Skill Assessments
Why is it important?
Obtaining a positive skill assessment is the first step for points based skilled visas and also for some employer sponsored visas. You will need to have your skills assessed if you are applying for any of the following visas and streams:
- 189 Visa (Skilled Independent)
- 190 Visa (Skilled Nominated)
- 491 Visa (Skilled Regional – Provisional)
- 186 Visa (Employer Nomination Scheme)– for a direct entry stream
- 482 Visa (Temporary Skill Shortage)– in limited circumstances
- 494 Visa (Employer-Sponsored – Provisional)
What is a Skill Assessment?
A skill assessment is an evaluation of a person’s qualification and work experience by an assessing authority designated by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Each occupation is different and assessed by its own skills assessing authority. To know if your job matches a skilled occupation in the DHA’s skilled occupation lists, you need to check ANZSCO (Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations).
ANZSCO is a skill-based classification designed to classify every single occupation and job in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets. Currently, it includes about 600 occupations each of which has a skill level assigned to it, from Level 1 – being the highest skilled – to Level 5.
Occupations in Level 1 will require a Bachelor or higher degree or 5 years of relevant work experience. Simply put, managers and professionals (for example, a human resource manager, doctor, lawyer, engineer and marketing specialist) are skill level 1 occupations. For Occupations at Level 2, the applicant will need to have a Diploma or 3 years of work experience. For example, an engineering technician, chef and secretary are Level 2 occupations. The next skill level is Level 3, and it is for Trade Workers such as carpenters and cooks. Skill levels 4 and 5 represent the lower skilled occupations such as carers, clerks, receptionists as well as other unskilled roles in the transport industry and manufacturing (such as farmhands, cleaners, packers and fruit pickers, etc.).
The Department has approved a list of skill assessing authorities that are eligible to provide a skill assessment for each occupation. There are almost 40 assessing authorities/professional organisations approved to conduct the skill assessment. They all have their own procedure, criteria, timeframe and charges.
Some of the most popular and widely used skill assessing authorities include VETASSESS (for mostly unregulated occupations such as a marketing specialist, management consultant and hotel manager), TRA (for trade occupations such as a cook, carpenter, or mechanic), ACS (for IT/computer related professionals), and ANMAC (for nurses and doctors).
Preparing for your skill assessment?
Getting a positive skills assessment is a complicated process. That’s why our experienced registered migration agents are here to assist you through the entire process from preparing the documents to lodging the assessment application and eventually receiving a positive outcome. Just book a consultation with one of our team members and let us do the work!