hi everyone,heres my short story,
i currently live in london and i would love to go back to australia,i was there on a tourist visa in 2008,after 1 month i travelled to new zeland and applyed for a working holiday visa and went back.
i found work in melbourne as a welder after only a week of searching and i worked there only for 5 months as for family reason i had to go back home.

i previously work as a welder in my home town in italy between 2000 and 2003 then moved to london in 2004 and work as a caretaker since then.
i explained to my boss in melbourne that i could still weld and he gave me a chance to try out and was very happy to have me there.
Now i would like to go back to melbourne and contacted my boss where i use to work and he told me he could sponsor me so i looked up a few options and i would like to apply for the 457 visa.i honestly thoght that once u have a sponsor it would be quite easy to get a visa but it doesnt seem like it.
the problem is that i do not have any welding certificate,i just have 3 years exeriense in italy and few months in melbourne and my sponsor,so im a bit afraid my application wont be granted.
my idea was to go to melbourne and do a short welding course while on a tourist visa to get a kind of certificate then travel to new zeland and apply for my 457 from there and wait to see if its granted as i could stay with some friends for as long as i need.
ive read that if u hold a certificate from australia u would have a better chance to get your visa granted.

does anyone know if it would actually work?

i was also thinking that if i do not get the 457 i could always apply for a working holiday visa in new zeland and try my luck from there and maybe get more work experience.
unfortunatly here in london its very hard to get a welding job without any sort of certificate and to get one is very very expencive

thanx!!

The UK is probably a bit like Australia in that welding is a branch of a full tradesman training as a steel fabricator, previously called a boilermaker for lots of steel fabrication in that or alternately a Blacksmith/welder but less and less blacksmiths are trained up these days and as automation takes over in manufacturing, unfortunately less and less true tradesman get trained, training previously being via a four year appremticeship where people would get both theoretical training and broad practical skills.
Specialist welding as on pressurised vessels and pipework, in the oil and gas or petrochemical industries and with different materials, underwater welding etc. all require various certificates to show that people are qualified for such work to minimise failures in environments where a failure could be extremely hazardous.

The TAFE colleges in Australia I would think do a lot of general and specialist training now, and issue basic as well as specialised certificates but I expect that there will be limited short courses that will give you an adequate certificate required for an employer sponsorship approval.

What you and/or your potential sponsor could do on your behalf is to see if you can get advice from Trades Recognition Australia - Home on what would be the minimum certification for trade recognition and that ought to be the basis for your training.
Alternately have a google for TAFE Melbourne and I think they have a large trades complex at Preston a suburb north of the CBD and perhaps another in Footscray, to west of CBD and see what they have listed for welding and may even be information on their site re what courses are available, durations and what qualification level they provide.

And then you could consider where it may be cheapest to do it
In Australia you may be able to get a student visa to do TAFE courses and that will also allow you to work 20 hours a week and so if you can come to some arrangement with your ex- Boss re working part-time for him, that may be a way for you to get full trade qualification and fund yourself in Australia to do it.
You also have unlimited work rights outside of semesters when the courses are on, so if that allows you to work fulltime and even doing some overtime, you may be able to build up your funds for the training periods when only working 20 hours a week.

So see what is required and then what courses at TAFE are available and what they will cost and you can build a bit of a plan that way.
Once you have your basic certification, probably to what is called AQF3 level your Boss would be able to sponsor you on a 457 and then after a couple of years you could ask him about PR ENS sponsorship.
Meanwhile if you do some high pressure welding and other specialist courses, you'll find there is always going to be a significant demand in the resources and water supply sectors within Australia.
You'll need to select courses that are recognised for student visas on the CRICOS list and have a look under student visas - Students - Visas & Immigration

Longer term, if you go ahead with forging a career in that area, you may want to study metallurgy and even become a metallurgist but that's a much longer road.

thank you so much,now i have a much clearer idea on what direction i have to take...very helpul links,i think i will go on a study visa and do that course.will be fun!
do u think its best to get the student visa from outside australia or go there on a tourist visa to check the school out and then apply for it?
thanx again.

TAFE Colleges do have quite a reasonable reputation and particularly for technical courses so I'd not really think you would need to resort to travelling on a tourist visa first.