Skills assessments are a process to test your qualifications and work experience. They provide evidence that you have the skills required to perform the tasks of the role you are applying for.

The following skilled visas require skills assessments: 189, 190 and 489. In addition, some visas sponsored by businesses to Australia such as 482, 186 or 187 in many cases also require a Skill Assessment. At the same time, visa 485 (2-year temporary residence visa after graduation) will also require a skills assessment depending on the characteristics of each industry.

The Skills Assessment will be valid until the expiration date specified in the assessment, or 3 years from the date the skills assessment is issued (whichever comes first). If the Skills Assessment expires, you will need to reapply from scratch for the assessment agency to review and re-evaluate.

1. What is a skills assessment?

Skill Assessments are required to support your claim of skills in various visa subclasses in Australia. For some visas it is mandatory to provide a positive skill assessment for the occupation you have selected for your visa.

Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is a system that collects, publishes and analyses occupation statistics across government agencies. It is used by the Department to capture information in all visa, settlement and citizenship programs. Importantly, it is used within the skilled visa programs as the standard by which a visa applicant’s skills and work experience to undertake a specific occupation in Australia are assessed

SA is one of the conditions that you need to meet when applying for a temporary or permanent skilled visa in Australia.

2. ANZSCO Code and Skill Assessment

An important note before applying for a Skill Assessment is to find the correct ANZSCO code for your occupation. You can look up this code on the Australian Department of Home Affairs website. You cannot change the ANZSCO code after a skills assessment, so read the job description carefully and be sure to choose the correct ANZSCO for your visa route.

Even on the ANZSCO code lookup page of the Ministry of Home Affairs, you can also find the right visas for this profession and the agency will do the skills assessment for that ANZSCO code.

Please refer to the ANZSCO Code Information document for detailed descriptions of employment duties.

3. How to evaluate skills

In all cases, when assessing skills, you will be asked to provide relevant and career-relevant qualifications in order to receive a positive assessment of your skills. Each appraisal unit specifies requirements for professional qualifications of each occupation.

4. Who are the Skills Reviewing Authorities?

Assessing Authorities are units and organizations recognized by the Australian government, responsible for conducting skills assessments for the purpose of attracting skilled workers to work and settle in Australia. These agencies are not recruitment agencies; therefore, they will not respond to requests for work arrangements nor can they offer advice on the likelihood of your visa application being successful.

Some popular skills assessment agencies are as follows:

• Australian Computer Society (ACS)
• Architects Accreditation Council of Australia (AACA))
• Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
• Australian Institution of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS
• Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC
• Certified Practising Accountants of Australia (CPAA)
• Engineers Australia (EA)
• Trades Recognition Australia (TRA)
• Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS)
• Meat Industry National Training Advisory – MINTRAC

For some specific professions such as doctors, nurses, architects, lawyers, etc., the immigration department requires skill assessment agencies to set more difficult criteria, almost only recognizing qualifications/work experience in Australia or developed countries.

Another note is that some assessment agencies offer provisional skills assessment to graduates from Australian educational institutions (Provisional Skills Assessment) to apply for a subclass 485 visa. This is not allowed. considered as a full skills assessment (Full Skills Assessment) for the purpose of applying for a work or settlement visa.

5. The validity period of the skills assessment (Skill Assessment)

Your skills assessment must be valid during your skilled visa application, the validity period is calculated as follows:

• If the validity period is explicitly stated in the assessment, the evaluation will valid for the period stated.
• If there is no specific validity period stated in the skills assessment, the assessment will be valid for 3 years from the date of issue.

Hopefully the above information will help you make the right decision when choosing a career to work in Australia. In addition, if you have a need to immigrate according to the labor stream, please contact Elite Solutions for a FREE consultation.