Job offer as plant manager

[Ira_Hayes]

First of all; thanks to the administrators of this awesome forum. A lot of helpful info here!

I work for a Swedish company and I've been offered a position as plant manager for our soon to be opened Melbourne factory. Working and living in Australia has been a life long dream for me, so needless to say I'm there with bells on! I do however get a bit worried when trying to read up on all the requirements for obtaining a visa. I'm assuming a sponsored visa (subclass 457) is what we should go for? The part that worries me is that I can't find the position in the list of approved occupations. Does anyone know if plant manager would qualify? Production Manager is listed which makes me think it would be odd if plant manager wouldn't be..?

Any help would be highly appreciated! Thanks!

[kaz101]

Hi Ira,

Welcome to the forum.

Are you based in Sweden or somewhere else? If you are based in the UK then there are emigration shows (expos) around where you can get free consultations with agents, and they maybe able to help you choose the correct visa type. Most first consultations are free, and if you search through this forum you'll find several agents that have been recommended.

Does the Swedish company know what visa to use? I'm assuming that they would be sponsoring you, and have hopefully been through the process before.

There are links in the sticky posts to the (many) various visa types, but it sounds like you've been through them already.

I think that professional advice would be your best bet.

Regards,
Karen

[Ira_Hayes]

Hi Kaz,

Cheers for the reply! I'm Swedish, but I'm based in China working for the same company. They would sponsor me, but knowing how things work in this company it will basically be left up to me to get everything arranged... We have never sent anyone to Australia before, so no luck there.

Is there anywhere you could find a description on what the job titles listed in the approved list entail? Perhaps a little creativity on the job title on offer is all it takes..?

Thanks again for all the help!

[kaz101]

Hi Ira,

I'm not an agent - just someone who moved out here myself in July 2007 on a skilled independent visa.

I don't know the descriptions behind the titles but an agent probably would. My advice is to check with an agent. If you search through this forum there are several recommendations and you could contact them by phone or email. Several of them are based in Australia if that's a better time zone for you than the UK agents.

Regards,
Karen

[Ira_Hayes]

Thanks for the advice, Kaz! It does make sense to check with an agent. I was hoping to hear from someone who holds a similar position and perhaps get some recommendations that way.

By the way; Do you have any idea how long it normally takes for a 457 visa to come through? The 18-24 months people are talking about for the independent skilled visa sounds scary. A sponsored visa should be quicker than that, right?

[kaz101]

Hi Ira,

Everyone's situation is different which is why I say talk to an agent. We were turned down by 2 agents until we found an agent who said they could get us in and they did .

Check timeline for time scales or possibly someone has already replied to the time line thread on this forum with that visa type.

Regards,
Karen