George Lombard

The following statement has been received from DIAC about when a person is regarded as having achieved a skill level appropriate to an occupation - ie it establishes the date from when you can count a period of skilled work experience. Unfortunately it doesn't address Pathway E but I think the tenor of the statement suggests a clear interpretation for Pathway E.


"Thank you for your patience in this matter. As you can appreciate the
recent change in policy by TRA (temporarily suspending Pathway D) has
presented a number of issues not previously dealt with by the Department.

As you are aware, when considering whether an applicant has been working at
a skilled level the Department will first look at whether the applicant has
the entry level qualifications for that skilled occupation as prescribed by
ASCO. In instances where the applicant has a formal qualification the time
the applicant was equipped to undertake work at a skilled level is when the
applicant met the academic requirements for the relevant award. In
instances where the applicant has gained their entry level skills through
on the job training the time the applicant was equipped to undertake work
at a skilled level is:
- when the applicant completed the number of years work experience
prescribed by ASCO as being the equivalent of an entry level qualification
(eg. in the case of a computing professional 5 years); or
- when ASCO is silent on the amount of work experience that would be
equivalent to an entry level qualification (eg. in relation to trade
occupations), the period of work experience the relevant assessing
authority considers equivalent.

In the case of applicants with a trade occupation who go through the
offshore VETASSESS skills assessment process this will be 2 years work
experience.

In the case of applicants with a trade occupation who go through the
onshore TRA skills assessment process this will be:
- 4 years experience for a person assessed under pathway A - Formal
Apprenticeship;
- 5 years experience for a person assessed under pathway B or C - Informal
Apprenticeship or Vocational Traineeship.

Our understanding from TRA is that details of the pathway under which an
applicant was assessed are included in the assessment letter."


Cheers,

George Lombard

xander-hp

Thanks for posting this George. So do you think this means it is possible to be assesed by the TRA without qualifications, as long as you have sufficient years work experience for your trade?

welshtony

This deeming of skilled experience is in relation to when DIAC will recognise experience as skilled for counting recent work experience, specific work experience etc.

so getting assessed for a trade without quals is only possible via VETASSESS trades in certain countries. If you manage to get through the practical test with TRA and have the bare minimum of 2 years experience, you will need a further year experience to qualify for the 12/24 experience requirement and 3 years on top of the 2 years for points for specific work experience.

Regards


Tony Coates
MARN 0635896