chris8189 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 (edited) Hi Guys, I am a recent graduate Mechanical Engineer with a Masters degree from Newcastle University in the UK. I am currently working as an engineer in Newcastle, but I've wanted to move to Australia for a while now and I feel now is the time to get the ball rolling. I have been trawling the internet looking at forums and advice on the best way to go about it but I keep getting contradicting information so thought I'd see if anyone on PIO could help me! Ideally I am looking for a role within design and manufacturing, which would preferably be some sort of graduate scheme, however looking at what other people are saying that can be hard for international graduates so I would be willing to work my way up from a non-skilled role. Any advice on if people think this is possible? Whether it's best to apply form the UK or travel to Australia and apply from there? Will I hit a stumbling block in terms of visas? Ideally I'd like to live and work in Brisbane, as I have family there. My credentials are: MSc Mechanical Engineering, BSc Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering an 5 years of prior experience working full time in industry. As I mentioned, I have family over in Aus as well, who live in Brisbane, so I was considering either going down the family sponsorship visa route, or the skilled migrant visa, as I have 5 years of previous full time work experience in industry. I am hoping to move out there around May 2014, and I was just wondering when I should lodge an EOI (Expression Of Interest) with one of the aforementioned visas. Research suggests as soon as possible, however I currently don't have the funds for it yet, so I need to save up! If anyone on here can offer any advice on this, I'd very much appreciate it. Chris Edited September 2, 2013 by chris8189 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic1964 Posted September 2, 2013 Share Posted September 2, 2013 Hi Chris, I'm a Chemical engineer who came out here last year, but with lots of experience, so slightl different case. I went down the skilled migration visa route, didnt use and agent, and found the whole process (for me and my family) very straightforward. Having my own visa, which wasnt tied to a state, meant that I could apply for jobs anywhere within Australia. Costs werent too high either. I then contacted a number of agents, and waited until the right job offer came up. Ended up in Perth, which we love. With limited experience, I would suggest you will also need to be really flexible on the job and where you work, so having family in Aus would also be a help as you have some where to stay without the high cost of renting etc. Overall I would suggest you look to go down the skilled route, head out to Brisbane, and then start trawling for jobs. I would also suggest you keep your options open, even graduate engineers here in Perth are finding it hard, and I have friends who have non-engineering jobs as a fill in. Hope that helps a bit. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris8189 Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Thanks for the reply. I do have 5 years of full time engineering experience, which is a quite a lot for someone my age (24). When would you suggest lodging an EOI? ASAP? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebourvellec Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 With your age - perhaps a WHV might be good place to start. As with skilled migration - your family can not be sponsors as they live in Brisbane - only certain family members that live in regional Australia can sponsor for 489 which is a Provisional Visa. Also only work experience post qualification will count for points purposes, not sure how you can have 5 years full time work experience when you are a recent graduate. If you wish to go down the skilled migration route, you will need to look at getting skills assessed by Engineers Australia, which should be straightforward if your degree is covered under Washington Accord. You will need to sit IELTS to gain the extra points to be able to pass the points test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris8189 Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 Would a a working holiday visa really be a good start, considering I have agraduate job in the UK, have experience which includes completing an apprenticeship in Mechanical draughting. Not everybody prior to having a degree has never worked. I've been lucky in the sense that I've worked since I was 16 and done my degree the 'hard way' by working full time whilst I was doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebourvellec Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 (edited) If you have a graduate job perhaps you should finish the graduate program of you job you are currently in. A WHV is cheap and quick - you have no dependents and will be able for you to check out the job market in Australia, to see if it is where you want to be - perhaps get a sponsorship or apply for skilled migration while you are in Australia. ( Skilled migration visa cost you around £3000-£4000 without using an agent - WHV about £200) As you stated graduate jobs in Australia are hard to get as Australia has their own Australian graduates and there is also the 476 Recognised Graduate visa for recent engineering graduates, so competition will be high for graduate jobs. DIAC do not care how you gained your qualification - but for points purposes only post qualification work experience is considered as highly relevant and will be counted. This does not mean that the work experience that you have done will not be relevant to an employer or make you more employable, but wont be considered for the migration process.. You would need to prove that all your work experience before gaining your qualification was at the same skill level as a fully qualified Engineer. You can get your work experience assessed by Engineers Australia. If DIAC do not accept your claims for work experience - your application will be refused and you will lose your application fee - as there are no refunds for the VAC which is currently around $3500. Getting skills assessed by EA through Washington Accord - does not require a set number of recent highly relevant work experience - which many other occupations do require. We have a GSM visa, with Mechanical Engineer as the nominated occupation, we were not able to go down the Washington Accord route, even after being Chartered by IMechE, therefore had to go through the long process of CDR. Edited September 3, 2013 by lebourvellec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hi Guys,I am a recent graduate Mechanical