Electricians In Australia

[janice1uk]

Hi Janice1 uk,

Once you have been granted a visa you can apply for an ARTC as resident of Australia.

However, some people have, in the past, experienced problems applying for an ARTC if they have already been assessed by VETASSESS. Read this LINK on a discussion I had with someone some time ago.

My own personal opinion is that these problems occurred in the early days of VETASSESS and may of been the result of teething problems and misunderstandings between the TRA and VETASSESS. Recent posts I've read include many people who have successfully applied for an ATRC after being assessed by VETASSESS.

Also, I'm assuming you are applying for an ARTC in order to attend PEER so as to get an SA licence- is this correct?

Also which state are you intending to reside in. The reason I ask is that some people have encountered problems transferring their licences to Queensland under mutual recognition.

Regards Derren

Hi there, We are still waiting on the visa had the meds just waiting to be finalised. We will be living in Adelaide and he will attending peer. Thanks for you quick response.

[derren7]

Hi Derren,

Thanks for the info, you mentioned points req would be about 65, is that not including the points you get for the occupation?

Do you know if costs for the skype interview will be similar to the vetasses?

Thanks Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Have just found out the costs for the Skype interview.

According to a poster who has just had this assessment it, it costs $650 for a paper based assessment, and then a further $1550 for the technical interview on Skype.

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

Hi Derren,

You have been a fantastic help.

Just to summarise then, we need to get his skills assessed first and then apply for a visa, upon arrival in Oz he needs to apply for his a licence? Is that it or am I missing something?

[derren7]

Hi Derren,

You have been a fantastic help.

Just to summarise then, we need to get his skills assessed first and then apply for a visa, upon arrival in Oz he needs to apply for his a licence? Is that it or am I missing something?

Hi Lisa,

Yes, that's it in a nutshell. Before you actually apply for the PR visa from DIAC you will need to have all assessments and sponsorships in place ie English test (IELTS), and state sponsorship.

I'm not too familiar with the whole migration process as we used a migration agent (Overseas Emigration, who are based in Edinburgh, were recommended to us and were fantastic) and my wife dealt with them as she was the main applicant as a nurse.

As you're looking at Perth as a destination it may be worth looking at this LINK on how someone got their West Australian Licence.

If, no when your husband is successful with his skills assessment he will be issued a certificate, Offshore Technical Skills Record (OTSR).

You will notice in the link provided that the OP has an ARTC as opposed to an OTSR. Do not be concerned with this as it's basically an equivalent.

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

Thanks Derren, you have been a great help.

 

Lisa

[Guest LynseyB]

Hi,

The information above is very useful. One quick question. We are applying with me as the main applicant (Accountant) but we were thinking of getting my husbands skills assessed in UK in order to save time in Oz. If he gets an OSTR here will that suffice to apply for his licence or will he have to apply for an ARTC once we are in Oz anyway?

Thanks!

[derren7]

Hi,

The information above is very useful. One quick question. We are applying with me as the main applicant (Accountant) but we were thinking of getting my husbands skills assessed in UK in order to save time in Oz. If he gets an OSTR here will that suffice to apply for his licence or will he have to apply for an ARTC once we are in Oz anyway?

Thanks!

Hi Lynsey,

We were in the same situation as yourselves. We applied with my wife being the main applicant as a nurse and now that our visa has been granted I am about to apply for an ARTC.

ARTC is the way to go for a number of reasons.

1) With an ARTC you submit an application which includes copies of trade certs and detailed references from employers, and any other documents which back up his claim to be a spark ie JIB card. No practical or paper based assessment unless requested by the TRA, and if he has served and completed an apprenticeship then they are unlikely to ask him to do one

With VETASSESS and Vic uni he would do the same but would have to do a practical and paper based assessment with VETASSESS, or a paper based assessment and technical interview with Vic Uni.

2) an ARTC costs $300 (about £200 at current exchange rate) , VETASSESS and Vic Uni will cost in excess of £1000.

3) an ARTC will give him the option of doing a correspondence course with PEER ,who are based in Adelaide, and then go to Adelaide upon arrival to do the 5 day revision/ exam in order to get a South Australian licence.

