Posted By Dee
I have heard this week that with regards to emigrating to Oz, they are no longer going to allow anyone over the age of 45 to settle unless at least half of their children were either already there or going to be emigrating as well.

Don't know if that makes a difference but something worth considering.

Dee

Posted By Frank
Tony

There are loads of jobs in H&S in Aus. I went to WA at in January this year and the local Perth Paper had literally hundreds of jobs.

Depending on your experience and qualifications. They accept all English Quals ie Nebosh. NVQ.

I would recommend you go for a holiday and check it out for your self. The only thing you will need to know is that you need to be under 45 before you apply and your trade needs to be on their list and you need to have worked in it for at least 3 yrs or so I can remember exactly. I have all the bumph at home as I have applied to go and just waiting for police checks and medicals to get done then thats me off to Sunny Perth.


All the best if you have any questions drop me a line.

Frank

Posted By Dyson1967
Try Freespirit (google them) and take their online test. You only need 5 years experience in occuaption health and safety, no degree required so no faffing about with VETASSES to gain acknowledgement for your work in the OHS field. I have just returned from a 2 week holiday in Oz (got back on Monday 17th) and arranged a meeting with Freespirit in Brisbane (they have offices in Sydney, Melbourne and I think Perth). Basically, if you can demonstrate 5 years experience and have references to back it up they will become your employer and 'rent' you out to companies who offer you work. The only down sides to using Freespirit are its only a 4 year temporary visa and they take 12% of you salary, however, you will be entitled to a living away from home allowance which (depending on your wage) should off-set the 12% reduction. On the plus side, they offer migration services at reduced rates should you want to make your stay more permanent and assist you in finding work through their netwrk of agencies.

I was mightily impressed with them and wish i had contacted them 2 years ago and saved myself a lot of money on migration agents who took my money only to tell me I had no chance of ever getting into Australia!

We are emigrating in January, my partner has been accepted at at a local college and we will use her new trade as a hairdresser to gain permanent residency after 2 years, in the meantime I will be on a 4 yr temp visa which gives me full working rights and allows me to buy (with restrictions) property.

Dont give up, its taken me 3 years to get to this stage and like i said earlier, if I had known about Freespirit back then, i'd be over there now!

Regards

Stephen

Posted By Dyson1967
I was posting on the previous thread and mentioned the DEGREE issue. If you are going for permanent residency based on your skills as a OHS Manager then you have to have your skills assessed by a group/agency called VETASSES. VETASSES will NOT assess your skills if you do not have a DEGREE (the DEGREE can be in anything and doesn't have to be related to OHS).

If you use FREESPIRIT (www.freespirit.com.au) then they are a skills matching agency who will employ YOU if you are offered work. They will provide you with a 4 yr temp visa providing you stay employed during your time in Oz. Read their website for the exact details on how it works.

As for wages, I have seen jobs offered from AU$55k (Approx £26k)upwards, there is more money in fly-in/fly out (FIFO) working in the mines etc. AS for construction, can't say i've seen any but to be honest, not really looked as I'm in the manufacturing industry.

Hope this helps

Stephen

Posted By GregW
Tony,

Well i am about to go over to the UK myself to work i have been based in Brisbane for the past 2 years working at a commercial food manufacture. Coincidently my former university lecturer is an assessment officer for the SIA (Safety institute of Australia) the professional body over hear and they do recognize qualifications AND experience when considering grading, that said unlike the UK there is less employer focus on membership to this body

As Mentioned thee is a minerals BOOB on at the moment in Australia, I was recently offered a position in north Western Australia which was 3 weeks on (6 days a week) 1 week off fly in fly out...and while not being told how much, dump truck drivers are on $100,000+per year so as a professional you get the idea......

From my understanding you will find the regulatory environment quite similar however there are different sets of legislation for each state which makes life interesting.

Drop me an email if you have any further questions.

Greg