kmrg

Hi Clkielty I was recently over in Melbourne and spoke to two agencies there, Tradewind and McArthur both said that they employ people who are on a WHV and it appears there is lots of short term work available in both children's and adult services. I think there are still some sponsorship opportunities available but these will only really be for experienced child protection social workers who are always in short supply. Regarding the need for three years post qualifying experience I would recommend that you email the Australian Association of Social workers direct to check this, I found them quite responsive when I had questions. If you are eligible for a WHV then I would suggest that you go over on that initially, as you will be able to gain Australian social work experience which could be useful if you later apply for a permanent residence visa. Good luck

Thanks for the update Beaty. I am off to Melbourne in 3 weeks to validate visa's, good to hear about your trip.

Hi I submitted all evidence as colour scanned copies, all accepted and visa granted.

Hi all, I thought I would add my timeline as a thread for any Social Workers who are wondering how long the whole process takes from EOI to visa grant. I completed IELTS in April 2015, it took me two goes to get the scores of 8 required for 20 points. Skills assessment with AASW completed in April 2015. I just had my degree assessed not work experience, it took 11 weeks for this to be processed and returned. They email you a copy with outcome and then paper copy arrives later. EOI submitted 28/12/2015 - 60 points (25 age, 15 degree, 20 IELTS) Invitation to apply 22/01/16 Application submitted with Police checks and medicals 11/4/16 Visa granted on 27/5/16 Process was much quicker than I expected, I was assuming there maybe a longer wait due to only having 60 points.

Hi if you look on seek.com.au you will see that there is casual work as a case manager in aged care sector through agencies which might suit you. It appears that Sydney and melbourne are the easiest places to find work.

Hi chlooe19 I qualified as a social worker coming up to 3 years ago in uk. I looked into options for training 'on the job' in uk and australia so still having a salary but couldn't find any, this may have changed in last couple of years though. Unfortunately the social work degree is a big commitment as you affectively work full time on the placements but don't get paid! Most people on my course just worked evenings and weekends and then in holiday breaks to keep some money coming in. Hopefully someone with up to date info will be along to advise you soon.

I am not currently in australia but my experience from searching on seek.com.au is that within adult services the title is often case manager or case Co - ordinator. Not sure about.children's services though.

Hi I am an adult social worker planning on moving to Melbourne so this is the state I have researched the most. It seems that most jobs aren't advertised showing the salary when looking on website's like http://www.seek.com.au. However it seems that casual work as Case managers is around $30-35 per hour. kmrg

Hi RajatSharma1 I have had a positive assessment as a social worker. You will need to complete this through Australian Association of Social Workers, their website is helpful and you can also email them for advice. https://www.aasw.asn.au/careers-study/assessment-criteria-for-assessments-for-migration-and-employment-purposes Hope that helps, kmrg

Hi Nikki Noosh, I was assessed by the Australian Association of Social Workers earlier this year. I received a positive skills assessment based on qualification only not work experience years. (Although at the time I did have 20 months post graduation experience) However as others have said I think it depends on how many years your degree is. I completed MSC Social Work which was 2 years and then had an undergraduate degree of three years (not in related subject)so was told I had enough years study. I believe if you do an undergraduate social work degree of three years this may not be enough as the Australian degree is four years. Therefore AASW want work experience to make up for only having 3 years study. The best thing to do is to email AASW direct, I did this before applying and found them very helpful. Then get a free assessment from a MARA registered migration agent. kmrg

Hi I am happy to have a look at it for you if you want to send it as an attachment in a private message.

Hi again sorry late reply, I only had my degree assessed as at the time I had less than 3 years post graduate experience so not able to claim any points for this. I have 60 points from completing IELTS and getting a score of 8 overall which gave me 20 points, then 25 for age and 15 for degree. I am planning on putting EOI in soon and then going to Melbourne some time next year. My experience is with adults with disabilities mainly and some work with Older People in hospital discharge teams. I have looked on seek.com.au to see what jobs are available and they are mainly under the title of Case Manager. Are you planning on moving to a particular state? If so then just search on seek.com.au for your sector of social work and see what is available. In Melbourne there seem's to be a couple of social work employment agencies (One being McArthur) which I am going to contact prior to moving to check how likely I am to find work. Just realised didn't answer orginal questions about selecting from skills assessments, do you mean when you are selected to apply for visa after submitting EOI? If so this is purely based on how many points you have eg those with 70 points will be selected before those with 65 etc k

Hi Bettiblu, I have recently completed a skills assessment with AASW and may be able to help. Are you having work experience assessed as well as degree? Your migration agent should be able to advise you on completing the form. I only had degree assessed and not work experience but found the form fairly easy to do. Are there specific sections you are having difficulty with? I received answer in 10 weeks they send an email first then you receive letter in the post afterwards. The area of experience is not the concern it is that it meets the criteria of immigration's definition of social worker and that it is post graduate experience.

