Am I eligible?


To be eligible to apply for assessment, you must:

  • currently be a permanent resident of a country other than Australia and wish to migrate to Australia under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) or the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) program, or be applying for a Skilled – Graduate (Temporary) visa (subclass 485)
  • nominate a general professional occupation – managerial, technician, community, personal service, clerical, administrative or sales occupation for which VETASSESS is the relevant assessing authority. For additional information about nominating an occupation for 485 visa purposes please click here
  • hold post-secondary or higher educational qualifications at the required educational level, in a field highly relevant to your nominated occupation
  • have at least one year of employment experience out of the last five in a highly relevant field to your nominated occupation (unless you need an assessment for 485 visa purposes in which case employment is not assessed).

For Skills Assessment for some occupations, additional years of relevant employment may compensate for qualifications which are at the required level but which lack content relevance. Please see nominating an occupation. Please note that this does not apply to Qualifications Assessments for 485 visa purposes. If your nominated occupation is an Australian trade, please see Assess my trade skills, as you will be required to undertake a different assessment process.

Qualifications Assessment to support an application for a Skilled-Graduate (Temporary) visa (subclass 485)

The Skills Assessment to support an application for a Skilled – Graduate (Temporary) visa (subclass 485) is a qualifications only assessment. It does not require an assessment of employment.

How your qualifications and employment are assessed

VETASSESS considers a range of factors to determine whether your qualifications and employment meet the VETASSESS criteria for your nominated occupation for the Skills Assessment, or for the qualifications assessment for 485 visa purposes.

1. Qualifications

VETASSESS assesses your post-secondary educational qualifications against the educational level requirements of your nominated occupation. In addition to this, we also assess whether your qualifications are in a highly relevant field to your nominated occupation.

We take the following factors into consideration to assess the educational level:

  • the education system of the country where qualifications were obtained
  • the accreditation of the awarding institution and the qualification
  • the level, structure, length and content of the program of study undertaken
  • quality indicators for the country concerned – education system, awarding institution and program of study.

We take the following factors into consideration to assess whether your qualification is in a highly related field of study to your nominated occupation:

  • whether you hold a specialised qualification or whether your qualification has a major area of study which VETASSESS has identified as being suitable for the occupation in Australia
  • the number of units completed in the related field (for example, this is usually at least 33% for a 3 year Bachelor degree course, or 25% for a four year Bachelor degree course)
  • the progression of studies throughout the course
  • the depth and breadth of studies in the field of study relevant to the nominated occupation
  • the outcomes of the qualification for employment in the country concerned
  • course requirements - thesis, major projects, internships/work placements

If you require an assessment of your employment for Points Test purposes to support a GSM visa application, and have had a Skills Assessment by VETASSESS or another assessing authority, please click here.

2. Employment

We also assess your post qualification employment against the employment requirements of your nominated occupation. For information on Pre and Post-qualification Employment please refer to nominating an occupation

We take the following factors into consideration to assess employment against the nominated occupation:

  • the total length of relevant employment experience
  • the relevance of the major tasks completed during this employment experience
  • the skill level required for the highest/most relevant position in your career progression.

Generally, only paid employment experience, of at least 20 hours per week, for one year, in a related field and at the appropriate level will be considered as part of the assessment.

Please click here to see a list of evidence required for your employment.

If you require an assessment of your employment for Points Test purposes to support a GSM visa application, please click here.

The assessment is an indication of your job readiness, and an assessment of whether you meet the occupational requirements for migration purposes.

It is not an assessment of:

  • your suitability for employment
  • the quality of your work
  • the likely success or failure of you obtaining Australian residency status.

What we provide you

The VETASSESS Skills Assessment will provide you with a written assessment of whether your post-secondary qualifications (such as university or polytechnic qualifications) and employment history meet the educational and employment requirements of your nominated occupation. The VETASSESS Qualifications Assessment to support an application for a 485 visa will provide you with a written assessment of whether your post-secondary qualifications meet the educational requirements of your nominated occupation.

More information