Trying to Find a Way to Start in Australia

by Sandra
(Vila Real Santo António, Portugal)

Hello
I'm Portuguese and I'm trying to figure it out how can I apply for a visa to live and work in Australia permanently with my family. I would like to know what does a social worker, and what kind of skills must you have to work as one.

Thank You

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Trying to Find a Way to Start in Australia

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Jun 30, 2010
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Social Workers Association
by: Angela

Hi Sandra,

Thank you for your question. The career of a social worker must be very exciting as you would work with so many people and try to help them.

I am not very familiar with the duties and specifics of the profession, but I'll try to point you to some resources that you can find on the internet.
Please note that there have been some changes to the migration to Australia programs. They are published on the Department of Immigration website at http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/whats-new.htm
Copy and paste this address into your browser and read all the details there. There is a lot of information and there are various options which are provided so take your time to read and understand everything.

On that page you will also find the announcement about a new skilled occupations list. Click on the pdfs to see which are those occupations. I am copying here the path to one the pdf documents: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/new-list-of-occupations.pdf

As to what a social worker does in Australia, I think that it is about things like counselling, family support, educational issues. They may work at Centerlink, schools, health institutions, and many other organisations.

The Australian Association of Social Workers is the resource where you can find the information you are looking for. They are the authority that assesses overseas qualifications in social work, for migration and employment in Australia. Download the information kit and application form on this page http://www.aasw.asn.au/whatwedo/international-qualifications

Go to the careers page of their website. You will find a link to a career centre site, where you can search for social work jobs, read what qualifications are required and what duties need to be performed and see if they suit your qualifications and experience.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

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