Skills assessment for Australian visa

What is skills assessment?

If you are applying for a skilled visa, your skills and qualifications might need to be checked and compared to Australian standards by a relevant assessing authority. There there are many assessing authorities, and depends on the job that you nominated.  Yes, you have to choose a job first before commencing an assessment. Once you will make a decision about what kind of job you’ll nominate for an Australian visa then you can undertake the skill assessment process. One important point to remember here is that the job that you choose should be part of the list of skilled occupations that are up for an application, you cannot just present any job of your choice; your nominated job should be found on the relevant list of occupations we’ve just mentioned.

First of all, you must understand that all the jobs in Australia are sorted and defined by an Australian Bureau of Statistics and every job has been given its own 6 digit ANZSCO code.

Another point to take into consideration is this: You can submit more than one skill and, as such, apply to several skills assessing bodies.  This way, you choose which one is the most suitable skills assessment for you.  For this reason, you need to make up your mind as to the occupation you choose to nominate because you can no longer change it the moment you are invited to apply for a Points Tested Skilled Migration visa.

The basic premise of the assessment process is that you have to provide proof that your skills and qualifications have been evaluated as suitable by a relevant assessing authority based on the professional standards of your nominated occupation.

Please take note also of the expiry date of the skills assessment.  It is valid within the expiry date indicated on it, or after a period of three years from the date of issue, whichever comes first.

Who undertakes skill assessment?

As we have said earlier, each eligible occupation has its own assessing authority.  Therefore, each of the assessing authorities has its own standards, procedures, timelines and even charges.  It’s your task to contact the relevant assessing body so you can undergo skills assessment before you submit your expression of interest in the SkillSelect.

How are your skills assessed?

Some assessing bodies put a premium on post-secondary qualifications, such as university or trade, for you to obtain a positive skill assessment. For some types of occupations, however, work experience may be sufficient. It’s paramount to check what’s the ANZSCO Skill Level for your occupation because some assessing authorities will not accept work experience on behalf of formal study. Sometimes you may proceed with a Recognition of the prior learning and then go ahead with formal skills assessment. To be honest with you it’s quite complex and you’ll have to know what kind of visa you are going to apply for because that may determine the type of assessment as well. It’s especially important for the trades – whether you are applying for 457, 485 or another skilled visa assessment requirements are different for the same occupation. Your country of origin may have an impact as well. Simple, isn’t it? Yeah, I know, it’s not. We did many, so – give us a call  should you require any help with getting your skills assessed, we’re here to help.

One good thing about these skills assessing authorities is that before lodging an assessment you may be able to get an advice from a relevant assessment body about the qualification requirements for the occupations they assess from their website, sometimes they’ll even give you some advice over the phone.

You may be tempted to ask the assessing authorities about employment opportunities in the country.  Unfortunately, they cannot be of any help to you on this.  They are assessing organizations not employment agencies.  They cannot even give you information as to the failure or success of your visa application.

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What to attach to your skill assessment application?

In most casethe s assessment is based on documents provided by the applicant. You’ll have to organize and provide various documents such as:

• documents from the school you have completed. Usually diploma and transcript are sufficient, however, sometimes syllabus is required to ensure your schools standard could be compared to Australian Qualification Framework on a required level.
• references from your employers
• contracts with your employers
• proof your work was paid such as:
  • payslips
  • tax assessment
  • bank account statements
• resume
• for trade occupations, some photos and/or videos might be deemed necessary

After a positive outcome of the skills assessment, you’ll be awarded a document confirming your abilities are the same as of any Australian with the same job.

What to do with a negative response from skill assessment authority

Sometimes assessment body will not be satisfied with your qualifications and experience and they’ll refuse your application or will give you a document stating different occupation than you have applied for. Sometimes it’s possible to argue with them (for an additional fee obviously) or you’d have to apply again and provide with additional documents. You’ll waste a lot of time and money. Choosing the right occupation is probably the most important factor when checking your eligibility for a visa, we have assisted many so we can take care of your migration process as well. Give us a call to discuss your options.

What is the skills assessment for?

After going through the skills assessment process and you have already chosen the occupation that’s most suitable for you, it’s time to lodge the visa application. All you have to do is provide a copy of the skills assessment suitable to you that’s done by a relevant assessing authority for your nominated occupation. Attach this document to your application.

No surprise this document may also help you convincing prospective employer to give you a job as they are usually asking if you have any Australian experience. If you don’t have any Australian work experience at least you may show them official document showing your abilities are comparable to Australian ones.

Obviously, this article is too short to answer so many questions nagging your mind right now.  Don’t you worry, our company Nowak Migration is always willing to provide answers to such questions and more.  All you have to do is to keep in touch with us through any of the contact information found on our website.

What is SkillSelect?

SkillSelect is an online facility utilized by the Australian government to manage its skilled migration program.  It sees to it that said migration program serves the economic needs of the country.  For this reason, it screens the applicants for skilled migration and finds out who are eligible for skilled visa application, when they can apply and how many skilled workers are needed.  This facility significantly reduces the time taken to process a visa application.

Another function of the website is to help solve the shortage of skills in the regional areas of the country where applicants are oftentimes in short supply.   In the application form, applicants are asked if they are willing to work in businesses of the potential employers whose operations are located in the so-called regional Australia.  In case you don’t know what regional Australia is, it consists of the towns, small cities or areas away from the big and popular cities of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

To be specific, here are the places that make up the regional Australia:

1. The entire Australian Capital Territory
2. Entire Northern Territory
3. Entire state of South Australia
4. The Entire state of Tasmania
5. Western Australia except for Perth metropolitan area
6. New South Wales except for Sydney, Newcastle, and Wollongong
7. Queensland except the greater Brisbane area and the Gold Coast
8. Victoria except for Melbourne metropolitan area

Employers who have difficulty finding the right talent for their businesses find an ally in the SkillSelect.  Also, states and territories that need skilled people in their areas of jurisdiction can turn to this online service for help.

As you can see choosing the right occupation is probably the most important step in the whole migration process. If done wrong chances you’ll get your visa are slim. We’re here to help, so don’t hesitate to give us a call to discuss your situation.

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