Hire Filipino skilled workers in Australia

What Australian employers get

The Philippine workforce is built for export. Technical education runs through TESDA National Certificates, English is the medium of instruction, and a skilled worker in their thirties has typically already completed contracts in the Gulf, Taiwan, Korea or Europe. What that produces for an Australian employer is a trades workforce that reads a drawing, follows a safety induction in English and has worked under foreign supervisors before.

The June quarter 2026 employer survey by Jobs and Skills Australia recorded 58 % recruitment difficulty for Technicians and Trades Workers and 54 % for Machinery Operators and Drivers. Those are exactly the groups the Philippines supplies in volume.

Occupations we recruit for Australia

• Metal and fabrication — welders (First Class), pressure welders, metal fabricators / boilermakers, fitters, fitter-welders, sheetmetal workers, metal machinists.
• Automotive and plant — motor mechanics, diesel motor mechanics, automotive electricians, heavy-vehicle and mining-plant mechanics.
• Construction — carpenters, carpenters and joiners, bricklayers, painters, wall and floor tilers, plumbers, electricians, airconditioning and refrigeration mechanics.
• Care — aged-care and personal-care workers under the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement; enrolled and registered nurses.
• Hospitality — chefs and cooks.

All of the above are on the Core Skills Occupation List except the care occupations, which run under the industry labour agreement. Plant operators and general production workers are not on the list and are sponsored only where a Designated Area Migration Agreement provides for them.

How we verify skill before you see anyone

Every candidate presented for Australia has passed a practical trade test at Prime Search's facilities in Makati — welding to your procedure, fault-finding on a live engine, a carpentry set-out task — and an English screening. Where Trades Recognition Australia requires a skills assessment for Philippine passport holders, we assemble the evidence file before the nomination is lodged.

Presentation of any candidate is subject to applicable Australian skills assessment, licensing, occupation and visa requirements.

Frequently asked questions

• Do Filipino tradespeople need Australian qualifications?

  Not to be recruited; they need a positive TRA skills assessment where their occupation requires it, and any state licence before working unsupervised in licensed trades (electrical, plumbing, refrigerant handling). We plan both into the timeline.

• How good is their English?

  Strong. English is the medium of instruction in Philippine schools and TESDA; IELTS 5.0–6.0 is typical for tradespeople, which meets 482 requirements comfortably.

• Can we hire one worker?

  Yes. From one worker; the Philippine side scales from one to a full crew with the same file.