IT market in Australia

AUSTRALIA 24 IT OCCUPATIONS INCLUDED IN CONSOLIDATED SKILLED OCCUPATION LIST (6)6 IT OCCUPATIONS INCLUDED IN SKILLED OCCUPATION LIST (3)IT PROFESSIONAL CAN APPLY FOLLOWING SUBCLASS VISAS 186 187 402 457 485 PLUS STATE NOMINATION(4)NEED SKILL ASSESSMENT FROM AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY

Australia - IT occupations in demand

Important information regarding skilled occupations for migration purposes

Before we start explaning the immigration facts applicable to IT professionals, it is important to understand the basis of migration programs. The following information can be used by potential applicants seeking to nominate skilled occupations which are acceptable for permanent and temporary skilled migration to Australia under the following programs:

SkillSelect
Employer Nominated Scheme (subclass 186)
Regional Sponsored Migrations Scheme (subclass 187)
Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457)
Training and Research visa (subclass 402)
Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) - Graduate Work stream.

Applicants who require a skills assessment as part of their visa application will be required to have their qualifications and work experience assessed by a relevant assessing authority.

IT occupations included in the SOL and CSOL

1) IT occupations included in the Skilled Occupations List (SOL)

ICT business Analyst
Systems Analyst
Analyst Programmer
Developer Programmer
Software Engineer
Computer Network and Systems Engineer

The current Skilled Occupation List (SOL) is relevant for applicants for the following visa programs:

independent points-based skilled migration who are not nominated by a state or territory government agency
a Family Sponsored Points Tested visa
Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) - Graduate Work stream.

2) IT occupations included in the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL)

ICT business Analyst
Systems Analyst
Analyst Programmer
Developer Programmer
Software Engineer
Computer Network and Systems Engineer
Chief Information Officer
ICT Project Manager
ICT Managers nec
ICT Trainer
Multimedia Specialist
Web Developer
Software Tester
Software and Applications Programmers nec
Database Administrator
ICT Security Specialist
Systems Administrator
Network Administrator
Network Analyst
ICT Quality Assurance Engineer
ICT Support Engineer
ICT Systems Test Engineer
ICT Support and Test Engineers nec
Web Administrator

The current Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List (CSOL) is relevant for applicants for the following visa programs:

points-based skilled migration who are nominated by a state or territory government agency under a State Migration Plan
the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), who must have been nominated by an Australian employer to fill a position in an occupation that appears in the CSOL
Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457)
Training and Research visa (subclass 402)

Skills Assessment

As mentioned above, some applicants will need to provide a skills assessment as part of their visa application. As an example,

to apply for a Points Tested Skilled Migration visa, the visa applicant must provide evidence that his/her skills have been assessed as suitable for the nominated occupation by the relevant assessing authority.

The criterion by which an assessing authority undertakes different types of skills assessments is determined by the assessing authority in accordance with relevant professional standards. A skills assessment is only valid until the expiry date specified on the assessment, or when a period of three years from the date of issue has elapsed, whichever occurs first.

Skills Assessment for IT Professionals

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) are the authorised assessing authority for ICT occupations as listed on the Skilled Occupations List (SOL) and the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List (CSOL).

In line with the Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants provided by ACS on its website, the ACS ICT skills assessment will assess if your educational qualifications and work experience are at a professional ICT level and closely related to the nominated occupation (ANZSCO) for migration purposes.

Your qualifications are firstly assessed to determine the AQF comparability using Australian national education standards.

After the AQF comparability is established, the course units are assessed to determine the professional ICT content of your qualification. Each unit is assessed to determine if it is considered an ICT professional unit or not.

This assessment outcome will determine if your qualification is a Major, Minor or if the ICT content is Insufficient.

The third element involves assessing the percentage of ICT units that are considered closely related to your nominated occupation as per the ANZSCO Code Information document which is referenced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations.

After this process of assessing your qualifications is completed, it will determine the amount of relevant work experience you require to meet the suitability criteria.

At the completion of your skills assessment the ACS will issue you with a result letter via email which can be submitted to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection as evidence of your ICT skills assessment.