Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Section 1 Overview of TRA Migration Skills Assessment .................................. 5
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
Refunds ....................................................................................................... 8
1.9
1.10
1.11
1.12
Privacy ......................................................................................................... 9
1.13
1.14
1.15
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
Page 1
Document particulars
TRIM ID
ED11/017630
File
TRA Migration
Skills Assessment
Applicant
Guidelines.doc
March 2015
Document
status
FINAL
September 2015
Point of contact
Approval authority
20 June 2011
Note: This is a controlled document in its electronic form only. Paper copies of this
document are not controlled and should be checked against the electronic version
before use.
With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted,
all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Australia (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au) licence.
The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative
Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for
the CC BY 3.0 AU licence (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode).
The document must be attributed as the TRA Migration Skills Assessment
Applicant Guidelines.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
Page 2
Date published
Authors
Summary of change
Authorised
by
1.0
20 June 2011
TRA
Publication
Jan Febey
Branch
Manager,
TRA
1.1
30 June 2011
TRA
Small text
amendment
Jan Febey
Branch
Manager,
TRA
2.0
29 September
2011
TRA
New information
Jan Febey
Branch
Manager,
TRA
3.0
June 2012
TRA
Update to payment
details and Contact
information
Dr Melissa
McEwen,
General
Manager,
TRA
4.0
January 2013
TRA
Update to Sections
1.7,1.12, 1.13, 2.4,
2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.5,
2.6.1, 2.7.1, 2.8.1,
2.8.2B, 2.8.4, 2.8.6,
2.8.7
Dr Melissa
McEwen,
General
Manager,
TRA
5.0
January 2013
TRA
Dr Melissa
McEwen,
General
Manager,
TRA
6.0
May 2013
TRA
Joanna
Wood,
A/g General
Manager,
TRA
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
Page 3
Version
Date published
Authors
Summary of change
Authorised
by
6.1
December, 2013
TRA
Update to
Departmental naming
Cecilia
Willis, A/g
General
Manager,
TRA
Update to section 1
1.1, 1.14, 2.4, 2.6, 2.8
7.0
May 2014
TRA
Update to website
links
Update to section
1.12, 2.4, 2.7.1, 2.8,
2.8.1, 2.8.4, 2.8.5,
2.8.6,
Dr Melissa
McEwen
General
Manager,
TRA
8.0
June 2014
TRA
Update to section
2.8.1, 2.8.4
Dr Melissa
McEwen
General
Manager,
TRA
9.0
March 2015
TRA
Update to
Departmental naming
Dr Melissa
McEwen
General
Manager,
TRA
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
Page 4
Section 1
check that the nominated occupation in your visa application with the
Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) is
one that is assessed by TRA through http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/sol/
check that this program is the appropriate program for your skills
assessment (see below)
This program is for applicants seeking a skills assessment for migration purposes
AND who are not required to seek skills assessment through one of the TRA
assessment services below:
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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TRA Migration Points Advice required for certain skilled migration visas,
for applicants who already have a successful skills assessment and
require points advice for a visa application.
TRA also offers the Optional Skills Assessment Service and the Job Ready Program
which you may like to consider before applying.
These guidelines do not provide information on visas or points requirements for
migration. All enquiries about migration requirements must be directed to DIBP
(www.immi.gov.au).
TRA reserves the right to amend these guidelines as needed. Information about
changes to the guidelines will be documented in the Document change history table
on page 2.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
Page 6
Fee
Payment Method
$1,000
Before you
submit your
application.
$900
STANDARD FEES
TRA
Migration
Skills
Assessment
OTHER FEES
TRA
Migration
Skills
Assessment
Review
GSTdoesnotapplytothefeespursuanttoSection8115.01oftheANewTaxSystem(Goodsand
ServicesTax)Regulations1999.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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1.8 Refunds
Refunds will not be provided if you choose to withdraw your application.
TRA provides refunds in other limited circumstances. The circumstances in which
TRA will refund a payment are detailed in the TRA Refund Policy available on our
website (www.tradesrecognitionaustralia.gov.au).
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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1.12 Privacy
All personal information collected by Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) is protected
by the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act). Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act contains the
Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), which prescribe the rules for handling personal
information.
The Privacy Act defines personal information as:
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Privacy information
Under the APPs, the Department of Education and Training (Department) is required
to have a clearly expressed and up to date policy about the way the Department
manages personal information. This policy contains information about how you may
access the personal information the Department holds about you, and how you may
correct any inaccuracies in that information. We will correct your personal information
if it is inaccurate (subject to restrictions on such access/alteration of records under
the applicable provisions of any law of the Commonwealth).
