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One of the essential steps required for skilled applicants who wish to migrate to Australia is the Competency Assessment for Migration. It is based on the completion of a written assessment of an applicant’s qualifications, skills, work experience, and professional background by the relevant Australian skills assessing authority.
In many of the skilled migration categories, an applicant should get a positive skills assessment before completing their visa application or Expression of Interest (EOI). The assessing authority varies by occupation, and each of these is subject to different eligibility criteria, documentation, procedures, fees and assessment standards.
Engineers Australia (EA) is the designated assessing authority for numerous engineering occupations for engineers. Engineers whose qualifications are not accredited by a relevant international agreement might have to follow the pathway of a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) to show their engineering knowledge and competencies.
Competency Assessment for Migration is the process of verifying that an applicant’s qualifications, knowledge, skills and experience are deemed to be at a level that matches the requirements for the occupation the applicant has nominated for migration to Australia.
This is an assessment in addition to the visa application itself. The assessing authority decides if the applicant’s skills are appropriate for the nominated occupation, and the Department of Home Affairs will assess the applicant’s visa eligibility under a visa program.
According to the Australian Government, skills assessments are provided by appropriate skills assessing authorities, which assess if the applicant has the skills to meet the standards set for the relevant occupation.
Therefore, a positive skills assessment can play an important part in an applicant’s skilled migration route.
The skilled migration system is designed in a way that ensures occupations are assessed in a way that is specific to their occupation to ensure they have the skills and qualifications the nominated occupation requires.
For instance, those who apply for some skilled visas on the points system, such as:
Before receiving an invitation to apply, applicants for a nominated occupation must generally have a suitable skills assessment for their nominated occupation.
The subclass and stream requirements vary by visa subclass, occupation and individual circumstances. It is important for applicants to review the visa requirements for their nominated trade and course of study before applying.
No one organisation rates all occupations.
Each occupation will have a different skills assessing authority for Australia. Skilled Occupation Information and Legislative Instruments list the relevant authority next to the occupation.
The nominated occupation may require an applicant to interact with an organisation, including:
All cases should always be checked with the current Australian Government requirements against the appropriate authority prior to applying.
Engineers might demonstrate that their education and engineering skills relate to the requirements of their nominated engineering job.
If you are applying for the Engineers Australia CDR pathway, both of the following pages are assessed:
According to Engineers Australia, a CDR application consists of documentary evidence of technical engineering knowledge and demonstrated application in terms of career episodes.
The Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) is an assessment approach that Engineers Australia uses to determine if an applicant’s engineering qualifications and evidence of competency are suitable for an Australian engineering occupational category.
In the CDR pathway, it is expected that an applicant will include evidence of their engineering knowledge and its application in engineering situations.
A typical CDR application may consist of:
Engineers Australia now recommends that applicants make good quality scans of the original documents and obtain authorised translations if documents are not in English.
Career Episodes are in-depth descriptions of engineering work performed by the applicant.
They are designed to illustrate the student’s application of engineering knowledge and skills in practical applications.
A Career Episode should be based on the applicant’s actual academic, career or engineering experience. It should describe the engineering problem or activity, the role of the applicant, methods employed, technical considerations, and results.
Applicants should not submit information that is not specific to engineering and does not show their personal involvement.
The goal is to showcase the engineering skills of the applicant, and not merely outline a topic of engineering.
The Summary Statement links evidence given in the Career Episodes to the Engineers Australia required competency elements.
It assists the assessor to recognize where certain competencies are evident throughout the Career Episodes.
Therefore, applicants are advised to make sure they have enough authentic evidence in their Career Episodes to prepare the Summary Statement.
If there is a discrepancy between the Career Episodes and the Summary Statement, it may make the presentation of the CDR application weaker.
There are different types of documentation depending on the assessment authority and the job.
According to current guidance, the following documents are considered for Engineers Australia CDR application:
Generally, documents not in English need to be accompanied by an authorised
translation and the original copy.
Applicants are advised to review the latest requirements prior to submitting their applications as document requirements may change.
The first thing is to determine which trade you intend to apply for migration in.
Your work should match your qualifications, skills, experience and real job duties.
This skilled occupation information from the Australian Government identifies occupations and assessing bodies.
After the identification of the occupation, identify the organisation that is responsible for evaluating the occupation.
This is relevant, as it depends on the authority.
An engineer might need to apply to Engineers Australia, for instance, or an ICT professional might be assessed by ACS.
This assessment pathway is dependent on the type of qualification, occupation, professional experience and rules of the assessing authority.
This applies to engineering applicants (as applicable), including the CDR pathway.
Engineers Australia also classifies engineering jobs and asks applicants to nominate the job that most closely matches their engineering discipline and professional experience.
