VETASSESS Skills Assessment (Professional Occupations)

VETASSESS general occupations skills assessment is for you if your occupation is classed as a general professional occupation. You are eligible to apply for a skills assessment if your occupation is on the general occupation lists and you are applying for the following visas:

Below we will go through the details of applying for a skills assessment under this category.

Overview – Application Process

Nominate an occupation – make sure that your qualification and work experience meet the occupation requirements.
Check whether your work experience matches the job description on ANZSCO.
Prepare your application.
Apply for skills assessment.

Nominate an occupation

You must check that your occupation is on the Skilled Occupations List as prescribed by the Australian government. Occupations may be removed from either the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL), Medium and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) and Regional Occupation List (ROL) by the Australian government, therefore, it is crucial that you check the skilled occupation list before applying for a skills assessment.

To be eligible for the VETASSESS general occupation skills assessment, your occupation must be on the General Professional Occupations list. You can find the list here.

Depending on your occupation, there are different criteria. Therefore, it is best always to check the requirements for your occupation. Usually, it is a requirement that you have completed a qualification in a field highly relevant to the nominated occupation, and you have at least one year of post-qualification employment at an appropriate skills level which is highly relevant to the nominated occupation.

“Highly relevant field of study” means that the major field of your qualification matches your nominated occupation. VETASSESS in considering this criterion will consider the following:

whether you hold a specialised qualification or whether your qualification has a major or whether your qualification has a major field of study which VETASSESS has identified as being suitable for the occupation in Australia
the depth (progression) and breadth of study in the major
the employment outcomes of the qualification in the country concerned
course requirements – including whether any thesis work, major projects, internships/work placements were needed in order for the qualification to be achieved.

“Highly relevant employment” means that the major tasks undertaken in your work should closely match the job description in ANZSCO. VETASSESS will consider the following:

The employment must be full-time employment (20 hours per week).
The employment must be paid work.
The employment must be skilled. That is, your work must be undertaken after you have completed the relevant qualifications, and the main duties performed must be at the required level as prescribed by ANZSCO.

If you are applying for a Subclass 485 visa, work experience is not required for a Qualifications – only assessment.

Preparing your application

To apply for the skills assessment, you must prepare a list of documents. These documents must be colour scans of the original documents. If the documents are not in English, it must be translated.

Some standard documents you will need include:

Passport
Passport photos
Qualification documents – Certificate and Transcript
Employment documents – e.g. Payslips, Reference Letter
Resume

Processing time

It takes approximately 12-14 weeks to process the application. However, some applicants may be able to apply for priority processing. If you are eligible for priority processing, VETASSESS will process the application in ten business days.

Priority processing criteria

When applying for priority processing, you must have all prepared all the relevant documents (e.g. qualification and employment documents). If your qualification requires in-house assessment, VETASSESS will not be able to complete priority processing. Similarly, your employment documents must be sufficient because VETASSESS will need to verify your employment claims within 10 business days.

Fees

Application Method	Applicant is a resident of Australia for tax purposes (fee includes GST)	Applicant is NOT a resident of Australia for tax purposes (fee excludes GST)
Online Application	$1205	$1096
Priority Processing	$907.50	$825