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News & Updates and FAQs

 

PLEASE NOTE

The ACS RPL Form and ACS RPL Instruction Guide has been updated, you can find the new form under the skills assessment information.  A grace period till the 3rd of February 03/02/2023 has been granted for the use of the previous ACS RPL Form (2021). From that date we will no longer accept the previous form. New RPL applications must use the 2023 form. 

 
 

News & updates

 

Global Talent Independent Program

 

The Global Talent Independent (GTI) program is designed to attract the best and brightest skilled migrants to Australia in a number of sectors. Candidates who meet eligibility requirements are invited by the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) to apply for a Distinguished Talent visa. The Department of Home Affairs accepts GTI nominations from the ACS. Please refer to our "Information for Applicants" page for further information.

 

Before you apply

 

ACS conduct skills assessment on behalf of the Department of Home Affairs as part of the overall visa application process. ACS determine if an applicant has the required ICT qualifications and experience needed for employment in Australia.

 

Check with the Department of Home Affairs if you need a skills assessment before you apply for your visa. 

 

Once you understand your requirements and have read and understood the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants, please proceed to the ACS Application Form. 

If you have had a previous assessment and/or have an existing account with the ACS and want to lodge a new application you will need to first login via the dashboard login using your email address and password.

 

If you are unsure of the correct password, you may reset the password using our Reset Password function.

 

Please refer to the ACS Password Reset Instructions for further details.

 

If your previous application was completed using the online system the previous documents will carry forward onto the new application. You will not be able to delete any previous documentation as this is kept on record. Simply upload any updated documents into the already created fields - please note that previously submitted documents and any new or updated documents must meet the requirements as per the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants.

 

DO NOT create duplicate fields - we will be able to see the updated documents

The ANZSCO occupation you nominate will determine which assessing authority you will need to contact.

 

Each ANZSCO on the List of Eligible Skilled Occupations will refer to a corresponding assessing authority.

 

For information regarding skilled occupations, visit Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Due to the extensive and complex nature of an ICT skills assessment, it is not possible to offer pre-assessment advice. A formal assessment needs to be completed before any advice is provided.

ACS is unable to provide career or employment advice to applicants. Qualifications regarding specific education and career outcomes are at the discretion of the student.

Skills assessment is for migration purposes and accreditation has no impact on the outcome of a skills assessment application or the assessment of a qualification.

 

Although ACS does provide accreditation for certain ICT Courses, it does not guarantee a suitable migration skills assessment outcome. The qualification is only one aspect of the overall assessment criteria required for a suitable assessment.

No. ACS does not require any English language tests for skills assessments.

Each applicant is assessed on an individual basis and must meet the ACS assessment criteria.

Only professional ICT work experience undertaken from 18 years and over is applicable.

A priority request is only available for Australian visa deadlines less than 12 weeks from the date of application. Applicants must allow at least 2 weeks’ notice of the deadline.

 

Evidence of the visa deadline must be uploaded as a PDF document to have the request considered.

 

This can include:

  • Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) web page showing visa expiry date
  • Department of Home Affairs visa grant notification.

No. This is a courtesy service to help applicants with visa deadlines for priority processing.

Once you have started and saved an online application, any documents uploaded can no longer be deleted. Please therefore ensure the documents you upload are correct and meet our guidelines prior to saving your application. 

ACS does not require documents to be certified as true copies of the original. Documents need to be submitted as high quality colour scans. Please refer to our Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants.

ACS is unable to give advice on ANZSCO codes. This must be determined solely by the applicant.

 

For information on particular ICT occupations, please refer to ANZSCO Code Information.

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.

 

If the assessor finds that your application is unsuitable under the nominated occupation, a suitable ANZSCO may be suggested IF there is a clear alternative.

 

If the recommendation is accepted it does incur an additional fee of $200.

 

Qualifications

 

Due to the extensive and complex nature of an ICT skills assessment, it is not possible to determine the outcome until an in-depth assessment of qualifications and work experience is completed.

General Skills – for applicants with ICT qualifications and professional ICT work experience.

 

RPL – for applicants with professional ICT work experience and either no tertiary qualifications or qualifications with insufficient ICT course content. 

 

Please note that if you apply under general skills and your qualification is assessed as having insufficient ICT content, but you meet the work experience requirement for an RPL application, a recommendation will be emailed with instructions on how to proceed with this application. An additional fee of $200 would apply.

 

For detailed information on requirements, please refer to the Qualifications section of Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants and the Summary of Criteria

Only certain vendor certifications are accepted for ACS skills assessments.

 

For details, please refer to Vendor Certifications in the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants.

If you have a master's degree, please provide all documentation for the underpinning qualifications, such as a bachelor's degree, including non-ICT qualifications.

Seoul Accord is a multilateral agreement between countries that allows certain University level Bachelor and Master degrees to be recognized by the Seoul Accord signatories. ACS has been a signatory of the Seoul Accord since its conception in 2008.

 

Qualifications that are ACS accredited or recognised through mutual recognition under the Seoul Accord will be considered to have met the ICT major criteria for migration skills assessment purposes. However, for qualifications to be accepted as ICT major, they will still be expected to meet or be comparable to the ACS accreditation standards. The assessor will have discretion to determine this at the time of assessment. 

