Source, assess and recruit experienced Filipino MIG/MAG, TIG, FCAW and structural welders through our DMW-licensed recruitment operation in Manila — tested to your welding procedure before you interview.
Technicians and Trades Workers carried 58 % recruitment difficulty in Jobs and Skills Australia's June quarter 2026 survey. Fabrication shops, structural steel contractors, shipyards and mining maintenance contractors compete for the same small domestic pool.
The Philippines trains welders at volume — TESDA SMAW/GMAW/GTAW NC II is a standard pathway — and its welders have decades of history in Gulf oil and gas, Korean shipbuilding and Japanese fabrication. What they need from an Australian employer is a defined procedure and a clear standard.
Every welder presented for Australia welds a test coupon at Prime Search's workshop in Makati to your process, material, thickness and position — typically 3G and 4G plate in GMAW and FCAW, 6G pipe for TIG/SMAW where you need it — and the coupons go to bend or macro testing. You watch live online or on site and interview the same day. If you weld to AS/NZS 1554 procedures or ASME IX, we test to those.
For Philippine passport holders, Trades Recognition Australia's skills assessment is mandatory before the visa for this occupation. We build the TRA evidence file — documented experience, employer references, trade test results — in Manila, before your nomination is lodged, so the assessment does not become the critical path.
On the Australian side, the standard route is the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), Core Skills stream: your company holds (or obtains) Standard Business Sponsor approval, advertises the role to the Australian labour market for the required period, and nominates the position at or above the Core Skills Income Threshold — AUD 79,423 from 1 July 2026 — or the market rate, whichever is higher. The occupation must be on the Core Skills Occupation List. The visa runs for up to four years, with a permanent pathway through the Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) — Direct Entry where eligible, or the Temporary Residence Transition stream usually after two years of eligible sponsored employment. Home Affairs lodgements are made by a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or your company itself; we prepare the recruitment, skills-assessment and Philippine-compliance file and coordinate — we do not provide Australian immigration advice.
Welders are routinely sponsored in Western Australia, Queensland and regional New South Wales; regional employers may also use a Designated Area Migration Agreement where its list includes Welder (First Class), as the South West WA list does. Everything here is subject to applicable Australian skills assessment, licensing, occupation and visa requirements.
Welder qualification to AS/NZS 1554 is done in Australia against your procedures; we pre-test in Manila to the same parameters which reduces the failure risk; the formal qualification test on arrival remains required.
From one to a full crew. A tested shortlist typically takes two to four weeks; the Australian sponsorship, skills assessment and visa determine the arrival date.
Yes — Welder (First Class) is on the mandatory skills-assessment list for Philippine passport holders. We prepare the TRA evidence in Manila.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.