuck with a property at the other side of the world renting at a loss for a long period or sell and lose your equity.

In a nutshell yes it will but it is just a matter of when. Just look at the current statistics avg house price $500K. avg wage $70k 7 times avg wage. lowest ever amount of first home buyers on record. Lots of new homes sold are people buying investment properties on interest only mortgages. Sound familiar?

Well I don't unblock toilets for a living. But those who do are told by immigration there is a high demand for plumbers and then arrive here to find that they must spend a fortune and are unable to easily find work. I am an electrician and we get it even worse, we have to train for 1 year upon arrival and it finishes with a trade test the same as Aussie apprentices do despite passing all the criteria to get in the country. Now I accept that there are differences but they are not hugely different. Put it this way during my years gap training i was taught LOL! how to wire sockets and lights in a house the same way as they did in the 60s in the UK, and had to cover a lot of electrical theory stuff that I had forgotten from when I was in my teens. They never once touched on anything to do with lndustrial, Commercial installations. So did my gap training teach me anything seeing as i don't do electrical work in houses? It taught me that the reality of being a spark or plumber over here is very different from the dream that we are sold in the UK. You are not told of these requirements by the DIAC or migration agents. I knew before I arrived because of forums like this one.

I had a look at the leaflet and it looks like the comms elective to me. Whole thing is cheaper too. As for the A grade everyone still refers to it here as A grade in job ads etc. Its just an electrical license.

You need the comms to get your cert 3. There are other courses you can select but i dont think the colleges run any classes for them so comms it is!

No there is no way around the gap training. I just think it will be better organised and possibly a bit cheaper. A lot of electrical companies here send there apprentices to CET instead of TAFE.

Capstone is the Australian trade test that the apprentices do. If CET can provide gap training now then do it through them it will be better. The government TAFE's ( colleges) are terrible and very disorganised, I had no choice but to do it through TAFE when I arrived. The whole thing costs you around $10000 when you factor in lost earnings. Getting employment can be difficult and I have heard of people being paid as little as $25 ph which is a very small wage ( around 800 after tax) to support a family on and would cover a modest rental and weekly bills and no more.

You also have to pay another $150 to vetassess once you complete everything to receive your cert 3, then a license fee of $400 for your A grade to energy safety

Bit of an overestimate there! Most brickies will get about 250-300 a day on an ABN. Ie self employed pay own super,transport etc no holidays or sick leave.

I doubt there will be a lot of electronics jobs here, most of the industry is resources and raw materials. Perth can be hard to find a job in unless you are the bosses drinking buddy. Your best bet would be to get any job (as you have noticed many others do!) and then look for something better. I am an electrician and went 20 years backwards in my career despite the industry being 30 years behind here!

Yes you have to be living here to do all this and any company that says they can do this in the UK is stealing your money so don't fall for it. I don't think it matters if you do a different type of work regarding your visa but someone else may know the answer to that one.

It has to be done and is just the beginning. After getting the visa he must then apply to energy safety for a provisional license $75, Go to TAFE( college) for 2 weeks $2300, Do a communications course $300 and do a large amount of homework. Once he gets a job he must fill out a logbook that his employer signs off then when this is all complete he can sit the same trade test as Australian apprentices. Then when he gets a pass from the TAFE he can go back to Vetassess and pay $140 for a cert 3 which then allows him to pay around $500 for a license. Also factor in using all your holidays or taking unpaid leave to do the courses. Whole lot will take a year, maybe more if unlucky getting test and course dates.

Most of those jobs are through the same agency, probably wanting a fee. Never rely on seek as a measure of what jobs are available.

That is what happens when you go to to Costa Del Butler. Most places around Joondalup and above are like that as are the areas around Rockingham. Best to avoid in my opinion but one mans slum is another's paradise.

If you cant afford £3000 to pay for the visa then you should forget Australia. To emigrate here on PR you will need at least £30000 once you factor in all costs and even that would be a tight budget. Coming on a 457 with a family is a bad move as if you lose your job you will have to leave the country unless you find another sponsor as well as pay for your children to go to school.

I have completed the gap training and it cost me all together about $4000 plus 4 weeks lost earnings. and took me 10 months. You will never complete it in 6 months due to waiting for test dates etc. Your agent might tell you there is plenty of work here but the reality currently is very different. Even with a A Grade license I am getting no replies for any jobs i apply for on seek( don't think most of them are real!) Union companies have been striking about pay cuts and there are no jobs in the West Australian newspaper for sparks lately when their used to be loads. And plenty of people working on mine sites being laid off so make of that what you will but that is how it is today in WA.

I think the thing about Ozzies working half days and companies wanting British workers is a fairy story. In my experience in the last year we struggle to get good jobs upon arrival and do the crap for less money! This is not my personal experience but from speaking to other tradesman who have arrived in the last year. I am a spark and had to do a years deskilling i mean gap training. I know 2 carpenters who have arrived in the last 6 months and they are both earning really poor money. It was easy to get work a couple of years ago but things have slowed and more people have arrived believing well paid jobs await only to be met with the harsh reality of life on the breadline and watching your savings dwindle. Plenty of young lads here on WHV working cheaply too hoping to get sponsorship.

An ARTC lets you apply for a provisional license and do the 1 years gap training which involves, 2 week course, log book signed by employer, loads of homework, 1 weeks communications course and a trade test over 4 days then after all that you can apply for an a grade. And it will cost around $3000 plus $360 for your license fee when complete and 4 weeks unpaid off work. Enjoy!

1 years gap training and would cost around $10k no other way any more