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Hi, just looking for other peoples experience with how long this process has taken recently. My husband is a carpenter, we have 70 points and are looking to apply for a 491 visa for South Australia (we are using a MARA agent to help with the process). Our EOI was lodged with SA as our preference on the 31st August. How long has it taken for this to come back recently for other tradies with an invite to apply? Just wondering if we are potentially looking at a long wait… Any advice or tips for the whole process would be gratefully received

Hi all Any help/advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I keep going around in circles trying to find the answer to the following: When an applicant passes the practical assessment with Vetassess and they receive an AQF certificate III (based on 3 years skilled work experience as Capenter and Joiner), can this then be used to claim 10 points under the educational qualifications, where it states 'You have completed a trade qualification for award by an Australian educational institution.' or 'You have attained a qualification or award recognised by the relevant assessing authority in determining your skills for your nominated occupation.'? Unfortunately, I have received conflicting information. An agent we have asked says these points can be claimed, but I believe we would have to input start and end dates of study which we would not have as the qualification was obtained through skills assessment. Any ideas? Thanks for your time. Sara

Hello everyone this is my first post on this site. I passed the first stage of my assessment and on to stage 2 which is the Technical interview. I've been working in building maintenance mostly (I probably do more joinery these days.) and my technical jargon knowledge is a little rusty. So I am a bit worried about failing the test. Has anyone sat the Carpentry test recently and can provide me some typical example questions? I would even pay for a decent revision tutor! Thanks in advance! Steve

Good day I am looking for employment in Australia. I have Carpentry, Building Supervision, Sales and Marketing experience and my wife is a Lawyer. We have a 1 year old son and we are looking to move to Australia but we have no idea where to start. Any help will be appreciated. Armand de Klerk

Hi. Our business is in need of UK trained carpenters/joiners who want to work on heritage wooden windows. Our business is a leader and booming. We know UK has the skilled trades, as we already have them on our team now in Oz. If your serious about a job and settling in Australia see http://www.seek.com.au/Job/36406079/?cid=ios-share We are not offering sponsorship but we are offering a job in a business that’s spread nationally in a short period

Hi, i'm currently looking for maintenance plumbers, electricians and especially carpenters in metro Adelaide for on going work. Please contact me for more information Mike

Hi Guys, I have started looking at getting a skilled workers visa, ( Independent preferably) I am a qualified carpenter with an estimated 55 points. I understand i have to take an English test to boost the points over the threshold. Basically looking for advice on the best approach from people with similar experience. Is it best to do the application myself or through and agent? whats the stages of applying? I`m assuming sitting the English test is the first port of call? Any advice greatly appreciated. Thanks

Carpenters required in Melbourne for full time work on a permanent basis. Tools & vehicle supplied. Sub-contractors welcome to apply. Previous stair experience preferable, however comprehensive on the job training is provided. https://www.seek.com.au/job/35193877?type=standout&userqueryid=18d8ffed992cce8258cab2e129acbfa4-4558356

Hi All Is it possilbe to pass a carpenter vetassess on experience alone? A little background: My brother is 41 and has worked as a carpentry for 20 years, though he has no formal qualification, he did complete a 4 year apprenticeship but struggles with ADHD and was unable to pass the final written exams. Cheers

Hi All I am look for information on current visas options to enter the country. My brother who is a qualified carpenter is looking to make a permanent move to Australia and move to a regional area with his family. He 42 years old and willing to get trade assessed etc. what options are open to him other than the 457 visa? Thank you

Hi, looking for some help. Yes, "aint we all" I here you cry. Looking to move from UK to Brisbane late 2015 and basically AM going to start my own business over there. I am self employed here in the UK and have been for 10 years and made it work. Because that's what you have to do in life. Make thinks work for you. Read some really negative things on these threads and no doubt there will be more to follow here. But..... you got to start somewhere. So here I am. I'll tell you what I am looking for. Have you had a quote aor a job done from a Carpenter? How much did it cost. Or even, if you have not had work carried out, how much do you think it would cost. Now I know here I charge £25-40.00 per interior door fit. I know I charge £6.00/m2 to lay laminate flooring. It's £20.00 per metre to install fencing and i know how to transfer the exchange rate from GBP to AUD. However I realise we live in the real world and that doesnt work. I apologise in advance if I sound bullish, or blunt, but sometimes you just got to ask. I have seen places like Doors Plus etc charging $768 to supply and fit 3 white primed 4 or 6 panel doors. An offer I put out at £165-£180.00 I did try to retrieve quotes from 4 different carpenters for fitting of 5 Interior doors. Shockingly, none got back to me. Maybe saying the job was located in Rocklea was my downfall here but you have to go where the work is.... right? I appreciate you taking the time to read this and appreciate ANY feedback. Good and bad. Life's not all sunshine and flowers. Sometimes you got to start with good manure! lol Thank you, Robert

