Guest jamesb Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Hello all, this is my first post but i've been frequenting the site for a while now. I'm planning on taking a year out to travel around oz with a view to possibly emigrating eventually, if all goes well. I'm currently working as an air conditioning engineer and have been doing so for the past 3 years since leaving the royal navy, i've got my city and guilds in refrigerant handling and numerous other engineering qualifications. I was just wondering what the situation is over there with regards to work, I won't be qualified at all to touch refrigerant - i appreciate that. I did read somewhere about a plumber with the same problem who was taken on as a skilled labourer and basically did the same job unofficially. I would just like to get an idea of how common this situation is and what my chances are of finding work on a short term basis, I don't have the time to get the necessary qualifications to allow me to just walk into a job over there unfortunately. Sorry about the long post people, any information would be very much appreciated though. Thanks. James Liverpool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eera Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Hmmm... While I can see how they'd let someone do the installation of the split, if a company gets caught letting officially non-qualified people do the gassing they'd get fined a stupid amount for it; one of our mates is a qualified refridgerant engineer in Victoria but isn't allowed to do it in Queensland (whether that's because he's become a diesel mechanic and hasn't practised in a while, or whether it's because of state qualifications I don't know). Have you approached any of the governing bodies at all? There's a mob called Airhac (I think, or something similar) that seems to be a regulating body, they migth be able to tell you whether your work experience allows you to be eligable for any equivilent Aus certificate, one of the pages I briefly looked at said that an engineering certificate with appropriate work experience in installation (4 years) was the equivilent to certificate II in split installation. They didn't specify overseas qualifications at first glance though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamesb Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Thanks eera, we're only coming over on a holiday visa so i'll be looking at any menial work initially, I just thought i'd make a few small enquiries. The plan is to stay longer IF we like it and can adapt to the different culture, we we're both in the forces so are used to the travelling but emmigrating to oz is a huge step. Anyway thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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