A lot of sparks with OTSR's apply for an ARTC in order to do this because most states require on the job gap training as well as going to a TAFE (college) and this could take anything up to a year. By doing the ARTC/PEER route, no 'on the job' training is required and you can apply for an SA licence on completion of the exam.

This licence can be transferred to another state licence under the terms of 'mutual recognition'.

Note, he would not be able to apply for an ARTC until you have been granted your visas as an ARTC is for Australian residents only.

He could apply for an ARTC from the UK (takes around 30 days for them to process) but you must supply an Australian address. If you don't I think they hold on to it until you arrive in Australia.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask more questions

Regards Derren

[Guest LynseyB]

Thanks Derren. That was really useful info. We were worried that by not doing the overseas skills test and waiting until in Oz it would take more time until he can be employed. We thought that by doing the overseas skills test it would cut out having to do it in Oz and therefore save time before he can earn money. I take it from your post that this is not the case so doing the overseas skills test would be a waste of time?

[derren7]

Thanks Derren. That was really useful info. We were worried that by not doing the overseas skills test and waiting until in Oz it would take more time until he can be employed. We thought that by doing the overseas skills test it would cut out having to do it in Oz and therefore save time before he can earn money. I take it from your post that this is not the case so doing the overseas skills test would be a waste of time?

Hi Lynsey,

Yeah, personally, I wouldn't bother with the offshore skills assessment. Once your visas have been granted apply for an ARTC from the UK.

Bear in mind that the TRA require detailed evidence. References from employers must be detailed, showing what type of work he did and the tools that he used. It is not sufficient to just state that he was employed as an electrician.

Do you have a preference for any state in Australia.

Regards Derren

[Guest LynseyB]

Hi,

 

Right now we don't have a definite preference of where we would like to go. Thought there would be time for that later as we are concentrating on trying to get the Visa lodged before 1 July changes in case they affect us.

 

He has already got references from two previous employers - these go into detail about the tasks in his job i.e. using drawings, installing etc but they don't go into detail about the tools he uses. Hopefully that will be ok otherwise they would be writing a novel!!! He has all of his trade certificates and qualifications, payslips etc so we were thinking that should be enough but you never know!!!

[Alanlisa]

Now I really am confused. :eek::eek::eek:

 

If he gets an ARTC don't we need VETESSAS for visa application???

 

Hi Lynsey,

We were in the same situation as yourselves. We applied with my wife being the main applicant as a nurse and now that our visa has been granted I am about to apply for an ARTC.

ARTC is the way to go for a number of reasons.

1) With an ARTC you submit an application which includes copies of trade certs and detailed references from employers, and any other documents which back up his claim to be a spark ie JIB card. No practical or paper based assessment unless requested by the TRA, and if he has served and completed an apprenticeship then they are unlikely to ask him to do one

With VETASSESS and Vic uni he would do the same but would have to do a practical and paper based assessment with VETASSESS, or a paper based assessment and technical interview with Vic Uni.

2) an ARTC costs $300 (about £200 at current exchange rate) , VETASSESS and Vic Uni will cost in excess of £1000.

3) an ARTC will give him the option of doing a correspondence course with PEER ,who are based in Adelaide, and then go to Adelaide upon arrival to do the 5 day revision/ exam in order to get a South Australian licence.

A lot of sparks with OTSR's apply for an ARTC in order to do this because most states require on the job gap training as well as going to a TAFE (college) and this could take anything up to a year. By doing the ARTC/PEER route, no 'on the job' training is required and you can apply for an SA licence on completion of the exam.

This licence can be transferred to another state licence under the terms of 'mutual recognition'.

Note, he would not be able to apply for an ARTC until you have been granted your visas as an ARTC is for Australian residents only.

He could apply for an ARTC from the UK (takes around 30 days for them to process) but you must supply an Australian address. If you don't I think they hold on to it until you arrive in Australia.

Hope this helps and feel free to ask more questions

Regards Derren

[derren7]

Now I really am confused. :eek::eek::eek:

 

If he gets an ARTC don't we need VETESSAS for visa application???

Hi Lisa,

Sorry for any confusion caused.

