Migrating to Australia

[matt_as350]

G'Day Friends:

I visited Australia in the Winter (yes, Winter, the air fares are cheaper for us Canadians with Qantas's Air Pass :)) and fell in love with the Country and all that jazz, Took Air Tours of Sydney and Hamilton Island, The Great Barrier Reef, The Twelve Apostles, anyways my point is, I would very much like to move to Australia to work as a Pilot/Flight Instructor, I am 20 years old, I hold a Commercial Pilot-Helicopter, and by the end of August 2008, I will hold my Commercial Pilot-Aeroplane, and Class Four Flight Instructor Rating (Aeroplane), and I just completed a University Certificate/Diploma in Business Admin, I see that Pilot and Flying Instructor is not on the skilled worker list and have talked to a Migration Agent about work visas and such, but what I am curious about is finding work as a Commercial Pilot/Flight Instructor in Sydney or Queensland Coast or Gold Coast, would be of particular intrest to me or any other tidbits of info (maybe a good school to do the licence conversions at) you can give to me, it would help alot in making my decision

Thanks alot,

Canadian Matt

[Chimbu chuckles]

Oz is a bit desperate for instructors at present so you probably wouldn't have trouble finding work.

I cannot speak to immigration issues.

Try Redcliffe Aeroclub for your FW conversions and there also seems to be a fair bit of RW stuff happening from Redcliffe too these days. Redcliffe is northern bayside suburb of Brisbane.

I cannot help but think, however, that you will have better employment prospects at home...perhaps work there for a year or two and get some turbine RW command hours and then come out to Oz and instruct initially before moving on to other things...perhaps tours out of PNG. PLENTY of opportunity in PNG for RW pilots on mth on/mth off work. Requires a few 1000 hours though due nature of work...lots of high DA/Long lining etc...think a tropical BC.

Best of luck.

[matt_as350]

Thanks for the advice, My dream I guess you can say is to do Charters/Flight Instructing, no big airline dreams, might it be better if I stay in Canada Instructing until I get the Class 3 Airplane Flight Instructor Rating then make the move to Oz?

I would like to eventually get back into Helicopters but for the next few years I'd like to do the fixed wing charters/instructing, and when I do go back to heli's I'd still like to instruct in airplanes on the side.

For me the dream is doing charters/tours in airplanes or helis out of Sydney, Gold Coast, Queensland, or the Whitsundays, anywhere in the GBR, any suggestions as how to accomplish this?

Canadian Matt

[Ovation]

Ask your "Immigration Agent" if because of your age, your entitled to come to Oz and work on a tourist visa.

[Barkly1992]

Ovation

It won't be a tourist visa but a Working Holiday Visa.

go to: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/index.htm

trust me.

[Ovation]

Barkly1992

Well spotted - I knew it was something like that. I was too lazy to look up the link.

[mingalababya]

Thanks for the advice, My dream I guess you can say is to do Charters/Flight Instructing, no big airline dreams, might it be better if I stay in Canada Instructing until I get the Class 3 Airplane Flight Instructor Rating then make the move to Oz?

We start at Grade 3 in Australia, so your Grade 4 is probably equivalent to Grade 3 in Oz. But hey, the more experience you have, the better your chances of getting an instructing job in OZ. Good luck!