Hi guys, Any help would be great. I'm a time served carpenter with 8 years experience and I currently am a director of a ltd company in the UK (construction). I want to know if I need to go through the skills test to go through a 457 sponsorship as I have no official qualification? I've heard they are not necessary but i'm not so sure! Seeing if I can save some time and money! Can anyone please tell me what will be required of myself to go through the process? I am aware carpentry 457's are hard to come by but think I have a firm that will take me on. Many thanks, Terry

I have tried searching for these answers but no luck. during my apprenticeship i worked over 20 hours which was paid. can i claim this as work experience? Or does only experience after apprenticeship count? also i now work as an estimator and health & safety officer still within construction, would this count as related work experience? thanks for your help. Rob

Hi folks I am looking for some help to fill in my EOI on skillselect as in a bit of a panic over it. Please could someone guide me on how to fill in the EOI form, as I am unsure about sections like education and work experience. My Background I am from the uk so I have a British passport I am 31 years old I have had a positive result back from Vetassess for my carpentry skills. I have done my apprenticeship, which was 5 years from 2004 - 2009 I then did carpentry from 2009 to 2012 I am now a h&s officer and estimator for a construction company from 2012 to present My wife has got a brother who is permanent resident in Australia so could use him as sponsorship for 5 extra points if needed but would idealy like a 189 visa. I have got my IELTS booked for 6th of December just in case I need to get extra points Questions On the education and work experience sections do I put that I have now got a Australian III certificate or not? On the work experience section do I include my apprenticeship years as I see from some older posts people are unsure whether to include these years. Also should I include my h&s/estimator role as it is related to construction Thanks in advanced for anyone's help

So this morning after worrying about it for so long I received some great news from Vic Uni - my skills assessment had been successful! Now that I have the skills assessment required and I got 8.5/8.5/8.5/8.0 for IELTS, I am now ready to submit an EOI for a skilled independent migration visa (189) as I have the 60 points required. Does anyone have any advice or anything to look out for when submitting my EOI? I'll also share my full experience with Vic Uni for those interested or in a similar position to myself. I am a 24 year old carpenter from Scotland. I qualified as a carpenter in September 2010 after a 4 year apprenticeship. After returning from a Working Holiday in Melbourne 2012/2013 staying with relatives, seeing their lifestyle and the opportunities for work in Melbourne I decided I'd like to move there. After a lot of research and gathering, the time came to submit all my documentary evidence to Vic Uni to start the skills assessment process. I submitted around 3/4 payslips (from a variety of different dates) for each employer (6) I had worked under since I qualified, I also got references from each employer and 2 supplied more detailed 'employment statements', as well as my TradeSet report and photographic work evidence w/ technical write-up. I posted all my evidence on May 21 2014 and it was received at their end on May 28 2014. On 11th June 2014 I received an email stating one of employment statements had to have more detail and I also needed a statutory declaration + letter from accountant confirming my self-employment for a period of 1 year and some alterations were needed to my photographic evidence. My advice would be to follow their guidelines completely, it was my fault that these items were missing from my package. After re-submitting my revised evidence on 19/6/14 I was informed on 2/7/14 I had been successful in the documentary evidence stage. A date (17/7/14) was arranged for my 2 hour Skype Interview for my skills assessment. I was rather nervous building up to this as I had been reading about people who had been in the trade for 15-25 years going for this assessment, I felt that my experience (or lack thereof) may hinder my ambitions. I would recommend to anyone who is going for this assessment to brush up on Australian Health and Safety as a lot of the questions he asked were related to this. Work Safe is a good website for research. The assessor was great, he understood the differences in terminology/technique etc and took this into account. The questions he asked were all from a booklet which was based on the candidate guideline you are given by Vic Uni in preparation for the assessment. I would highly recommend the service that Vic Uni provide for skills assessment, all of my emails were (generally) replied to within 24 hours and they walked me through the process step-by-step. I realise this is a bit of a passage to read but I appreciate it if you take the time to read it and have any advice regarding my EOI. Any questions regarding anything in this thread are welcome as well! Thanks, Steven