As your OH is the main applicant he has to have his skills assessed by VETASSESS or Vic Uni for migration purposes.

In Lynsey's case , she is the main applicant so her OH does not need his skills assessed for migration purposes.

There would be no point in your OH applying for an ARTC as you're intending on going to Perth and can do the above mentioned course with an OTSR.

Hope I've cleared up any confusion. It really is quite a confusing process and took me a while to understand and get my head around it all. Feel free to ask more questions.

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

Thanks Derren. I have also read that he can have his skills assessed by the TRA and its a lot cheaper, however when I look on their website it points you back to VETASSESS. Do you know anything about this?

[derren7]

Thanks Derren. I have also read that he can have his skills assessed by the TRA and its a lot cheaper, however when I look on their website it points you back to VETASSESS. Do you know anything about this?

Hi Lisa,

Yeah, it's a very confusing set up.

The TRA delegates its offshore skills assessment to VETASSESS and Vic Uni, but only to citizens of certain countries. If you look on the VETASSESS website it shows you a list of the countries, and the UK is one of them. Any countries not on that list still have their offshore skills assessment done by the TRA.

Confusing eh? Why it is set up like this I have no idea.

If you go back a few pages on this thread, you'll see that a poster called frenchieOz would have his offshore skills assessment carried out by the TRA because he is a French citizen and France is not covered by VETASSESS. He would not be issued with an ARTC at this point. Once his visa has been granted then he would have to apply to the TRA AGAIN in order to get an ARTC!!

Sorry if I am causing more confusion but it is only because the process is the way it is,and it's a bizarre system to say the least.

In short, as your OH is a UK resident he will need to have his skills assessed by either VETASSESS or Vic Uni for migration purposes.

Again , feel free to ask more questions

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

Thanks again Derren. You really are a greay help.

 

How do you think the points system will impact on sparks looking to migrate. I notice they aren't giving trade points anymore.

[derren7]

Thanks again Derren. You really are a greay help.

 

How do you think the points system will impact on sparks looking to migrate. I notice they aren't giving trade points anymore.

hi Lisa,

Only a migration agent can really answer that with full confidence but my understanding is that any tradies who have not served an apprenticeship will find it very difficult but not impossible to meet the required 65 points.

You do get points for a trade insofar that it has to be a nominated occupation that is on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). Don't worry, because Electricians are on this list.

Therefore, looking at your situation, and assuming that your OH falls into 33-39 age bracket by the time you apply, your OH would get the following points:

25 points for age

10 points for recognised overseas apprenticeship

15 points for nominated occupation (assuming he has worked 8 of the last 10 years)

Total 50 points

therefore, he will need to do an English test (IELTS) and if he gets 20 points for superior English then he'll get 70 points

If he gets 10 points for proficient English then he'll need to get state sponsorship which gets 5 points, which then totals to 65 points.

Bear in mind that for state sponsorship his occupation needs to be on a state's 'State Migration Plan' ( SMP). Currently, Electricians are on the Western Australia SMP but this list can change quite suddenly.

Also, state sponsorship may require proof of funds. In our case we had to show the equivalent of AUS$ 37,000 of cold hard cash in our bank account for Queensland state sponsorship. They would not accept equity in house as proof of funds. Each state is different. I don't know what WA's requirement is.

Hope I'm not scaring you but you do need to be aware of the pitfalls you are likely to encounter. This is why migration agents and sites like this are invaluable.

We probably could have dealt with the a process ourselves but with both of us working full time and with 3 very young children we found the migration agents to be invaluable. We used a local firm called Overseas Emigration who were brilliant.

they charged us around £1500 for the full service (not cheap I know) but they do a DIY service for about £300 showing you step by step on what to do.

Also, don't forget the fee for the actual PR visa itself, around AUS$ 2575 (around £1700 at the current exchange rate) Plus skills assessment fees and English tests and medical fees and police checks.

Hope I'm not putting you off and looking back I'm wondering how we managed to afford all that!!! Needless to say, we don't get out much!!