Hi Stef86, I am also a social worker with just over two years post qualifying experience, I have had my skills (degree only not work experience) positively assessed by AASW and am in the process of applying for subclass 189 (skilled independent) visa. There is no requirement to have 3 years post qualifying experience, as long as you are able to make up 60 points based on age, qualification and English language skill's. e.g I have 25 points age, 15 points degree, and 20 points from taking IELTS and getting score of 8 in each category. It may be good for you to get some advise from a migration agent who will be able to give you all the options open to you. I had a free consultation with Go Matilda and they were very helpful. Hope that helps.

Stef86 you say you only have 2 years experience so don't qualify for 189 visa. Is this because you don't have enough points from age and qualifications? Maybe you need to consider taking he IELTS exam to increase your points to the 60 you need to qualify.

Hi Mr luvpants, I have recently received a positive skills assessment from AASW and at the time I had 21 months post qualification experience so I don't think the 3 year rule applies. Regarding the number of years study I would email them direct. I did the 2 year masters course to qualify so have a total of 5 years university study, however the first three years were not study related to Social Work.

Well it may give you confidence to know that I recently had a successful remark on writing from 7.5 upgraded to an 8. It did take about 7 weeks to come back, not sure how usual this is though.

Hi I got mine today too, got the 8's I needed second time round so feeling relieved! General test : L9 W8.5 S9 R 9 I don't know how I got 9 in the reading as I really panicked on the section on glaciers and ice and thought I had completely blown it! Concentration is the key, second time round I knew what to expect so was able to get through the easier sections quickly and then focus most of the time on the harder sections at the end of the reading. My advice to others is just to practice lots, I used the Road to IELTS and paid extra to get access to more tests. Or if you feel you are better on computer based programmes then go for the PTE. It is really demoralising when you fail but you just need to refocus and find a way of inspiring yourself to carry on.

Hi Annon, Not sure which state you are moving to? mcarthur.com.au and twrecruitment.com.au seem to be two of the main agencies I have noticed.

Thanks for advice. We have decided to use an agent to make sure we don't make any mistakes with application.

Yes, it was fully declared and we will definitely be declaring it again.

Hi I think I read on here a while ago that there have been some changes regarding whether those with drugs convictions are granted visa's? Does anyone have the link to the most up to date information? The issue I have is that my husband has a conviction for possession of Cannabis with intent to supply (small amount he and a friend were caught with) he was given a fine, this was back in 1992 or 1993. We have both been granted entry to Australia previously he was granted a 457 visa back in 2007, therefore I thought that there were not be an issue when we apply together this time round. However if there have been changes to the rules do you think it is possible that we could be declined when applying for 189 visa next year? I will be the main applicant and have no cautions or convictions. I don't want to get the whole way through the process and then be declined at the last hurdle? Thanks,

Hi I am a social worker too,looking to emigrate. From my research I would say that if you work in child protection there is definitely plenty of work, and the pay rates seem to be higher. However this is relative to the cost of living. The easiest thing to do seems to be to register with agencies, I have been looking in Melbourne though.

Hi I am a social worker too, I have just over 1 years post qualification experience and hoping to apply for 189 visa next year. I emailed AASW regarding post qualification work experience needed to apply for visa and was told: "Provided that your qualification meets our criteria you will not be required to provide evidence of post qualifying work experience. The assessment of skilled employment claims is an optional part of the assessment." Therefore if you have enough points from age, degree etc then 3 years post qualification experience is not needed. I will need score of 8 in IELTS in order to qualify. Good luck.

For any other social workers who are interested this is the reply I got from AASW. Dear Katey, Thank you for your email. Provided that your qualification meets our criteria you will not be required to provide evidence of post qualifying work experience. The assessment of skilled employment claims is an optional part of the assessment. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me. Kind regards, [TABLE=class: ecxMsoNormalTable, width: 278] [TR] [TD=width: 186]National Office – Melbourne Level 7, 14-20 Blackwood Street North Melbourne VIC 3051 Postal Address: PO Box 2008 Royal Melbourne Hospital VIC 3050 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 369, colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 369, colspan: 2] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]