byhisgrace

Oh well done on the IELTS that's great!! It is a scary idea giving up secure work, and your home etc. Its a hard decision. Have you visited South Australia before to see family?

I think there are quite a lot of jobs in the social work field, you can always look on seek.com.au to check out possible opportunities. I’ve been working for 7 months and I would say it takes a good 6 months to get to know all of the agencies and what they do and to get a good handle on the system over here. I find the hours pretty good. The position that I’m in was advertised as full time but the company have flexible working options, so I reduced it to 4 days a week as I have young children and that wasn’t a problem. I know that Department for child protection are always hiring but they also have a high turnover! Other agencies such as Anglicare, Baptist Care, Salvation Army – Muggy’s. Relationships Australia are good organisations to work for. And often have social work roles with case work/advocacy roles, they often have something called Salary Packaging which means a portion of your salary is tax free so that portion is put onto a separate card which can be used in shops and to book holidays etc. It’s usually around $500/600 and it can also go straight towards rent or childcare too. But it doesn’t roll over to the next financial year. Then you get the remaining money from your pay taxed at a lower rate. So you have more to take home. So you will often see jobs advertising salary packaging, that’s what they mean. The pay is also good, I have found some things to be more expensive here though like meat in the supermarkets. And car washes are extortionate but they do have self-wash places too. And electricity bills in South Australia is apparently the most expensive in the world. So there are pros and cons. But I think the salary covers basic costs and still leaves extra for family days out and extras, which we didn’t have in London. Holidays are great because you have the bigger cities to visit. Melbourne is great for a weekend getaway drive (8 hours) or fly. Flights to Bali are also cheap. And again a lot of organisations offer leave loading, which means you get paid your normal base salary plus a bit extra when you do take annual leave. As an incentive for employees to take time off. and fingers crossed for your IELTS results!! let me know how you get on.

If you have someone to stay with while you look for a place that would help you out a lot. As it can take some time. When we moved here from the UK in 2017 we had no references and no jobs. However like a previous poster said we had a recent bank statement that showed we could pay the rent for the next 6 months. Going to open houses you will find a lot of other people are looking and if they have rental history estate agents are more likely to put them forward as candidates to the home owners. You may get lucky and find someone who is trusting and understanding but most just want an assurance that you will be able to pay. Which is where the bank statement comes in handy.

Hiya, I was in a very similar position three years ago! I studied BSc Psychology, and then went on to social work, as a support worker for homelessness. I did this for about 5 years. So we applied for a 489 visa, state sponsored by SA and we have been living in Adelaide for 19 months. So your migration agent is right to be confident! We actually did our application without an agent as it’s an extra expense and the process is pretty straight forward. For the skills assessment I had to submit a current CV outlining my job role and they look to see if it fits into the community/social worker role which is on the skilled Visa list. Yes you will need to submit transcripts and certificates, employment details and you have to do an English language test IELTS. Yes even if you’re English. I was born and raised in London and still had to do the test as it makes for a fairer process I think, and English skills do vary even within England! This is a skilled work list for Australia, http://www.visabureau.com/australia/anzsco/jobs/social-worker-job-australia.aspx You will have to have your skills assessed through an official assessing authority. I think that’s the AASW Australian Association of Social Workers. Or VETASSESS. Which is skills assessment for migration. This highlights what they will be looking for. If you scroll down you can see the applications you will need to fill in. https://www.aasw.asn.au/careers-study/assessment-of-social-work-qualifications-international-or-australian-for-migration-and-or-employment-purposes - Your general information - Secondary and Higher Education where you studied etc. - You will also need to complete an IELTS test for English. And attach your score. - Work details e.g. employer, length of time. You didn’t mention if you have done IELTS yet so… https://www.ielts.org/ Hope that helps. It can be a long process and lots of document gathering but worth it. Also you will find even with an agent your still going to have to fill in the majority of these forms yourself. And at the end of the process there is a form 80 which goes into ridiculous details, you have to list your sibling’s information and parent’s info and where you have travelled to in the last 10 years with dates! It’s Laborious but again once it’s done it’s done. And if you did want to go the psychologist route as I am now doing. AHPRA are a headache but hey once its done its done! Hope that helps!!