Engineer with a Masters degree from Newcastle University in the UK. I am currently working as an engineer in Newcastle, but I've wanted to move to Australia for a while now and I feel now is the time to get the ball rolling. I have been trawling the internet looking at forums and advice on the best way to go about it but I keep getting contradicting information so thought I'd see if anyone on PIO could help me! Ideally I am looking for a role within design and manufacturing, which would preferably be some sort of graduate scheme, however looking at what other people are saying that can be hard for international graduates so I would be willing to work my way up from a non-skilled role. Any advice on if people think this is possible? Whether it's best to apply form the UK or travel to Australia and apply from there? Will I hit a stumbling block in terms of visas? Ideally I'd like to live and work in Brisbane, as I have family there. My credentials are: MSc Mechanical Engineering, BSc Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering an 5 years of prior experience working full time in industry. As I mentioned, I have family over in Aus as well, who live in Brisbane, so I was considering either going down the family sponsorship visa route, or the skilled migrant visa, as I have 5 years of previous full time work experience in industry. I am hoping to move out there around May 2014, and I was just wondering when I should lodge an EOI (Expression Of Interest) with one of the aforementioned visas. Research suggests as soon as possible, however I currently don't have the funds for it yet, so I need to save up! If anyone on here can offer any advice on this, I'd very much appreciate it. Chris So you asked for advice and I will share mine. If you have a highly sought after graduate role in UK, I cannot think why you would give that up in order to take a backwards step in Australia. Someone who has cut their teeth in UK will be much better regarded than someone who did so in Australia on any international stage. I would recommend putting plans on hold, getting yourself more established with a solid post qualification track record in UK. Then revisit this in a couple of years or so. By then maybe you could be a really attractive employment prospect and could be commanding what you want to do and where. Regardless of when you move, I cannot think why you would go for a WHV when you would qualify for a skilled migrant visa, the skilled migrant visa will stand you in much better stead and you will be taken more seriously by employers than the average WHV holder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casson35 Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 So you asked for advice and I will share mine. If you have a highly sought after graduate role in UK, I cannot think why you would give that up in order to take a backwards step in Australia. Someone who has cut their teeth in UK will be much better regarded than someone who did so in Australia on any international stage. I would recommend putting plans on hold, getting yourself more established with a solid post qualification track record in UK. Then revisit this in a couple of years or so. By then maybe you could be a really attractive employment prospect and could be commanding what you want to do and where. Regardless of when you move, I cannot think why you would go for a WHV when you would qualify for a skilled migrant visa, the skilled migrant visa will stand you in much better stead and you will be taken more seriously by employers than the average WHV holder. I will second parts of what Rupert has said from my personal experience. You would probably be better off getting some solid experience in the UK first before you come over and try and make it, especially in the current work climate over here. I came over to Perth on a working holiday visa 4 weeks ago, I'm a boilermaker/boat builder by trade. I've come across quite a few job adverts stating 'Working Holiday Visa holders need not apply'. I was very fortunate to get a job building boats in my first week of looking but that was out of 15 applications and I only heard back from 1 application. They have offered me a 457 while I apply for permanent residency but I now need to think long and hard before I give up the working holiday visa and potentially be stuck with this employer until the PR go's through. I may have no choice though since there is plenty of boilermakers with PR looking for work over here at the moment so its pretty unlikely for me to find any other work. I'm definitely not complaining, its nice to have at least a couple of options and feel very lucky to have found a job so quick. It just gives you an idea of what situation you could end up in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris8189 Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 Well these replies are quite discouraging. I don't want to be in the UK any longer, and I thought my employment history would stand me ingoodstead to movetoAus, but clearly not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Well these replies are quite discouraging. I don't want to be in the UK any longer, and I thought my employment history would stand me ingoodstead to movetoAus, but clearly not! I thought you wanted career advice as you talked about your career a fair bit. You are a new graduate, new graduates need to compete for work and as one from UK you might find it harder, employers more likely to give their own a go. On the other hand if you get yourself more established with post qualification experience you could be a force to be reckoned with in the future. As career advice there is nothing discouraging about that... I would be delighted to told that I was on a strong career trajectory. If you just want to move to Australia though and were purely looking for visa advice, then i probably misunderstood what you were looking for earlier. So in that case, I am sure you won't have a problem getting a visa, I would again recommend the skilled migrant visa over the WHV, it is a lot more work to get but will open more doors for you, the WHV will put many employers off. If you are thinking short term, the WHV is ideal as a quick and easy visa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mushahid Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 I agree with Rupert, having Masters qualifications and going for WHV is a bit odd TBH...You could easily get through the skilled migration process.... All the best for your job hunt process and I am sure you can easily find good jobs in Australia...with a little bit of research Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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