Obtaining a suitable skills assessment is mandatory for some visa subclasses (and streams) and may be requested for others. Skill assessment refers to assessing an applicant’s qualification and/or employment against the suitability of a nominated occupation.
If you are planning to migrate to Australia, you may need to undergo a skill assessment to determine your qualifications and suitability for your intended occupation.
The requirements for a skills assessment vary depending on your occupation and the visa category you are applying for. Generally, you will need to provide evidence of your education, work experience, and any relevant certifications or licenses.
Skills assessments are issued by relevant skills assessing authorities. A skills assessing authority is an organisation that checks that your skills meet the standards they set to work in a relevant occupation.
The combined list of eligible skilled occupations sets out all relevant occupations under 4 occupation lists. Most occupations in each list have their own skills assessing authority. We can only accept a skills assessment issued by the relevant assessing authority.
It is your responsibility to contact the relevant assessing authority for your occupation and obtain a skills assessment, if required. Each assessing authority has its own assessment procedures, timeframes and charges.
Getting a positive skill assessment is a mandatory part of skilled migration under the general skilled migration and employer sponsor visa programs in Australia.
General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas
Employer Sponsored visas
Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS)
Certain primary TSS visa applicants must undertake a mandatory skills assessment as part of the visa application process.
Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485)
To be eligible for a Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) — graduate work stream you must have nominated an occupation that is on the Medium to Long Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL). All occupations on the MLTSSL have a relevant skills assessing authority. We can only accept a skills assessment issued by the relevant assessing authority.
Some skills assessing authorities issue skills assessments that show an expiry date. If a skills assessment is provided after the expiry date, the skills assessment will no longer be valid.
Skills assessment validity periods are calculated as follows:
You are encouraged to arrange your skills assessment well before you intend to submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect. You cannot rely on a skills assessment that was obtained after you were invited to apply.
Step 1: Consultation & Assessment
The first step is to book a consultation with one of our Registered Migration Agents. During the consultation, we will assess your situation and your background to determine your eligibility to obtain a skills assessment and a skilled visa to enter or remain in Australia.
We offer convenient video consultations from any device.
We will send you a fixed fee quote following the consultation which breaks down the applicable fees for each step of a skilled visa journey.
Step 2: Eligibility Assessment
Once your skilled occupation has been selected from the relevant visa occupation list, and the skills assessing authority for that occupation has been identified from that list, we will conduct a comprehensive review and preassessment of your eligibility for a positive skills assessment.
We will conduct an initial assessment of your eligibility for a skilled visa. This involves reviewing your qualifications, work experience, English language and other circumstances, to establish whether or not you are likely to meet the relevant requirements.
Note: Our initial assessment of your eligibility does not guarantee that you will (or will not) in fact obtain a positive skills assessment.
Step 3: Skills Assessment Application
Should our pre-assessment conclude that your skills assessment application is likely to be successful, and should you wish us to prepare this application on your behalf, we will provide you with a full list of the information and documents that you need to supply in support of your application.
Once you have provided the necessary details and documents, along with the required assessment fee, we will lodge your application with the skills assessing authority. We will also follow up the application with the assessing authority as required, and respond to requests for information and documents, if needed.
The assessing authority will review your qualifications and work experience to determine whether or not you possess the necessary skills to undertake your chosen occupation in Australia.
Although the requirements for each occupation (and each assessing authority) differ, as a minimum, you will generally be required to provide evidence of your:
Different skill assessment categories have separate fees. Visit the assessing authority’s website or contact our team for more information.
Each assessing authority has its own procedures and timeframes. The assessment of your qualifications and experience by the assessing authority can take some time and can vary between different authorities.
Once the skill assessment officials receive all the required documents and information for the full Skill Assessment, it takes approximately 12-14 weeks for the standard process of assessing the application. In some cases, you can also request for the fast-track processing.
EMK Global is a leading expert in the field of international education and migration to Australia. Our head office is located in Sydney, Australia and we have branch offices in Vietnam and Pakistan.
What are the Eligibility Requirements for Skill Assessment?
There are different skill assessing bodies for different profiles, but the most common requirements are:
- The applicant should have a diploma, degree or a similar post- secondary qualification.
- Relevant Work Experience in the required field ( for some occupations)
- Proficiency in English (IELTS or TOFEL ORPTE)
- Health and Character certificate
How do I get an Australian Skills Assessment?
Get in touch with the skill assessment authority. Before you apply for the visa, you should contact the skill assessment authority. Check which is the correct skill assessing officials for the nominated profession. Different skills assessing authority have their own process, costs and time to evaluate a profile.
What are the factors considered by Skilled Assessment Officials?
When a Skill Assessment officer receives an application, they will first check whether the candidate has proper education, work experience, and good English language fluency. Apart from that, the other factors which they consider are:
- The occupation in which the candidate has nominated himself
- Qualifications (Educational and other qualifications’ which fulfills the criteria of the occupation applied)
- Work Experience of the Candidate.
- The importance of your work skill to the occupation applied
- Visa category in which the candidate has applied
These are the foremost standard requirements that are needed by Skill Assessing Authorities for all migrants