Quote:
Originally Posted by Petra & Dave
Hello
My name is Petra and I have just joined the site. Me and my husband are just begiining the process of emigrating and it is all new and daunting at the moment. We are going to the Emigrate Conference in London next week for some more information.
My husband is a spray painter/body worker and we understand that there is a demand for these skills, particularly in Western Australia.
We are fed up of life in England and particularly concerned for the future for our 10 year old daughter.
We would appreciate any comments regarding the availability of work in my husband's trade. We have also been advised that as he has not completed an apprenticeship the only way we will get the necessary visa is to get a job offer. This seems bizarre in light of the fact that he has 25 years experience in the industry.
Look forward to hearing your comments.
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Hi Petra
Welcome to Poms in Oz.
As far as finding out about job is WA is concerned, I am told that the West Australian has masses of job adverts on Saturdays. Here is the link to today's paper:
thewest.com.au
Until October 2007 it was perfectly possible for people with no formal qualifications but lots of "one the tools" experience to obtain successful skills assessments, leading to skilled independent visas. There are various skills assessment bodies but for your Hubby the relevant one is Trades Recognition Australia, and the skills assessment Pathway that Dave would have been assessed under was Pathway D.
TRA suddenly closed Pathway D without any prior warning at all, and it has left a lot of people in the lurch.
However, TRA are insisting that they plan to introduce a New, Improved Version of Pathway D and that they hope to get it into place by 1st July 2008 when the new Migration Program Year begins.
If Dave is still comfortably under 45, it may pay you to sit tight for the moment and wait to see what will happen about Pathway D. I think they will have to bring it back in some form, but it may be that they will introduce a range of written and practical tests for it or something along these lines.
With regard to sponsored visas, it is not easy to secure sponsorship fromt the other side of the world. One of the biggest problems with it is that the majority of Australian employers know nothing about the migration process and therefore tend to want to avoid having to get involved with it.
Have you thought about making a rekkie trip to WA? If you do so, I wouldn't confine the search to the Perth area alone. I'd have a look at Bunbury (a couple of hours South of Perth) and if time permits I'd also think about having a look at Geraldton. If you tell Google UK to find Google Australia, you can get good maps via Google Australia. I'm not sure how good Google Earth is with Oz.
Best wishes
Gill
MARC & SHARLEEN 
