pathway e

[stacybird123]

just got off the phone to my agent....................he says that my best bet now would be to get assessed under pathway e. He told me that a client of his recently paid £3,700 to get assessed as a painter and decorater as he too was like me and had no formal qualifications. This seems like alot of money but someone from australia has to come over to assess you, why can't we go over there to be assessed, would it be any cheaper???

 

Anyway does any body know any more than me on pathway e and my options as ive tried to search the net for info but can't seem to find any good sites or info.

 

 

regards,

 

 

jason

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Jason

 

Be very, VERY wary of this option, my friend. It does not sound to me like your Agent really understands what is on offer.

 

Please see the following extract:

 

"Hi all,

 

Australian ********* Training Services Pty Ltd is an Australian Training Company, working in the UK. Our company provides a work assessment for people in the building and construction industry, who have no formal qualifcations, and wish to have these recognised in Australia. We visit your worksites and collect evidence towards the Australin Qualifications.

 

We have found that many people coming to Australia do not hold the formal qualifcation to get a licence to operate in many of the states, or have the General Safety Induction Course etc. We are offering all of these services. The advantage to us, is that we come to you, afterall, you are the client. (Load of rubbish - the £3,700 is the "advantage to us" - the service provider: basic literacy might help with this advert - Gill!!!)

 

We have formal acknowledgement from TRA as follows:

 

 

Question 1. Will TRA accept an AQF III qualification from ACTS, towards assessing points for migration purposes?

YES, If the Certificated III is awarded on a workplace assessment, not training, then TRA requires evidence as per UAC section 12.7 that shows; The assessment was conducted by an Australian RTO, by a holder of a AQF IV training & assessment or higher, in the presence of an Australian trained & qualified subject matter expert, across all compulsory core competencies of the training package & consistent with the requirements of the relevant training package. We would also require 4 years of work experience as per UAC 12.2.

 

 

 

 

Work Assessments (otherwise known as RPL) is our service offering for now. In 2008, We will be delivering any gap training requirements in the UK, to meet the Australian Qualifcation Standards.

 

 

 

 

To contact our firm or to discuss your needs, please contact us or request your immigration agent to follow up with us."

 

 

 

I have deleted all the contact info because Tim (site admin) deleted the thread since it was straightforward advertising and there is no guarantee that this service will cut any ice with the Australian Authorities. There are several such companies which have sprung up recently following the closure of Skilled Pathway D.

 

The general idea is that in return for substantial fees (an Agent told me between £3,500 to £4,000, typically) these companies will argue that they have provided the training and skills assessment, and that their Wannabe firm comes within the meaing of the phrase which I have highlighted in Bold aboove.

 

However, as yet there is some doubt about whether the Australian Govt will accept this assertion. Lawyers acting for the promoters of the relevant "for-profit" Wannabe companies are arguing that their clients do come within the meaning of the highlighted phrase. Apparently lawyers for the Government insist that this is nonsense and that the only relevant skills asessment bodies are the ones listed in the ASRI Code. I am told that the promoters of the companies are threatening litigation in order to try to prove their legal stance but that no litigation has been commenced so far.

 

The Agent who described all this to me on the phone is very experienced and I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of his advice. He said that his firm of RMAs has had several flyers from several of these Wannabe Companies recently, all aimed at trying to get the RMA to make exclusive referrals to the relevant Wanabe concerned. (It would not surprise me if this idea also includes an offer of commission for the Agent, though the RMA did not mention this possibility and I did not ask.)

 

He said that his own firm is filing all of the flyers in the"urgent" tray on the floor because there is no proof as yet that the Govt, and the Agencies authorised by it, will accept what these Wannabes say. If they won't accept the Wannabe's stance that the candidate meets skilled Pathway E or whatever it happens to be, then the candidate will end up having to pay the fees of the approved Agency anyway - over and above any amounts paid to the Wannabe - if the candidate wants to pursue the notion of trying to obtain the relevant skills assessment. So it could all simply turn out be a very expensive hiding to nowhere, in effect, unless the Wannabes take the Govt to Court and the Wannabes win tthe litigation.

 

I would be VERY sceptical of your Agent's claim that one of his clients used one of these Wannabes and now has a successful assessment from the TRA under Pathway E. Cause and effect are not necessarily involved here. Did this allegedly successful candidate succeed because of the intervention of (and the fees paid to) the Wannabe, or would he have succeeded off his own bat anyway? For £3,700, I'd tell the Wannabe to pay the TRA fees for me, after all....

 

Demanding sight of any Agreement between the Agent and the Wannabe would soon reveal whether any backhanders to the Agent are involved, too, I suggest...

 

I'd want something a heckuva lot stronger and more convincing than you have been offered so far before I would fork out the thick end of £4,000 on one of these Wannabes, so I do urge you to tread very warily and to insist on MUCH more information than you have so far been offered, my friend.

 

Regards

 

Gill

[stacybird123]

i hear what your saying but seriously what other options do i have????

 

i have not heard anything back from tra concerning my aplication being denied un fairly and im still fuming by the way........if you did not know my aplication was in on time before the changes but they still assessed me under a different pathway which i just don't understand as others on here were in exactly the same boat and most got through..........i have emailed my case officer time and time again asking for a interanl review, on there site the least they say they will do is get your officer to get in touch with you but ive heard nothing, its a joke if you ask me.............i dont normally get down about things but this really has messed my head up i gotta say, especially seeing australia last year for the first time, we made our decision then that we just gotta do it, now i just don't know if we will ever get there, its just so much hassle and i don't know if i can recover from this knock back and whether i can really be bothered with it any more.

