How to Get Your Trade Qualifications Recognised in Australia?
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There is a number of Australian visas requiring recognition of your overseas trade qualifications in order to meet the Australian standards. We’ve summarized below some of the most frequently asked questions everyone is interested in:
Do I actually need skills assessment before I get my Australian skilled migrant visa?
Yes, you do need it. In order to make a valid visa application, you need to nominate an occupation from the SOL list and obtain a skills assessment in that occupation from an authorised Assessing body in Australia.
Where do I go to get my overseas skills assessed?
Unfortunately, there’s no one particular authority in Australia that assesses all overseas qualifications. In fact, there are many government bodies and it depends on your occupation which assessing body you will need to go through.
Here is an example: the Trades Recognition Australia issues skills assessments for migration purposes in most trades. In order to qualify you to need to provide a Trade Certificate and prove at least 3 years, formal apprenticeship outside Australia plus at least 3 years of work experience in the trade after apprenticeship completion.
Apart from this, in order to meet the requirements for your Skilled Migrant visa application, you should have been in paid employment for at least 12 months of the last 18 months prior to visa lodgement. As you can see, criteria are tough, but this because you need to prove you can undertake all the work performed by a tradesperson in Australia in the same trade.
What if I don’t have trade qualifications? Can I still get recognized in Australia?
If you are skilled worker but you don’t have any papers or qualifications from your country, you get to apply for a Recognition prior Learning, which is a simple way to get assessment based on your work experience and skills that you have developed “on the job”. You just need to prove you have at least 3 years general trade experience or 2 years of work experience along with skills and knowledge in an associated field. And you need to provide evidence to confirm you’ve been regularly employed in the same or similar job.
What is the next step?
You might be further required to get an Australian licence or registration in order to work in your nominated occupation Down Under. Again licensing requirements vary and it depends on your occupation and where you want to practise it. The registration process might take a few months so it makes sense to start sorting it before you go there.
Visa First is a leading international immigration consulting company. For additional information about Australian skills assessment and visa options, you can e-mail us at contact@visafirst.com.
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