Best of luck

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

I thought for the 175 visa it was just one instalment on $2575, someone on here told me that the 2nd instalment of $3575 was only if you had dependants over the age of 18 who didn't have a good standard of education. Is that incorrect???

 

When you say superior standard of english, how easy is it to get that? We are both english so surely it shouldn't be too difficult or do they ask you to write essay's on Macbeth!!! LOL

[derren7]

I thought for the 175 visa it was just one instalment on $2575, someone on here told me that the 2nd instalment of $3575 was only if you had dependants over the age of 18 who didn't have a good standard of education. Is that incorrect???

 

When you say superior standard of english, how easy is it to get that? We are both english so surely it shouldn't be too difficult or do they ask you to write essay's on Macbeth!!! LOL

Hi Lisa,

You are correct it is only $2575. I shall edit my above post so I don't give anyone else a shock. Sorry about that. Like I said, my wife dealt mainly with application. I just drive the car and pay the bills!! Must ask what she did with $3575 she asked for!!! LOL

As for the English test, my wife did it and said it wasn't too difficult ( she got the top level 9) . She got some revision papers from IELTS to prepare. I remember she was very nervous beforehand.

Regards Derren

[Alanlisa]

Hi Lisa,

You are correct it is only $2575. I shall edit my above post so I don't give anyone else a shock. Sorry about that. Like I said, my wife dealt mainly with application. I just drive the car and pay the bills!! Must ask what she did with $3575 she asked for!!! LOL

As for the English test, my wife did it and said it wasn't too difficult ( she got the top level 9) . She got some revision papers from IELTS to prepare. I remember she was very nervous beforehand.

Regards Derren

 

It probably went on clothes and shoes Derren lol

 

Does the test only have to be done by the person who is the lead name on the visa then? If so that's ok because he's better than I am. Ha ha

[derren7]

It probably went on clothes and shoes Derren lol

 

Does the test only have to be done by the person who is the lead name on the visa then? If so that's ok because he's better than I am. Ha ha

Yeah main applicant only.

Regards Derren

[Guest peckanovski]

Im an electrician in WA on a working holiday visa. After making a few calls Ive been told that the way to get an A grade license is to complete an ARTC certificate with TRA then once you have that back you speak to energysafe to get a license. I'm not 100% convinced yet but it seems thats the way forward. Everything Ive seen seems to indicate that VETASSES is pretty pointless because you'll have to do everything again when you get over here anyway. Thats not definate though. It just appears to be the case .

[Leyteris77]

Hallo to everybody, I would like to ask about an electrical licence in Victoria. I am an automation engineer (bachelor degree) qualified from overseas and recognised by engineers of Australia as an Engineering Technologist. While all this time waiting for my permanent visa, I am looking to various job advertisments related to my discipline. Some of these advs which are for control system technician or filed service technician for example and fits to my expierience, require an A class electrical licence. Do you think that in my case, having an engineering degree will overcome this requirement?

[n111kkx]

Hi Derren 7

 

We have just finished completing our ARTC application, and have included photos, certificates, copy of visa, copy of passport and a reference from our latest employer. I cannot see anywhere that it states you need references from all employers? just contact details. I just wanted to check before we post everything off

 

Thanks

[Guest tiddywiddy]

Hi all

Were are trying to complete our Vetassess skills assessment & are trying to obtain the syllabus for the City & Guilds 2360 Part 1. Cant find a copy anywhere & apperently City & Guilds not hold the syllabus in their archieves either. So what did other people do or has anyone got a copy etc they could give me, ppppplllllleeeeeaaaaasssseeeee.

 

Thanks in advance

[derren7]

Im an electrician in WA on a working holiday visa. After making a few calls Ive been told that the way to get an A grade license is to complete an ARTC certificate with TRA then once you have that back you speak to energysafe to get a license. I'm not 100% convinced yet but it seems thats the way forward. Everything Ive seen seems to indicate that VETASSES is pretty pointless because you'll have to do everything again when you get over here anyway. Thats not definate though. It just appears to be the case .

Hi there,

Yeah , I would get yourself an ARTC while on your WHV. It may save you a small fortune in the future if you intend to migrate permanently. Read this THREAD on how to get a WA licence.

Regards Derren