star1976 Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Hi Poms I hope you are all well. I wonder if anyone can advise me on my predicament to try for PR. I am in Sydney on 457 working for Nokia. I have been a mobile telecoms network engineer for 12 years working for Nokia, Ericsson, Orange and 3 along with 2 years in Dubai for DU. When I came to Oz in Oct 2010 I was initially employed via an agency who provided by 457 visa although I have always been deployed in Nokia's premises. In Nov 2011 Nokia took me on permanently and gave me a new 457 visa sponsored by them. The view was that after 1 year (Nov 2012) they would apply for employer sponsored PR for me. Since July 2012 I have been informed that the rules have changed and that I need to be employed by the sponsoring company for 2 years instead of 1 unless I go through the channel of getting my skills assessed. According to the skills list a telecoms engineer needs to get a skills assessment from Engineer Australia. Unfortunately when I contact them they will not provide me with a skills assessment since I don't have a bachelors degree and didn't go to uni. I have an HNC in Network Support and over 20 vendor telecoms certificates and along with the 12 years of experience but they wont assess me without a degree. When I speak to the migration agent that Nokia uses he says I can do nothing other than wait until Nov 2013 and then the employer sponsored PR can be lodged without the skills assessment. Apparently he said I can be assessed from Vetasses who will look at my qualifications and work experience but can only assess me to the level of technician. Since I am employed as a senior engineer the PR application will be rejected since I am being employed in a role that I am under qualified for! Does anyone know of any other way around this? Many thanks and sorry its so long winded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 We are effectively in the same position. We contacted 2 agents who told us the same thing. It's frustrating but not much we can do it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 It is hard to wait I know, but that is what you will have to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.