researching australia

kev01 · #1 (**permalink**) 16th January 2008, 10:19 AM

I am a plasterer and wall and floor tiler in the uk, to obtain work in Australia is there any mandatory or recommended qualifications i should consider obtaining before applying for employment? My partners occupation is in local government as a community engagement officer in the uk but has experience working in insurance and office management. Can you advise which catagory these would fall into on the skilled occupation list as we will be hopefully going on my partners visa as i will be just over the 45 age threshold but my partner under.Could you advise on the best place to relocate for plastering/wall and floor tiling/government/council/office work and affordability and value for money real estate not somewere constantly hideously hot, we have no children so schooling is not an issue . We are looking to migrate in 3 years what is the process and time restrictions applicable to our application is there anything we should be doing now? Any help would be very appreciated, all the best.

kaz101 · #2 (**permalink**) 16th January 2008, 08:12 PM

Hi Kev01,

Welcome to the forum.

Skills are assessed by the TRA (Trade Recognition Australia) and the website
workplace.gov.au - 1 Skills assessment for people intending to migrate to Australia
may be offer some help as to what they will be looking for with your skills.

I can't advise on the skills category since I'm not an agent.If you are in the UK it may be worth going to one of the emigration expos and asking that question there. I assume that none of the categories seem to fit.

If you check out the Sticky "Please read...." towards the top of the forum that has links to jobs, weather and links to all the states in Australia. That should give you an idea about where you want to move to.
For housing check out Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au and www.domain.com.au

The process depends on the visa type that you are applying for. Ours as a skilled independent took 2 years. If you check www.austimeline.com.au then that has current timings for the different types of visas. It sounds like you may have an idea of which visa you will be going for. Make sure that you have enough points (if your visa requires it) since we had to apply before we were 40 since we wouldn't have enough points otherwise.

Research, research, research

Make sure you want to move and look at where you want to move to. Australia is BIG and the areas are very different.
Read everything you can, go to everything, get the magazines and newspapers that deal with emigration.

Hope that helps,
Karen

kev01 · #3 (**permalink**) 17th January 2008, 01:41 PM

My partner and i would like to move to Australia,my partner meets all the visa requirements and has a job on the jobs in demand list.She will have a job lined up before we set out.Will i be able to go with her and find work when i get there?we are both UK residents.

kev01 · #4 (**permalink**) 17th January 2008, 01:43 PM

Thank You kaz101 for your helpful info.

kaz101 · #5 (**permalink**) 17th January 2008, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev01

My partner and i would like to move to Australia,my partner meets all the visa requirements and has a job on the jobs in demand list.She will have a job lined up before we set out.Will i be able to go with her and find work when i get there?we are both UK residents.

If you are both on the same visa and the visa is approved then yes you are both allowed in and allowed to work. If your partner only gets a visa and you don't, then I don't think that you will be allowed in. Even married partners need to get a visa for their spouse.

Regards,
Karen

kev01 · #6 (**permalink**) 19th January 2008, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaz101

If you are both on the same visa and the visa is approved then yes you are both allowed in and allowed to work. If your partner only gets a visa and you don't, then I don't think that you will be allowed in. Even married partners need to get a visa for their spouse.

Regards,
Karen

Thanks again Kaz101 for your help, another couple of questions if you dont mind.My partner and i have been told the best route for us is the skilled independant regional visa?.With South Australia /Victoria being our first choice followed by New South Wales having read that you live in the South Australia region could you inform me please as to what the area is like in relation to weather/beaches/real estate costs and value for money/cost of living/and work in the area.We are still at the early stages at present doing all the research and will be looking for an agent would you recommend Emigration Group?.I think our course of action will be going to a few expos, have a holiday to the area we decide upon, then get an agent and take it from there.Seems like a nightmare at the moment but hopefully it'll all be worth while!!. Regards, kev.

kaz101 · #7 (**permalink**) 19th January 2008, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kev01

My partner and i have been told the best route for us is the skilled independant regional visa?.With South Australia /Victoria being our first choice followed by New South Wales having read that you live in the South Australia region could you inform me please as to what the area is like in relation to weather/beaches/real estate costs and value for money/cost of living/and work in the area.We are still at the early stages at present doing all the research and will be looking for an agent would you recommend Emigration Group?.

For weather see the sticky "Please read.." towards the top of the forum since that has a weather link in it.

For jobs see the sticky "Please read.." towards the top of the forum since that has a job links in it.

For cost of living see the sticky "Cost of Living.." towards the top of the forum since that has my costs in there.

Real estate costs try:
Real Estate, Property, Land and Homes for Sale, lease and rent - realestate.com.au
www.domain.com.au

It really depends on what you like since South Australia is BIG (I've recently been told it's much bigger than Texas in the USA even). The closer you are to Adelaide the more expensive real estate is as a guideline. Saying that there are also some coastal developments that have been built (or in the process of being built) that are fairly expensive A$399,000 for a small place.

There are a lot of beaches and it depends on what you want. Do you want to live on one or near one? Most of the beaches are sandy (unlike the UK

).

I think coming over here and having a drive around is a great idea. That's what we did to get a feel for the place. Adelaide is the biggest and state City. The next 2 cities are Whyalla and Mount Gambier. Whyallla is on the end of the outback, and Mount Gambier (where we live) is closer to Victoria on the South Coast. Most UK expats head for Adelaide and areas around there but we went for Mt Gambier since we didn't want a major city (Mt Gambier has about 25,000 people) and we also didn't want anywhere too small. Also the further North you go the hotter it gets here.

Yes I would recommend the Emigration Group since they got us in when 2 other agents said we wouldn't make it since I didn't have a degree, and in IT that is expected. Have a look around the expos and see which agent suits you. Others on the forum have used other agents as well.

Regards,
Karen