 

Assessment suitability is however still subject to assessment against the nominated ANZSCO occupation.

 

Should you wish to have your qualification assessed under the Seoul Accord, the onus of proof falls solely on the applicant to notify the ACS of this and to provide the ACS with sufficient evidence that your qualification is mutually recognized under the Seoul Accord. Evidence would include screenshots taken directly from the Seoul Accord website Accredited Programs clearly showing that their qualification is recognised. ACS assessors will have discretion to accept or reject the evidence provided.

ACS can only assess completed qualifications. The completion date of the qualification is an assessment requirement.  

 

Employment

 

Your qualification level, ICT course content and relevance of your qualification to the nominated occupation will determine how many years work experience you will require.

 

This can only be determined at the time of formal assessment.

 

Please refer to the Summary of Criteria to help you determine your eligibility.

If you are unable to obtain an employment reference on a company letterhead from your employer, a third party official Statutory Declaration or Affidavit written by a work colleague may be considered along with one of the following as supporting evidence:

  • Employment certificate/statement of service
  • Leaving certificate if no longer working at the same company

A Statutory Declaration or Affidavit written by a work colleague must describe the working relationship with you and details of your duties performed with relevant dates of employment. It must clearly state that the document was 'Sworn Before' or 'Signed Before' or 'Witnessed Before' the authorised witness by the referee and signed by the authorised witness, along with the date and place in which the declaration was witnessed.

 

For further details, please refer to the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants.

Yes. ACS requires sufficient evidence of paid employment to verify your employment and that your pay is commensurate with the skill level for your position. Please refer to the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants for more detailed information.

Full-time work is considered to be 20 hours or more per week and must be stated in the employment reference letter. Any experience less than 20 hours per week will be assessed as unsuitable.

If your work experience was a requirement of your qualification, this will not be counted towards your assessment. 

Only one work experience episode within the same time period can be considered toward your assessment outcome. 

 

The more favourable of the two work experience episodes will be used in the assessment result and the other episode will be listed as unsuitable 'Concurrent Employment'.

 
 
 

During your application

 

After submitting your skills application, you will receive email confirmation with an ACS reference number and information to track your application progress.

The progress of your application can be tracked via your applicant dashboard using your email address and password.

You can update your address or contact details via your applicant dashboard.

For applications that do not require any requests for additional documentation or information, please allow between 8 - 10 weeks for the skills assessment to be completed.

Once the assessment process has commenced, it will NOT be possible to change the ANZSCO code.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide all the documentation that they want to be considered in the application at the time of submission. Once your application has been submitted and is in process, additional documentation cannot be included.

You can change your migration agent or remove them at any point in time.

 

Please complete the Agent Authorisation Form and email this with a clear colour scan of your passport bio-page to: assessment@acs.org.au.

 
 
 

After your assessment

 

General

 

At the completion of your skills assessment application ACS will email your result letter which can be submitted to the Department of Home Affairs as evidence of your Migration Skills Assessment.

Result letters are valid for 24 months from the date of issue.

The ACS does not provide renewals of result letters. You will need to submit a new application through the Online Application Portal by logging into your Dashboard.  

While ACS is authorised to assess ICT skills assessments, the final decision in awarding points remains with the Department of Home Affairs.

Applicants and Agents are strongly advised to check result letters immediately after they are issued. A grace period of 60 days will apply in order to Review, Appeal or notify us of any errors in the result.

 

Please email your case officer by responding to the email which contained your result letter. Alternatively, you may email assessment@acs.org.au.

Holding more than one suitable assessment outcome will not invalidate any of the previous result letters provided they are still within the 24-month validity period.

 

Review & appeal

 

A Review Application is available if you wish to change your nominated occupation (ANZSCO), include additional work experience or qualifications to update your results. 

 

An Appeal Application is available if you disagree with your assessment outcome result and believe an error has been made. 

 

Only one appeal can be made per case and the outcome is final. For more information, refer to the ACS Review and Appeal Guide.

You cannot submit additional documentation with an Appeal Application; only with a Review Application. 

 

If the outcome of an Appeal Application is in your favour, the fee will be refunded; Review Application fees are non-refundable. 

A Review or Appeal can only be submitted within 60 days from the date on your skills assessment result letter.

 

After the 60-day period, a new application is required. 

Please allow approximately 2-4 weeks for processing.

A Review Application can be submitted as many times as required within the 60-day period of any finalised application.

 

Please note that only one application can be in progress at any one time.

 
 

Resources

 

ACS skills migration guidelines and processes

 

This recorded webinar will provide an update on:

  • ACS Role in the Skilled Migration
  • Overview of the ICT Skilled Migration Pathways & Guideline Updates
  • What to do prior to submitting your Application
  • Submitting the right documents
  • How to avoid delays
  • Audience Q&A covered during the evnt on 28 Oct 2021

To view the recording, please click on the play button. You can view the video in full screen by clicking in the incrase arrow icon at the bottom right corner.