 

 

 

thanks for the reply

 

 

jason

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Jason

 

Did you lodge a formal Appeal against the TRA refusal? Surely your Agent did that for you within the 60 day time limit for Appealing rather than simply relying on informal negotiation alone?

 

Have you tried employer sponsorship? Trust me, it can EASILY take upwards of 12 months to find a sponsor, and dispiriting knock-backs along the way are inevitable, but if you really, really stick at it, the chances are that you can succeed.

 

We had to wait for 13 long years before a technical problem in the legislation about Parent visas was removed, finally enabling my mother (then 86, now 87) to get PR in Oz via a Contributory Parent visa in 2006. For the whole 13 years prior to that, Mum had shuttled back & forth between the UK and Oz on her own every year, dividing her time between my sister in Perth and me in the UK. Mum still travels alone despite not being able to walk more than a few yards nowadays, even with her zimmer-frame. For more than just a short walk at home or in transit whilst waiting to change flights in Singapore, Mum is confined to a wheelchair.

 

We all felt that the relevant provision in the legislation was iniquitous and that Mum was being disadvantaged unfairly by it, but since we had no power to get the legislation changed, we just put up, shut up and did the best we could with the situation as it was. The Law ws eventually changed in 2004 so as to remove the disadvantage to Mum and others like her, hence she now has PR in Oz albeit at the considerable cost of one of the most expensive visas there is. Mum's was about £15,000 sterling all up, for the visa alone and with none of the perks that a skilled worker with immediate PR can expect from the State. But it is worth it to us in spite of the costs and the limitations because it is the only viable offer on the table, my friend, and it took 13 long years in the coming.

 

Billy Braveheart is a brickie. His first Agent let him down so badly that Billy passed his 45th birthday with nothing having been done. At first, he was getting nowhere with getting sponsorship and became as despondent as you are right now but guess what? They kept plugging away and they are now living in Perth and loving it. Their application for PR on an employer sponsored visa has now begun. In the meantime they are on the temp 457 visa.

 

If you read some of the posts by tony&lynne, you will see the struggle that they have had as well, but Lynne is now in Sydney and Tony & the children will be joining her in a couple of weeks. Please see here:

 

Poms In Oz - Search Results

 

Jason, honey, any of us who have been through set-backs with visas know exactly how you feel and you have our total support and sympathy. However, here on PIO we DO NOT DO "giving up." It is not in the Book of Possible Options.

 

Getting PR on an employer sponsored visa is more long-winded if you do not have a successful TRA assessment under your belt, but what is 2-3 years out of the whole of the rest of your - as yet - relatively young life? THOUSANDS of others have done it before you, so there is no reason why you can't as well. chum.

 

Billy braveheart is in touch with an Agency in Perth (I think) who may be able to help to find you a sponsored job. It would also be worth contacting Andrew Tarrant via this thread:

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/jobs-careers/27345-brickies-jobs-queensland-area.html

 

I don't know what the guy needs 400 brickies for but whatever is being built will require all the later trades as well, such as the floor-laying plus the carpet-fitting, I firmly suggest. So get in touch with Andrew Tarrant and ask questions, I recommend.

 

Come on, Jason. Bulldog spirit and let's get your best foot forward, shall we? Today is the first day ofthe rest of your life and it is NOT going to be a life filled with regret and bitterness, my friend. Instead it is going to be one of success, happiness and living your dream.

 

Hugz

 

Gill

xx

[Guest Mrs Braveheart]

i hear what your saying but seriously what other options do i have????

 

i have not heard anything back from tra concerning my aplication being denied un fairly and im still fuming by the way........if you did not know my aplication was in on time before the changes but they still assessed me under a different pathway which i just don't understand as others on here were in exactly the same boat and most got through..........i have emailed my case officer time and time again asking for a interanl review, on there site the least they say they will do is get your officer to get in touch with you but ive heard nothing, its a joke if you ask me.............i dont normally get down about things but this really has messed my head up i gotta say, especially seeing australia last year for the first time, we made our decision then that we just gotta do it, now i just don't know if we will ever get there, its just so much hassle and i don't know if i can recover from this knock back and whether i can really be bothered with it any more.

 

 

 

thanks for the reply

 

 

jason

 

Hi Jason

 

I do not know anything about the new pathway as hubby passed under TRA. But I do now ALL about the way you are feeling at the moment and yes it can be very dishearting. We too were ready to give it all up & forget about it but thankfully we didn't.

 

Type billy braveheart (OH) into the search engine above & you will see what we had to go through to get here.

 

It seems to me that rather than your agent asking you for a extra £3700 he should first & formost be finding out about your appeal and the outcome of it firstly. Have you considered changing agents as they sound hopless to me. Gill is right WE DO NOT DO GIVING UP ON PIO and we wont let you. Trust me we know exactley how you feel as we suffered so many knock backs in trying to get to Oz. The one thing you do have going for you is your age there is still plenty of time for you with youth on your side. If you give up now you will always have the "What if" feeling. Try and put the whole OZ thing outta your mind for the new year ( well a week) then in January start again fighting fit & refreshed it can really get you down this whole visa process. Sometimes you just need to take a step back to focus.

 

Janette