Gather all necessary academic, identification, professional, and employment paperwork.
Applicants should make sure that documents are clear, accurate, consistent, and translated as may be required.
This could include preparation of Career Episodes, a Summary Statement and CPD documentation for CDR applicants.
Content should be representative and accurate of the applicant’s own education and engineering experience.
If the required documents and assessment material are complete, the application is submitted to the relevant assessing authority.
Application procedures, fees, processing and assessment requirements are different and are set by each authority.
The application is considered by the assessing authority and an outcome is given.
A positive assessment suggests that the applicant was judged to have the skills that are suitable within the assessment system applied.
Applicants can then rely on the assessment in the process of applying for skilled migration on the relevant skilled migration pathways.
Considering a skills assessment is one of the factors that can be especially significant for applicants seeking points-tested skilled migration.
An applicant who is making an EOI for subclasses 189, 190 or 491 must provide details of their skills assessment, such as the skills assessment authority and the assessment reference(s).
In addition to this, SkillSelect asks applicants to include details of their skills, English language skills (if applicable), and their employment history.
An invitation or visa grant is not an automatic outcome of a skills assessment. There are other eligibility requirements for the visa process.
The validity of a skills assessment is dependent upon the relevant authority and visa pathway.
The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) says that for some skilled visas (which are assessed based on points), an assessment is normally considered valid for three years after it is issued if no validity period is mentioned. If the assessing authority has indicated a shorter validity time, the shorter time will apply.
Applicants need to ensure that they meet the validity criteria for each visa and assessment prior to sending out an EOI / visa application.
There is a possibility that applicants may experience problems if they do not provide sufficient evidence of required skills and attributes in their application.
Typical problems can be:
The nominated occupation should be representative of the duties and qualifications of the applicant.
Concerns can arise due to variations in academic records, CV information, employment documents, and the assessment application.
Applicants must provide evidence to support the assessment requirements and not state these without supporting evidence.
The Career Episodes and the Summary Statement for engineering applicants on the CDR pathway are to clearly illustrate the competencies.
The applicant should show their personal engineering knowledge and experience in CDR material. Plagiarism or self-plagiarism (presenting one’s own work as someone else’s) will reduce the credibility of an application.
Applications must be carefully reviewed in light of the current requirements of the assessing authority to which they are being submitted.
Engineers should concentrate on genuine proof of their engineering skills when preparing a CDR application.
A good idea to try is the following:
Skills assessment and visa application are two different phases in the migration process.
Skills Assessment | Visa Application |
Conducted by the relevant assessing authority | Managed by the Department of Home Affairs |
Evaluates skills and qualifications | Determines visa eligibility |
Occupation-specific | Visa-specific |
Has its own documentation requirements | Requires broader visa evidence |
May be required before an EOI/invitation | Follows the applicable visa process |
For points-tested skilled migration, it is typically a requirement for the applicant to get a skills assessment result prior to moving on to the relevant invitation stage.
The preparation of a CDR application needs to be done with consideration for the Engineers Australia requirements and the applicant’s engineering background.
CDRWriters will help the applicant in the following areas:
Candidates are advised to make sure that all material submitted is accurate and reflects their own education, experience and professional skills.
CDR reports, resumes, VETASSESS, and RPL applications can be challenging to prepare. Our team of professionals has effectively helped clients obtain approval with professional services that address all of these needs.
For several occupations, the Australian skilled migration process includes an important competency assessment for migration. The assessment is used to establish if the applicant has the required skills and qualifications for the nominated occupation as set out in the standards.
Engineers applying for the Engineers Australia CDR pathway must be able to bring together their engineering knowledge and how that knowledge has been applied within their Career Episodes and Summary Statement, backed by appropriate evidence.
Requirements for assessment are different for each occupation and visa pathway; therefore, applicants are advised to always review the most up-to-date criteria of the assessors and the Department of Home Affairs for the specific occupation and visa pathway before submitting an application.
Applicants can complete a more comprehensive skills assessment application for their migration to Australia if they are well prepared, have the appropriate occupation chosen, and provide accurate documentation and evidence.
Competency Assessment for Migration means assessment of an applicant’s qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience by the appropriate Australian skills assessing authority.
A number of skilled migration visas require applicants to have the right skills assessment for the nominated occupation. The eligibility criteria are subject to the subclass visa and situation.
A Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) is an assessment pathway that Engineers Australia uses to assess an engineer’s qualifications and demonstrated engineering competencies.
Many engineering occupations have Engineers Australia as their assessing body. The assessment pathway will vary by occupation and qualifications.
The requirements may consist of Identification, Academic Qualifications, Academic transcripts, CV, Evidence of English (if applicable), CPD, Career Episodes and a summary statement.
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