A question for Australian employers hiring a Canadian
 

I currently live in Canada, just below the Arctic Circle. I travelled to Australia 6 years ago and I loved it. I only had my PPL at the time but I knew I'd always want to come back to fly in Australia professionally.
I now have my CPL with Multi-IFR and 1000+ hours and I am aware of the process of converting my license and different types of Visas required.

My question to any operators currently hiring 1000 hour pilots is, would you hire a pilot currently in Australia on a plain old one year work visa who has all intentions of getting a skilled working Visa with the intent of permanent residence and possibly immigration?

The one thing that is very hard to get is a sponsorship from a company which greatly improves the ease and likelihood of getting the skilled working visa. My thinking is that after working for the duration of the initial 1 year work visa, the employer can decide whether or not they would like to sponsor me for further progress in the immigrant or residency process.
Thanks for any input.

2007? Maybe.

Now? Not a hope in hell. Unless you marry an Australian.

Hi,

It is unfortunately very hard to fly in Oz without having immigration status.


If you can get a get a job here and work towards citizenship, that is great. It is an amazing place to live and work. The major airlines can't hire you without citizenship though, like Canada.


Good Luck.

Oz pilots are supposed to come up to our neck of the woods - not the other way round! :)

Why not?

If someone has a valid work visa why would they not get employed. Taking that one step further if that person turned out to be a good employee I'm sure that employer would sponsor them at a later date if necessary.

I presume you are thinking of the Subclass 417 Working Holiday Visa? If so, the conditions include:

Neither Working Holiday Visa is a 'stepping stone' to Australian Permanent Residence and/or permanent employment and indeed, the Visa may be denied if the Authority believes it is your intent to remain in Australia.

Employer Sponsorship and the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457) Visa would probably not be available to you as it would be almost impossible for an employer to construct a valid case to employ you within our General Aviation industry, in preference to an Australian resident or citizen pilot of similar qualifications, experience and capability - of which there are many available!

To answer your original question: You may get the odd casual flying as a parachute pilot or glider tug pilot, or even as a hangar rat, during your working holiday but it is most unlikely you would could obtain full time general aviation pilot employment and if you did, it would only be for a maximum six months in each instance.

You don't need Australian citizenship to be recruited by an airline in Australia but most, if not all, will require 'permanent resident' status which can be achieved if you qualify for the relevant visa.

That said I doubt the OP would qualify for a PR visa with the qualifications and experience he has outlined here.

As I said, not a hope in hell.

Shake a tree up north and an Aussie pilot will fall out. GA operators wouldn't want the hassle and inflexibility of someone not from Australia. Plus there are cultural sensitivities within certain communities that you need to have an understanding of.

Marry an Australian if you're desperate to work in Australia.

If I were Canadian and wanted to operate in this part of the world and do some amazing flying, I'd be looking at Papua.

Simply not correct.

Tootle pip!!

The grass is always greener??

A very nice young Australian guy, married to a Canadian, decided to return home.
Started work here on a light jet, didn't even last a month, packed up and is returning to Canada.
I gather his experiences with our regulator were enough to convince him aviation in Australia has no future.
Smart Kid.