At the start of the new financial year on 1 July, mainland China’s Subclass 462 pre-applications opened. As in previous years, there are 5,000 places on offer this financial year, allocated through a random ballot. Unlike last year, this year you first need to register an ImmiAccount, then submit your EOI (Expression of Interest) through that ImmiAccount.

The Department of Home Affairs draws applicants at random from time to time. If you are selected, you will receive an email notification and have three months to prepare and lodge your documents. The ballot for the whole financial year closes on 30 April 2024.

Last financial year also had 5,000 places, so many people have already arrived in Australia on a Subclass 462 Working Holiday visa, or are preparing to.

In fact, many people use a Working Holiday visa (Subclass 462 or 417) as a stepping stone, transitioning into study and then on to migration. Since it is a stepping stone, you will want to map out the path ahead in advance.

Where to study?

What to study?

Which pathway to take?

462/417

State nomination? Consider WA (Western Australia)

One of the most efficient ways to get a green card (PR) in Australia is to migrate through a state nomination program, which can be split into the Subclass 190 visa (PR in one step) and the Subclass 491 visa (a provisional PR visa that can convert to PR once requirements are met).

Every state nomination program has its own policies and its own quirks. Sydney and Melbourne are of course attractive, with plenty of places, but competition there is the fiercest, and there is no graduate stream giving special preference to local graduates.

Want plenty of places and good policies,

less competition and preference for local students?

We recommend you consider Western Australia (WA)

In short, the WA government offers a dedicated PR pathway for international students who study full-time locally for two years, namely the Graduate Stream. This pathway allows international students who graduate locally to obtain PR more easily than other applicants. And the two years of full-time study are not limited to bachelor-level courses or above—vocational education and training (VET) courses also qualify!

Vocational education and training (VET) courses

Compared with ordinary bachelor and master studies, VET courses cost less in tuition, have lower entry requirements, and for most VET courses the study is relatively less demanding and the study period is shorter.

So for those on a Working Holiday visa, a VET course is short, affordable and can help with migration—well worth considering.

After completing a qualifying two-year full-time VET course, obtaining a skills assessment and achieving 6 in all four bands of English, you can lodge a WA state nomination application under the 2022–23 policy.

So next we recommend qualifying two-year full-time VET courses that also make it easier to obtain a skills assessment (for example, requiring no work experience).

WA Western Australia Graduate Stream

Civil&Structural Engineering

A skills assessment with no work experience required—how to choose your course

The biggest advantage of Civil and Structural Engineering is that students can apply for a skills assessment directly upon graduation—no work experience required!!

Unlike other popular TAFE fields such as Western cookery, automotive and early childhood education, which require the relevant number of years of work experience after graduation before you can pass a skills assessment—thereby lengthening the migration timeline.

At public TAFE in Western Australia, you can:

apply for a two-year “Package Offer”, namely:

a one-year Diploma of Civil and Structural Engineering

a one-year Advanced Diploma of Civil and Structural Engineering

Together these two courses meet exactly two years of full-time study. On graduation you can obtain a Subclass 485 graduate work visa.Two years of tuition is around AUD 35,000—quite a bit cheaper than even one year of an ordinary master or bachelor degree.

Overview of the 2-year Package courses:

1) Diploma of Civil and Structural Engineering

Duration: 1 year

English requirement: 5.5 (5)

Entry requirements:Equivalent to Australian Year 12 with a pass in Year 11 mathematics (Year 12 graduate in China)

Tuition and fees: approx. 16,000 AUD

Course content:

Learn engineering drawing to the Australian Standard (AS 1100) and work with a computer-aided design (CAD) package chosen from AutoCAD, Microstation, Revit and 12D.
Learn sustainability principles and produce civil construction drawings as part of the assessment; gain skills in using steel and concrete structures, design principles for bulk earthworks, and planning civil works.

Job opportunities:

Civil engineering design draftsperson
Structural engineering draftsperson

2) Advanced Diploma of Civil and Structural Engineering

Duration: 1 year

English requirement: 5.5 (5)

Entry requirements:Completion of the Diploma of Civil and Structural Engineering

Tuition and fees: approx. 18,000 AUD

Course content:

This course covers a range of engineering disciplines, including roads, railways and drainage systems, dams, ports, bridges and buildings, so that on graduation students can plan, design, develop and manage construction and maintenance projects related to these disciplines.
You will learn a range of engineering drawing standards and work with a computer-aided design (CAD) program chosen from AutoCAD, Microstation, Revit and 12D.
You will gain skills in applying construction principles to civil engineering, produce advanced engineering designs and drawings, work with 3-D CAD in engineering, and study structural analysis in engineering.

Job opportunities:

Civil engineering assistant
Engineering assistant – civil engineer

Civil&Structural Engineering

A skills assessment with no work experience required—how to do the skills assessment

After graduation you can apply directly through a CDR (Competency Demonstration Report)—no work experience needed to obtain a skills assessment

The skills assessment you can apply for after graduation is ANZSCO 312211: Civil Engineering Draftsperson

The assessing authority can be EA or VETASSESS

What is the difference?

VETASSESS:Applicants need, after graduation, one year of highly relevant full-time work experience within the last five years

Engineers Australia:No work experience required to apply for the assessment—simpler and more time-saving than VETASSESS

Civil Engineering Draftsperson falls under Engineering Associate

Engineers Australia’s qualification requirement is a 2-year Australian course, i.e. Advanced Diploma level, and after completing your studies you apply via a CDR to obtain the skills assessment.

Of course, there are many other courses in WA that achieve a similar outcome. If you are interested in the courses above, or would like to learn about other options, feel free to contact me directly!

An overview of WA’s employment environment→

A strong employment environment for Civil Engineering Draftspersons after graduation

Western Australia is blessed with abundant mineral and petroleum resources, and Perth has become the resources and energy capital of the Indo-Pacific. Of the people working in Perth, 28% work in mining, professional, scientific and technical services. As the only Australian city in the World Energy Cities Partnership, Perth is rapidly becoming a leading global energy city, with highly developed mining and building-and-construction-materials industries.

Mining:Western Australia has rich mineral resources, so mining has always been a major employment sector in Perth. Many world-renowned mining companies have offices or headquarters in Perth, such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum.

Building and construction materials:Perth is developing rapidly, so building and construction materials is also one of the important employment sectors. This sector has many Sino-Australian joint ventures and foreign-invested enterprises, such as Lend Lease, Multiplex and John Holland.

Perth is home to more than 100 resources and energy companies, and eight of the 14 largest international energy and mining companies in the world have offices in Perth. Perth’s renewable-energy companies are shown in the chart below:

In addition, Perth was rated the world’s second most attractive destination for mining investment (Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies 2018). Counting small and medium-sized enterprises in the resources and energy sector, including start-ups, Perth has more than 1,000 companies. On top of this, over 30% of ASX-listed companies are based in Perth. Perth’s major mining companies are shown below:

To learn more about Western Australia, you can revisit our earlier article:The top choice for settling on a Subclass 491? Perth, Australia’s largest regional city! Migration incentives + liveable lifestyle + diverse job opportunities—a comprehensive overview from a “local”!

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