Positive Skills Assessment: What It Does — and Does Not — Mean for Your Australian Visa

A suitable positive result means that the authority has assessed your
skills as suitable for the nominated occupation for the relevant
assessment purpose.

The assessing authority applies its own professional and assessment
criteria.

Home Affairs then uses the result within the separate migration-law
requirements of the visa.

The assessing authority does not grant the visa.

For points-tested visas, Home Affairs assesses the points that apply to
the visa application.

SkillSelect gives you an indicative points score based on the claims
entered in your EOI.

If you receive an invitation, you must provide evidence supporting those
claims.

A skills assessment can be relevant to occupation eligibility and may
contain information relevant to employment or qualifications, but a
positive result does not automatically mean Home Affairs will award
every point you claimed.

That can be important evidence.

However, the points test is governed by the migration rules applying to
the visa.

For skilled employment points, Home Affairs considers whether the
employment satisfies the relevant points-test criteria, including
whether it was in the nominated skilled occupation or a closely related
skilled occupation and falls within the relevant period.

Do not assume that every period appearing in an assessing authority
outcome will automatically receive migration points.

For points-tested skilled migration, a suitable skills assessment is an
eligibility requirement, not a guarantee of selection.

Subclass 189 applicants are ranked against other intending applicants in
SkillSelect.

State and territory governments apply their own nomination criteria for
subclass 190 and state-nominated subclass 491 pathways.

A positive assessment can make an EOI possible, but it does not
guarantee:

• a 189 invitation
• state nomination
• a 190 invitation
• a 491 invitation
• a visa grant

• if the assessment does not state a validity period, it is generally
  valid for three years from the date of issue
• if it states a validity period shorter than three years, the shorter
  period applies
• if it states a validity period longer than three years, Home Affairs
  applies a maximum three-year period for the relevant migration
  requirement

The assessment needs to satisfy the timing requirements applying to the
visa.

Do not assume an old positive result remains usable simply because the
assessing authority has not withdrawn it.

Home Affairs' current guidance states that the assessment must be valid
at the relevant invitation point under the applicable rules.

Home Affairs also currently applies the Thapa approach, accepting in
relevant circumstances a suitable assessment obtained during the 60-day
invitation period.

This is a legally technical timing area.

Applicants should not treat the 60-day period as a routine strategy for
beginning a skills assessment only after invitation.

Home Affairs states that some assessing authorities issue provisional
skills assessments for recent Australian graduates applying for the
Temporary Graduate visa.

A provisional subclass 485 assessment is not a suitable skills
assessment for a points-tested skilled visa application.

You need the assessment type that satisfies the permanent migration
requirements.

Home Affairs also states that a skills assessment obtained for the
Temporary Graduate visa is not a valid skills assessment for the
subclass 186 Direct Entry pathway.

The subclass 494 Employer Sponsored stream likewise does not accept a
subclass 485 assessment as the required assessment.

Always check the assessment purpose against the visa you intend to use.

Different visas can use different occupation lists, assessing-authority
instruments and assessment requirements.

An assessment suitable for one migration purpose should not
automatically be assumed to satisfy another.

Check:

• the visa subclass
• the visa stream
• nominated occupation
• assessing authority
• assessment purpose
• validity period
• timing requirement
• any applicable exemption

Occupation eligibility is determined separately for the relevant visa
program.

Home Affairs publishes legislative instruments specifying occupations
and assessing authorities for different skilled visa programs.

An occupation available for a subclass 189 or 491 pathway may not
operate identically under subclass 186, 482 or 494.

A positive assessment for an occupation therefore does not place that
occupation onto every skilled visa list.

If your migration strategy changes to a different occupation, the
existing assessment may no longer satisfy the new pathway.

A similar job title does not necessarily mean the ANZSCO occupation is
the same.

The actual duties, occupation classification and assessing-authority
requirements should be checked before changing the nominated occupation
in an EOI or visa strategy.

English is a separate visa requirement.

For points-tested visas, English can affect both basic eligibility and
the number of points claimed.

The skills assessment and English requirement should be treated
separately unless a particular assessment framework expressly uses
English evidence for its own assessment process.

Meeting an assessing authority's requirements does not automatically
establish the Home Affairs English criterion.

Age is separately assessed under the relevant visa rules.

For example, Home Affairs currently requires points-tested subclass 189
applicants to be under 45 when invited.

A positive skills assessment does not preserve visa eligibility if
another requirement changes before invitation.

An assessing authority can assess qualifications as part of determining
occupational suitability.

That can be relevant to the points test.

But Home Affairs applies the points-test rules to determine how many
qualification points can be awarded.

For some qualifications, recognition by the relevant assessing authority
can be directly relevant to the points framework.

The exact qualification and points category should still be checked
rather than inferred from the words "positive skills assessment".

Before relying on the assessment, check:

• assessment date
• any expiry date printed on the result
• the visa's migration validity rule
• expected EOI and invitation timing
• whether reassessment is required
• how long the assessing authority currently takes to issue a new
  result

An EOI can remain active while an assessment approaches expiry, but the
assessment still needs to satisfy the requirements applying when you are
invited and apply.

A new skills assessment can therefore be relevant to an existing EOI.

But the claims entered in the EOI need to remain accurate and
supportable.

After an invitation is issued, SkillSelect restrictions apply to
updating the EOI during the invitation period.

The assessing authority applies its occupational assessment criteria.

Home Affairs applies the Migration Act, Regulations and points-test
rules to the visa application.

An employment period can therefore be relevant to a skills assessment
without necessarily producing the migration outcome an applicant
expects.

Where points depend heavily on a disputed employment period, the
migration-law points test should be checked independently.

• exact nominated occupation
• occupation code
• assessment purpose
• assessing authority
• assessment date
• stated expiry or validity
• migration validity period
• visa subclasses for which the occupation is eligible
• employment periods relied on for points
• qualification points
• English
• age
• EOI score
• state nomination requirements where relevant
• whether a 485 provisional assessment needs replacement

A positive result should be treated as a building block in the visa
strategy, not the final eligibility decision.