UK Electrician Seeking Employment from South Africa

[Descent The Electrician]

Hi Guys

I would to find out a thing or two, i am an unqualified Electrician with 6years experience based in South Africa, Zimbabwean by Citizenship. Currently i am studying towards my Single Phase Wireman's Licence , i am considering relocating to the UK/Europe to seek employment opportunities.
I would to find out from those with knowledge on what would be required of me to stand a good chance in my pursuit, is there any course you would recommend i take?
My Areas of Good Knowledge and Experience are;

• Residential Installations and Maintenance
• Low Voltage Distribution Boards Installations (Single and Three Phase)
• Faulty Finding.
• Prepaid Metering(9 years)
• Solar Systems Installations (Intermediate)

Thank You
I would've loved to more of my recent works but the system detect them as too large for the server to process.

 

[DPG]

Welcome to the forum!

.....

 

[RichardM]

Easy way is to take the 18th (Domestic Installer) - this is just to prove your knowledge of the regs. You can then set up as a self employed electrician after a perfunctory on site inspection by one of the approved schemes (NICEIC etc.) 'engineers' and possibly cause all sorts of mayhem, or get a job with a reputable contractor and gain some experience of UK installations. Take your time and gain some (UK) experience, there is a shortage of good electricians in the UK and with patience you should do well.

 

[pc1966]

Most countries in the EU, and the UK separately, have their own individual wiring regulations. So while the physics of electricity are universal how differing countries chose to implement its use in a safe and reliable way varies quite a lot. So if you have a country of choice and no issues with getting past immigration for a work permit, etc, as needed to stay then look at what they need in terms of regulations, insurance and formal qualifications.

Here in the UK the wiring regulations covering most LV work are currently:

Requirements fo Electrical Installations
IET Wiring Regulations
Eighteenth Edition
BS 7671:2018 (Incorporating Amendment 2:2022)

But often referred to simply as "18th", "the regs", or sometimes BBB from "big brown book" (previous 18th edition was "big blue book" so same letters!). A copy of that, and also the On-Site Guide (OSG) which summarises most common domestic requirements to make for quick and easy design, would be the usual starting point for doing any formal course or working as an electrician's mate or similar to get formally recognised as competent.

 

[pc1966]

I would've loved to more of my recent works but the system detect them as too large for the server to process.

If you have a PC then any of the common image editing program will allow you to either resize the camera's image to smaller (say around 1000-1500 in either dimension) and/or to save with greater JPEG compression (typically 70-80% is good enough quality and sane file size) for you to try again.

 

[Descent The Electrician]

Easy way is to take the 18th (Domestic Installer) - this is just to prove your knowledge of the regs. You can then set up as a self employed electrician after a perfunctory on site inspection by one of the approved schemes (NICEIC etc.) 'engineers' and possibly cause all sorts of mayhem, or get a job with a reputable contractor and gain some experience of UK installations. Take your time and gain some (UK) experience, there is a shortage of good electricians in the UK and with patience you should do well.

Thanks Richard, i am looking at getting employment first and gain UK experience and further my electrical studies to a professional level maybe and just maybe if am not too old by then i can venture into contracting. Currently i am looking for an Employer who can Sponsor as i am still in South AFrica.

 

[Descent The Electrician]

Most countries in the EU, and the UK separately, have their own individual wiring regulations. So while the physics of electricity are universal how differing countries chose to implement its use in a safe and reliable way varies quite a lot. So if you have a country of choice and no issues with getting past immigration for a work permit, etc, as needed to stay then look at what they need in terms of regulations, insurance and formal qualifications.

Here in the UK the wiring regulations covering most LV work are currently:

Requirements fo Electrical Installations
IET Wiring Regulations
Eighteenth Edition
BS 7671:2018 (Incorporating Amendment 2:2022)

But often referred to simply as "18th", "the regs", or sometimes BBB from "big brown book" (previous 18th edition was "big blue book" so same letters!). A copy of that, and also the On-Site Guide (OSG) which summarises most common domestic requirements to make for quick and easy design, would be the usual starting point for doing any formal course or working as an electrician's mate or similar to get formally recognised as competent.

Thank You so much for this info, i have been researching the 18th Edition online courses i can take remotely while i am still in SA, have seen a few offered by UK institutions so i have a rough idea of how much i would need to purchase it in Rands. My hope is to get a job offer with sponsorship even if its a loaned sponsorship with fair conditions i would definitly take the job and grow my knowledge within the company . My countries of choice would be english speaking contries UK being the first choice.

 

[littlespark]

Another trick if you use an iPhone, I’ve found…

If you cant crop the photo without losing visual detail, take a screenshot of the viewed photo, then crop that down to the edges of the photo.

You get a smaller sized duplicate.