General Skilled Migration Program

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Australia's Skilled Migration program seeks to encourage young, motivated and highly skilled people to Australia with the anticipation that all successful applicants will contribute to strengthening and widening Australia's skilled workforce and in turn contribute to the Australian economy.

The General Skilled Migration program is based on a points system however prior to you being able to score points you or your spouse must be able to meet the basic requirements which include age, English language ability and skills with relevant work experience or Study in Australia:

• AGE - You must be under 45 years at the time of making the application;

AND

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ABILITY – You must have sufficient ability in the English language for working and living in Australia. It must be established that you have:

• Competent English (a score of 6 in each component of the IELTS test) OR be the holder of one of the following passports: United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, U.S.A or New Zealand.

OR

• You can also be awarded additional points for obtaining a proficient level of English if you can score 7 in each component of the IELTS test.

It is important to note that a General IELTS test is satisfactory (the academic test is not required).

AND

• SKILLS - You must be successfully assessed by the relevant Australian Assessing Authority in a trade or a profession that is recognized as a skilled occupation in Australia, including;
• ** RECENT WORK EXPERIENCE - If your occupation is assessed as a 60, 50 or 40 point occupation, you must have at least 12 months of recent work experience (recent meaning in the past 24 months) relating to your formal trade or professional qualification.
• **SPECIAL WORK EXPERIENCE WAIVER - In most circumstances, you do not need to meet the work experience requirement if you have been studying in Australia for 2 academic years or longer and have received an Australian diploma, degree or higher qualification as the result of completing this course(s) in no less than 16 calendar months and apply for a skilled visa within 6 months of completion.

As a general rule, formal qualifications and/or training have to be established.

Exceptions to this rule apply to some trade based occupations where Australian Recognised Training Authorities can assess your practical skills and attributes rather than assessing you on a paper based application alone.

Other such exceptions can include Computer Professionals who have been involved in I.T for 9 years or longer and also General Managers who have been within a high management position in a substantially larger company for 5 years or longer.

For migration purposes and depending on the demand of your occupation in Australia, you may be awarded 40, 50 or 60 points.

If you feel that you may fulfil the above basic requirements please keep reading and proceed to our Free Online Assessment Form.

Other Contributing Factors that may assist with your application

Along with the Basic Requirements, other factors that may contribute to meeting the pass mark and to the success of your application include:

• If you have a relative (parent, brother, sister, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, first cousin or grandparent) who is an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident and is willing to sponsor you.
• If you have studied in Australia for two academic years or longer which has resulted in the award of a degree, diploma or trade qualification(s)
• If you have 3 or more years of recent (recent meaning in the past 4 years) work experience in your nominated occupation.
• If you have had 1 year work experience in Australia in the past 4 years which is closely related to your nominated occupation or you have had 1 Professional Year in Australia closely related to nominated occupation (for accountants, Engineers or Computer Professionals only).
• If your nominated occupation is on the Migration Occupations in Demand List. Please note that you must have at least 1 year work experience in the past four years in order to claim for an occupation in demand.
• If your partner can also achieve the basic requirements
• If a State of Australia is willing to Sponsor you.
• If you have a professional level of language skills in a designated language. This is evidenced only through a bachelor’s degree or higher administered in that designated language OR through being a qualified NAATI translator/interpreter. (Not based on country of origin)

Below is how the current Skilled Migration Points Test exists in Australia today:

Skilled Migration Points Test

Occupation	Points Available
Specialised professional or trade occupation	60
General professional occupation	50
Other general skilled occupations	40
Age
18 to 29 years	30
30 to 34 years	25
35 to 39 years	20
40 to 44 years	15
English
Proficient English (IELTS score 7 in each component or better)	25
Threshold English (IELTS score 6 in each component or better)	15
Specific Work Experience
Work experience closely related to nominated 60 point occupation for three of the last four years	10
Work experience in any occupation on the skilled occupation list for three of the last four years	5
Australian Work Experience
Work experience closely related to the nominated occupation for one of the last four years	10
Professional Year closely related to nominated occupation	10
Australian Qualifications
Doctorate (min. two years)	25
Masters/Honours with undergraduate degree (min. three years)	15
Degree/diploma/trade qualification (min 2 year study)	5
Occupation in Demand
Work experience closely related to the nominated occupation for one of the last four years and an offer of relevant full-time employment	20
Work experience closely related to the nominated occupation for one of the last four years	15
Regional Study
Met 2 years study requirement while living and studying in regional Australia	5
Partner Skills
Partner meets threshold GSM requirements	5
Nomination
Nominated by state or territory government	10
Designated Area Sponsorship
Sponsored by Australian relative living in a designated area (only available to provisional visa applicants)	25
Designated Language
Professional level language skills in a designated language	5

 

You can only acquire one of the per component (for example with Occupation you can either score 60, 50 or 40 points, not a combination).

The pass mark is 120 points if you are applying independently.

If you have a Sponsoring relative in Australia which is a permanent resident/citizen the pass mark is 100 points.

If there is a State of Australia which is willing to sponsor you the pass mark is 100 points.

We hope that the above information provides a very easy-to-understand overview as to how the General Skilled Migration Scheme operates in Australia.  Although we endeavour to keep our explanation as clear and as simple as possible, the whole process of obtaining a successful skills assessment, acquiring the relevant points and actually applying for a skilled visa which meets all the relevant criteria for a successful outcome can be quite a difficult and complex process.

Proceeding on your own self assessment can be a costly, time-wasting and heartbreaking experience therefore we encourage everyone to consider their own personal circumstances in relation to the information provided here and to contact us to seek further advice if they believe that they may meet the requirements. Please feel free to fill out our free assessment form and also send your CV to us. The more information you can provide us the better.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.