Unfortunately it is simple economics your Off shore Licence thingy is only a part of being an Australian Electrician. Plus I didn’t want the headache of scratching around on an apprentices wages, to old for that now. Hubbie did Vetesse to get visa, but when arrive in Oz can`t work independently so technically as an apprentice & you got to work under supervision & then have A license held electrician sign off your work, then you have to attend night college (at a cost). Working as an apprentise after so many years a a qualified seems to me to be insulting & I really don`t think hubbie would have fared to well doing that. Also from my understanding, Wage difference from Apprentice to A grade Sparky is stupid Apprentices earn about A$20 per hour whereby a A grade electrician earns a minimum of A$60 per hour. Plus the cost of attending college courses & I believe about 2 years to get. That is a lot of lost wonga. We have paid to get our visa about £6000, but with my hubbie being able to earn a minimum of A$40 more per hour it seems a good investment. Plus when he went to the show on Saturday he was bombarded with sparky offers because he has this. As a Australian electrician you also need a Blue Bulldog safety card, he got that too with this, you get that from the course.
But lets face it you have to earn money as a migrant as you aren`t entitled to most benefits in Oz for at least 2 years, no fee NHS, the Government also recommended to us a minimum of A$35,000 with you to survive initially. So you HAVE to look at putting yourself in the best position for employment & earning the right amount of money straight out.
Capstone is the conclusion assessment to the A grade License, obviously the Australian don`t want fraud on this so he has to do this final assessment in Australia, which is verified by his photo id stuff, like when you do you IELTS.
Let`s face it this is all one big money making scheme by the Australians from wanting emigrating Brits. We also look at it as investing unlike Britian whereby Sparky jobs are so unprotected, in Australia they are protected by the union on a minimum hourly rate & if a house holder uses a electrician without a A grade license there are BIG fines for them.
Thing also is Australia love changing the goal posts & as I know the course my hubbie just sat is not liked by other territories due to the amount of money that is lost from that migrant Oz training/working senario.
All of this is to the best of my understanding but sure my hubbie would message help sparky to sparky of needed.
Crystal x
Last edited: Apr 24, 2012