talesofatwinmum

Hi, We're pulling together paperwork for our TRA assesment. My husband has worked as an electrical technician on helicopters for about 13 years. Avionics technician has just been removed from the SOL (which is the most natural choice of occupation title for him) but is currently on the NT and ACT lists for state sponsorship but if possible we'd like to get him in as an electrical engineer technician which is on the SOL and gives us more flexibility about where we move to without the restrictions of staying in a specific state for two years. His qualifications and apprenticeship are all in general electrical and electronic engineering but obviously his work experience has all been doing electrics on on aircrafts. Does anyone have any experience of putting forward a TRA assessment for an occupation that straddles two job titles? Will the TRA literally just check his experience and qualifications against a checklist of standards for the role of electrical engineering technician or do they review him and then pigeon hole him into the most suitable category? It's really tricky as his experience and qualifications would allow him to work on trains, boats, cars etc so in that respect it's unfair to limit him to being an aircraft technician. Our migration agent is going to review all of his evidence and then advise us which occupation she thinks we need to go for but I just wondered if anyone on here had any experience or trying to nominate an occupation that isn't necessarily exactly the job they have been doing? Also, do the TRA speak to your employers too? Would he need to specify a particular person for them to contact as we haven't told his work we're hoping to emigrate as it's such early days in the process. Thanks a lot. Any advice would be really welcome.

Just a quick update for anyone else trying to get their head around the aviation options since the jobs were removed from the SOL - I spoke with an agent from Go Matilda this morning and the Aircraft Maintenance Avionics is available for state sponsorshop for NT and ACT at the moment (I'd missed ACT when I'd been trawling the SMPs myself). Her advice was to go ahead and do an EOI and see if any other states change their occupations lists in the meantime as she said they change regularly. We're also going to look at reviewing his skills to see if there might be a chance of getting him to come under another electrical occupation as his qualifications are in general electronic engineering and his skills are transferable across other industries too. It's a long shot but worth considering as if we could get him in as an electronic engineer we're back on the SOL again.

Thanks a lot - now I just need to get my head around what the schedule 2 list is for! I'm speaking to a migration consultant from Go Matilda for a proper chat on Monday morning so hopefully things will start to look a lot clearer after that. Thanks all - it's good to know we can hopefully still make the move. x

Thanks Del70 - that's the only job I found on there too so good to know I was looking in the right place and there wasn't another list that I'd missed. Yes, you're right Dorset they are very different jobs which is why I was confused when the agent insisted he was on the WA list - to be honest I think he just wanted to get me off the phone and direct me to their website rather than speaking to me. His background is working on military helicopters as a civilian. For the employer sponsored visa are you limited to particular states or can an employer anywhere in Australia potentially contact you? Again I had the impression you needed to be on a particular state list for that too but might have got that wrong. There are so many lists and it's trying to get my head around which one is for what. He has an old work colleague (with same qualifications & same level of experience) who now works at Brisbane airport and she has offered to give his CV out (she says their skills are really in demand there which goes against what I've heard about the country overall) but I wasn't sure if an employer wanted him if we'd still be able to go there as another migration agent I spoke to said Qld will be almost impossible to get into now he's off the SOL. Cheers for the advice, I'll look into the employer sponsored visa some more.

Thanks zara283, it's so hard to find an agent that seems interested and knows what they're talking about! I actually called Go Matilda yesterday and am waiting for somebody to get back to me so great to hear that they're one of the good ones! Cheers.

Hi, After 4 years of debating about emigrating, we decided to go for it two weeks ago. Only then we found our my OH's occupation was to be removed from the SOL on 1st July. I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to determine if there are any other sponsored visa options open to us. I've looked at all of the state migration plans and can only find his job on the NT list (we really want Qld or WA but would also consider Vic). The migration agents I've spoken to haven't been able to give me any answers - one assured me he is on the state sponsored list for WA but I've checked and can't find his job on their list of occupations anywhere. Another promised to look over his CV and get back to us when she finds time. The rest fobbed me off by directing me back to their websites or asking me to call back later in the year to see if the states update their wanted lists. We really want to get things moving asap if there is still a chance we can go. Does anyone have any advice on what we can do? Is it possible to approach states directly to consider him even if his occupation isn't on their skills in demand list? Is there a certain time of year the states update their skill requirements? Any advice would be appreciated.