IrelandToOz

My boyfriend and I will be arriving in Cairns on 24th October. Very exciting!!

Yeah I was trying to decide whether to go along to this or not, but you have persuaded me to I thought it might be mostly Canada related this year. Hopefully that isn't the case. I might dust off my cv and update it too and bring it along...just in case!

Hi WRussel, Would Migrant Agents have a subscription to the site you linked to? Or can that only be used by assessing bodies like ACS and the like? I won't have my 2 years work experience until September, so I can't submit my details for a skills assessment until then...but would like to know before then if my course is recognised at the right level. Thanks!

Yeah I think you are right Rupert. It is probably worth contacting a Migration Agent about this one. All of the Irish qualification websites I have looked at seem to place a Higher Diploma on par with a Bachelors Degree. Hopefully ACS see it this way too! Thanks for all of the replies.

Thanks for your response Blossom79. I didn't realise the Junior part would cause a problem. I don't think it is possible for anyone to go straight from a college course to a senior developer position. I wonder if they would take that into consideration. Would migration agents be able to answer these questions...and do you usually have to pay much for them to give you this information? Also, does any list exist that lists what courses are recognised in Oz and what level they are recognised at?

Oh, and my original honours bachelor degree (before doing the H Dip) was a business related one.

Hi Rupert, My course was a conversion course which was to bring me up to degree level within one year. However the title of it is Higher Diploma in IT. It is level 8 on the NQF (National Qualification Framework) i.e. same level as Honours Bachelor Degrees. The occupation I would be applying under is Code 261312 Developer Programmer. My occupation since finishing the course is a Junior Software Developer, and I will be there two years later this year.

Yeah I fear you might be right Blossom79 :-/ I have been reading a lot online about it and am finding some conflicting definitions. On the 'summary' description on the Australia Computer Society website we fit into Group A easily. However, in the longer description I posted above we fail due to the '3 semester' requirement. I am still hoping that that fact that it was a conversion course might work in our favour though. It is a H Dip course designed to get you up to degree level. However, since it says 'Higher Diploma" in the title they may not look any further than that.

Huge thanks to all three of you for your replies. I had looked into the skills assessment before...but now fear that I misunderstood a part of it. My post grad higher diploma doesn't seem to fall under the requirements for Group A (A only needs 2 years work experience): A Graduate Diploma or Master degree that does not require an ICT major degree level qualification or equivalent for entry, being substantially undergraduate in content, must • Contain a minimum of three semesters • Contain a minimum of twelve units • Contain two semesters of full-time equivalent ICT content • Be underpinned by an ICT or non-ICT degree level qualification or an AQF Advanced Diploma or Diploma equivalent • Have at least one semester of ICT study at a demonstrably advanced level It passes all of the criteria...except for the first point. It was 2 semesters long, not 3 I have a previous degree but it isn't IT related. My higher diploma course was a conversion course, which basically gives you a higher diploma in IT after one intense year of 12 modules. It is a level 8 course on the NFQ framework, so the same level as an Honours Bachelors Degree. Would applying for this under Group A be completely pointless if I don't satisfy the first point (3 semesters long)? Rupert, apologies for the confusion. I was referring to "we" re. the skills assessment as I can gain 5 extra points if my boyfriend passes the skills assessment too. The extra 5 points would be handy to have

Hi, Apologies in advance in case this turns out to be a long post. I haven't been through the visa / migration process before, so was hoping someone who has might be able to offer a different opinion or advice. Back story: My boyfriend and I have both have a Higher Diploma in IT and in Sept will both have 2 years experience as Software Developers. Programming / developing is on the skills shortage list...so here is our proposed plan... We are hoping to move to Australia (Melbourne) in September, and will both be still under 31, so would qualify for the WHV. However...we want to continue working as developers over there...and feel that the WHV may hinder our chances of gaining employment in this area. (Would this be a correct assumption to make?). In order to get good jobs in development we are considering applying for the independant skilled visa (me being the main applicant). The plan at the moment is for me to sit the IELTS during the summer (I am assuming I just need the general one?). Depending on my results this will hopefully bring my points up to 60, or up to 70 if I get the higher result. Then when we hand our notices into our employers we will look for the references we need to get our skills assessed. We will hopefully upload these before flying out to Australia on a WHV. Once we have our skills assessed and are obviously sure we want to stay longer than a year we will then put in our EOI for the skilled visa. Hopefully we will have gained some employment on the WHV in the mean-time while waiting for the independant visa to come through. Does this sound like a good plan...? Or are there major parts missing? We don't want to rely on luck by heading over on a WHV before we have two years experience in the hope of getting a developer job in a company that will also sponsor us. I guess I am just looking for advice from anyone in a similar situation. Thanks in advance