3 New skills assessment service
For people intending to migrate to Australia from India, Sri Lanka, UK, South Africa and the Philippines in certain trades.
This new skills assessment service applies only to residents* of:
- India, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the Philippines who wish to have their skills assessed for the General Skilled Migration programme in one of the following trade occupations:
- general electrician [4311-11]
- general plumber [4431-11]
- refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanic [4312-11]
- motor mechanic [4211-11]
- carpenter and joiner [4411-11]
- carpenter[4411-13]
- joiner [4411-15]
- electrical powerline tradesperson [4313-11]
- cable jointer [4313-13]
- bricklayer [4414-11]
- supervisor, electricians [4311-01]
- supervisor, plumbers [4431-01]
- supervisor, refrigeration and air-conditioning mechanics [4312-01]
- supervisor, motor mechanic [4211-01]
- supervisor, carpentry and joinery [4411-01]
- supervisor, electrical distribution tradespersons [4313-01]
- supervisor, bricklayers [4414-01]
* For information on determining country of residence,
click here.
New assessing authority
Under this new service, applications from potential migrants in the above countries and trades will no longer be assessed by TRA. From 1 September 2007 applications will be assessed by the VETASSESS Consortium, a group of Australian registered training organisations.
Consortium members include Kangan Batman TAFE, Box Hill Institute of TAFE, Victoria University, Swan TAFE, Great Southern TAFE, South West Regional College and Central Gippsland TAFE.
Under the new skills assessment service, there are three assessment phases:
- A free self assessment tool for potential applicants to gauge their suitability for the assessment process (this is available on the VETASSESS website).
- A paper based pre-assessment that takes into account qualifications and work experience in the relevant trade.
- A technical interview and in country practical assessment. (A schedule of visits to each of the five countries for 2007/08 is published on the VETASSESS website.)
Assessment Standards
Occupational Action Groups comprising state government, industry regulators, state registering authorities and employer and employee representatives agreed the assessment standard for each occupation. Applicants seeking skills assessment in the trades of general electrician, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, motor mechanic, carpenter and joiner, bricklayer, cable jointer and electrical powerline tradesperson will all be assessed against specified Certificate III training packages. Applicants seeking skills recognition as a general plumber will be assessed against specified streams of the Certificate III training package.
Applicants seeking skills recognition as a supervisor will be assessed against specified streams of the Certificate III training package for the base trade plus additional supervisory experience of 3 years is required.
To ensure that applicants are fully aware of the skills required to meet Australian standards, applicants are able to do a self-assessment of their skills and determine if they are ready to proceed to the assessment stage. These self-assessment tools describe the critical competencies and major skill sets required to meet Australian standards.
The self assessment tools are downloadable from the VETASSESS website or can be completed online through an interactive interface after 1 July 2007.
For more information, please go to Skills assessment for migration at www.vetassess.com.au and visit the Questions and Answers page.
Now that the new offshore service has commenced, Trades Recognition Australia no longer assesses applications from applicants seeking a skills assessment in the trades specified above whose country of residence is India, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Sri Lanka or South Africa. Such applications will be returned to the applicant along with the application fee.
Applicants will be required to nominate their country of residence on the application form when making an application for a skills assessment to TRA.
Where the evidence provided by an applicant in support of his or her skills assessment application suggests that the country of residence may not be the one specified in the application, TRA may require additional evidence to substantiate the applicant’s country of residence (for example, utilities bills, rental receipts, passport, visa, evidence of a bank account from the nominated country of residence etc).
When considering whether an applicant has specified his or her correct country of residence, TRA may consider a number of factors including, but not limited to:
- where that person eats, sleeps and has a settled home;
- how long that person has lived in the country specified in his or her application; and
- that person’s intention to make or not make a particular country his or her usual home.
If an applicant is successful with his or her application for a skills assessment and subsequently makes a visa application to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), DIAC may make additional enquiries in order to verify whether an applicant has nominated the correct country of residence in his or her application for a skills assessment.