Requirements to pass a Skill Assessment for migration to Australia

A person wishing to migrate to Australia by applying for General Skilled Migration visas such as the Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) or the Skilled Nominated visa (Subclass 190) has to acquire a positive skill assessment before applying for a visa.

 

Skill assessment is an integral part of the General Skilled Migration program which helps select immigrants with the right qualifications. The applicant will not be able to apply for permanent residency in the country without an assessment of his skills.

 

An applicant must meet the required criteria specified by the assessing authority reviewing their occupation in order to receive their skill assessment. To get a positive assessment, he should have relevant credentials and experience.

 

An important requirement for a positive skill assessment is that the occupation must be related to the candidate’s work experience. If there is a mismatch, then he will not get the required points.

 

 Every occupation in the list has its own skill assessing authority. For instance, trade occupations are assessed by the TRA (Trade Recognition Australia) or the VETASSESS (Vocational Educational and Training Assessment Services).

 

The Skill Assessment authority will consider factors such as the education, work experience and English proficiency level of the candidate. The other factors assessed by them include:

• Occupation in which you nominated yourself
• Your qualifications
• Your work experience
• The relevance of your work to your occupation
• Visa category under which you are applying

Here is a brief overview of the common requirements asked by skill assessing authorities for certain professions that the majority of prospective migrants belong to.

 

These details are not exhaustive but give a fair idea of what the skill assessing authorities are looking for.

 

Engineers

Immigration candidates who are qualified engineers must have a minimum qualification of 4-years of bachelor’s degree in engineering.

 

There is no specific period of work experience required.

 

The required English proficiency level is a score of 6 bands or above in all the four modules of academic or general IELTS.

 

IELTS requirements are exempted for those who are native English speakers or those who have completed an engineering degree in an Australian university or a Ph.D.  program at an Australian university.

 

Nurses

Immigration candidates wishing to work as nurses must have at least a bachelor’s degree or qualification with experience which is comparable to the minimum education standard for nursing in Australia.

 

Applicants must have a minimum period of five years of work experience.

 

The IELTS score requirements are 7 bands in all four sections.

 

Accountants

These candidates must have a qualification equal to that assessed by CPA Australia or equal to an Australian Bachelor's degree and must have completed the core accounting subjects that cover topics such as auditing, accounting theory financial accounting, cost and management accounting, etc.

 

Work experience is generally not required, though in some cases minimum work experience or on the job training might be required.

 

Teachers

Applicants must have completed a minimum of four years of higher education and must have an initial teacher education qualification. For instance, this can be a three-year degree in Bachelor of Science and a one year Post Graduate Diploma in Education.

 

Work experience is not required but some supervised teaching practice is required.

 

Candidates must have passed the Academic IELTS with a 7 bands score in reading and writing and an 8 bands score in speaking and listening.