ICT Skills Assessment
Technology is taking in the economy and our lives, therefore, demand for skilled IT professionals remains steady. According to Department of Home Affair, the occupation ceilings for Software and Applications Programmers (2613) is 8,748 and for ICT Business and Systems Analysts is 2,587 for the 2019-2020 year. Due to high EOI points required for those occupations, 95 and 105 points respectively, there are only 1,926 and 608 invitations issued for these occupation (under skilled-Independent 189 and Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) 491) as at 11 April 2020. In order to apply for skilled visas, you need to have a positive skills assessment. ACS is the only assessing authority that will assess the skills and qualifications of ICT professional.
This article will help you to have a general idea about the ICT skills assessment process. For more information, please visit the ACS website: https://www.acs.org.au/home.html
Firstly, you need to choose a suitable ANZSCO code for your nominated occupation:
Please refer to the ACS ANZSCO Code information to assist you in nominating an ICT occupation: http://www.acs.org.au/msa/anzsco-code-information.html
Once the assessment process has commenced, it will NOT be possible to change the ANZSCO code. Therefore, it is highly recommended to research and evaluate the relevance of your qualifications and employment in relation to the ANZSCO code requirements before choosing a nominated occupation ANZSCO code.
The assessor may find that your application is unsuitable under the nominated occupation. If that the case, a suitable ANZSCO code may be suggested if there is a clear alternative.
Please be aware that an additional fee of $200 will be applied.
Qualification and work experience:
Requirement for graduates who have Australian ICT qualification:
- Australian Bachelor Degree or higher with ICT major*
- The qualification is closely related to your nominated occupation
- 1 year relevant ICT post-graduate work experience; OR completion of ACS Professional Year Program
*ICT major: For a standard 3-year Bachelor level qualification, if your qualification is at least 33% in ICT, it is considered ICT major. For post Graduate Degree level that does not require a Bachelor degree in ICT major, it is least 50% of the qualification in ICT. For more details, please refer to Section 5 of ACS Migration Skills Assessment Guidelines: http://www.acs.org.au/msa/skills-assessment-guidelines-for-applicants.html
If your qualification is not from an accredited Australian University, you still can apply for the ACS skills assessment as long as you meet their requirements. For example, you have a Bachelor Degree or higher (ICT major) from overseas, and the qualification is closely related to your nominated occupation, then you meet their requirements if you can show 2 years relevant ICT work experience completed in the last 10 years OR 4 years relevant ICT work experience completed any time in past work history. You can also use your Diploma Degree for the skills assessment as long as you have enough work experience required by the ACS. For more information regarding this matter, please have a look at ACS Summary of Criteria – A quick reference of assessment requirements: http://www.acs.org.au/msa/summary-of-criteria.html
For whom who want to claim EOI points for their work experience, it is stated that you need to meet the Skill Level Requirement which is the completion of both the relevant qualification and relevant work experience before claiming points for skilled employment. Let’s have a look at some examples to understand more about this Skill Level Requirement.
Example 1 – Australian qualification with post-graduate work experience:
- You complete a relevant Bachelor degree with major in ICT on 31 Dec 2012, and have 2 years of relevant work experience from 1 Feb 2013 to 31 Jan 2015.
- The first year of work experience will be used to satisfy the requirement of skills assessment and your Skill Level Requirement Met Date will be 31 Jan 2014.
- The other year from 1 Feb 2014 to 31 Jan 2015 will be counted toward your Skilled Employment which can be claimed for 5 EOI points (1 year work experience in Australia)
Example 2 – Overseas qualification with employment BEFORE graduation:
- You complete 2 years of relevant work experience in the past 10 years OR 4 years of relevant work experience any time in the past on 31 Jan 2013.
- You complete a relevant Bachelor degree on 31 Jan 2016
- The Skill Level Requirement Met Date will be 31 Jan 2016 because you meet both the relevant work experience and the relevant qualification on that date.
- Any relevant work experience after the 31 Jan 2016 will be counted toward your Skilled Employment for migration points test.
Document checklists:
- Personal documents:
- Passport (colour scan the identification page)
- Resume/CV
- Qualification documents:
- Academic transcript (colour scan)
- Certificate OR completion letter (colour scan)
- If you have a Master degree, you should provide all underpinning qualifications’ documents as well, such as a bachelor’s degree, including non-ICT qualifications
- Work experience documents (for relevant work of 20 hours or more per week)
- Work references on company letterhead; OR
- Third party Statutory Declarations
- Payment evidence: at least 2 different types of documentary evidence listed below
- Official government tax records
- Payslips
- Employment link insurance/superannuation documents
- Bank statement showing salary payments from employer
*** Note: ACS does not require any English language tests for skills assessment.
For more details, please visit ACS application checklist: https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-skills/Application-Checklist.pdf
Fees:
For Post Australian Study Skills Assessment, it costs AUD $500. For more details, please visit the ACS website: https://www.acs.org.au/msa/information-for-applicants.html
Processing time:
It takes between 8 – 10 weeks for the skills assessment to be processed. If you are requested to provide additional information, please allow extra time for the skills assessment to be completed.