Hi guys, Me and my partner had our 190 visa lodged today!,:biggrin: Just wanted to to start a thread of members lodging in December so we can track each other's progress! Cheers Gary

hi I have been in Australia for 4 and a half months now, I got a job as a carpenter as soon as I got out here and my boss said he will sponsor me a few weeks into it, but time has gone by and every time I asked him about it he said yeh come see me tomorrow ect... times running out now and basically he isn't sponsoring me he's just been stringing me along. does anyone know of any companies who offer 457 visas for carpenters? as I am really struggling to get a job with a sponsorship included.

Hi, last night my husband completed the tradeSET questionnaire as a Joiner. He's never used computer controlled machinery so ticked 'no' to this question. He also completed his online skill assessment to Vetassess and paid the $600. Now I'm printing off the TradeSET report and can see it's suggesting that computer operated machinery is listed as 'mandatory'! Does this mean his skill assessment will fail?? He's been a joiner for 20 years and none of the workshops have ever used computer controlled machines (CAD)! Has anyone else not been able to answer 'yes' to all of the TradeSET questions? Did it matter? The report just states it as 'Skills and evidence I may need' and states that if the report indicates gaps in your skills 'please discuss these with the RTO you select to conduct your skill assessment'. They're not open now and are closed for Labour day on Monday. Can anyone help?! Pretty please??

Hi I received an email this morning informing me that I'd passed the first part of the assessment and asked if I could be in either London, Guildford or North Glasgow at 9am next Monday. I live in Yorkshire and it roughly a 4hr drive to any of them places, I understand it's for a Skype interview. I have a friend who managed to get his Skype interview done at home, he's very good at arguing his case! Has anyone else managed this? Does anyone know the exact location of the 3 sites so I can work out which will be best for me if I have to go? Cheers

Hi, Does anyone know whether my husband can book the practical part of his skill assessment (he's a carpenter) before he's received the Employment and Training Assessment part back? Looking at the Vetassess website the practical assessments appear to be every 2 months with the next one being in London on 22nd March. The deadline for booking this is the 7th March however I don't think we'll have received his paper Employment and Training Assessment results by then. Any ideas?? Thanks for any help

Hey all, Its been over a year since I was last on here, apologies about the delay. I have meant to come on here more regularly to help out with anyone needing assistance. I moved out to Brisbane on the 12th October 2011 on a 176 Visa as a Carpenter. That was then changed to a Residents Visa virtually straight away for some reason. I went through the process of completing the Vetassess Carpentry so any questions fire away. I can also help with any queries about what you should bring over here. Also if you live in the Brisbane area I advise on what to do and where to go. Cheers Matt (East Brisbane) :biggrin:

Hi Has anyone got a good link or an example of a good Aussie style Resume - I have trawled lots of sites and there are so many variations. I have heard employers are particular in having an "Aussie Style Resume" over a "typical British one" so can anyone shed some light on what a Aussie one looks like? Thanks x

Hi everyone. I am new to the site and hoping to get a little advice regarding the EOI form. I am not using an agent and want to make sure that I do not over claim for points. I have just sat the carpentry technical interview with VU (still waiting to hear back) and will pick up 25 points for my age (37), 20 points for English, and 15 points for my degree. Although I have at least 8 years employment history in the last 10 I do not intend to claim for these as they were pre qualification. My question is this......can I claim points for family sponsorship by my partner's brother who is an Australian citizen. My partner will be included on the visa application along with our 2 boys. If so, is there a bond which would need to be paid?

What is it that my husband actually has to do? He is a Carpenter and I have seen 2 different names of assessors etc that he has to do? could someone clarify what he has to do to confirm to WA that he is a carpenter and with whom? Also I have seen different numbers of assessments…..I thought I knew all this but I think I have been reading too much or it has changed! :nah: Thanks:cute:

Can anyone give me some information on places to do White card training for ACT? My husband is a carpenter and needs to do this training. I found A list of RTO's but I am not having much luck finding a course for my husband in Aug when we arrive. I did find CIT but that one is almost 200 AUD. Is that the normal price? Thanks for your advice on this. Just trying to get things worked out for when we get over there.