It also includes information as to how you may make a complaint about a breach of
the APPs, and how the Department will respond to such a complaint.
A copy of the Departments privacy policy is available on the Departments website
at: https://education.gov.au/privacy-policy
More information about the Privacy Act, including a copy of the full text of the APPs,
can be obtained from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioners
website at: www.oaic.gov.au
Collection
TRA collects personal information from applicants for the purposes of:
Personal information collected by the Department will only be used for the purposes
outlined above. If TRA is not able to collect your personal information, your
application will not be able to proceed.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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In the course of assessing your application, TRA may receive unsolicited personal
information about you from a third party. If TRA would normally have been able to
collect that information or it forms a part of a Commonwealth record, it will be treated
in accordance with the APPs. If not, TRA will destroy or de-identify that information.
Disclosure
TRA may give some or all of the information it collects from applicants or third parties
to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the Migration Review
Tribunal, the Australian Federal Police, your employer/s, your supervisor/s, your
nominated agent or representative, the organisations that issued your qualifications,
TRA approved registered training organisations, agencies providing advice to TRA
on qualifications such as UK NARIC, organisations or individuals providing in-country
verification services, the Australian Skills Quality Authority, the Reserve Bank of
Australia, your banking institution, contractors, the Fair Work Ombudsman and other
Australian and state/territory government agencies.
TRA may disclose your personal information to these entities for the reasons that are
listed above in the collection section.
As part of the application process, TRA may be required to disclose your personal
information to an overseas recipient to verify information in your employment and
training claims. Typically, this personal information will be your name and date of
birth. These overseas recipients are likely to be located in the country or countries
from which you are making your employment or training claims.
Personal information collected by TRA will not be disclosed to any other third party
without your consent, except where authorised or required by law
Complaints
Please note, applicants are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and validity of all
information provided to TRA.
Complaints about breaches of privacy should be referred to:
Privacy Contact Officer
Legal and Compliance Group
Department of Education and Training
GPO Box 9880
CANBERRA ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Email: privacy@Education.gov.au
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Page 12
include the reason why the statutory declaration is being provided instead of
certified copies of original documents.
Please note that TRA does not view information submitted in a statutory declaration
in the same way as it views verifiable third party evidence. This is why statutory
declarations must be supported by other independent evidence. For example, if an
applicant cannot obtain an employment statement from their employer (refer section
2.8.6), the applicant may choose to submit a statutory declaration detailing the
information that would otherwise be in the employment statement and why the
employment statement could not be obtained. If the applicant chose to do this, the
applicant would also need to submit further evidence of the claims made in the
statutory declaration, such as an official job description, a contract of employment
and an official description of the business. The assessor will determine whether,
taken together, this information is sufficient evidence to support claims without an
employer statement.
Please also note that statutory declarations will not be accepted in place of a
qualification or award certificate (refer section 2.6.1). A statutory declaration will also
not be accepted in place of an academic transcript (refer section 2.6.1), without
further supporting evidence to demonstrate that the applicant undertook the units
relevant to the appropriate Australian qualification in the applicants nominated
occupation.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Section 2
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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are from a country and in an occupation covered by the TRA Migration Skills
Assessment program (that is, you are not from a nominated country and
nominated occupation under the Offshore Skills Assessment Program), and
all the required documents attached to the application form as evidence of the
qualification and employment claims made in your application
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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You must also attach evidence of payment of the required application fee to your
application.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your application is correct, accurate and
complete before you submit it to TRA.
TRA does not contact applicants for additional information.
If you engage an agent or representative to help you to complete the TRA Migration
Skills Assessment application, you will be required to provide their details in Part 3 of
the Application Form or notify TRA in writing by completing the Nomination of an
Agent or Representative form available on the TRA website (or similar
correspondence).
a certified copy of the biographical identity page of your valid passport. If your
passport does not contain a photograph, you must also send a certified
passport photograph of yourself
a full academic transcript of results, including the start and end date of
your qualification/award (resulting from either training and/or assessment)
You must ensure that TRA receives all of the required documents with your
application.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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You may provide a statutory declaration with your application as partial evidence of
your employment and/or qualification attainment. Refer to Section 1.14 for
information about statutory declarations.
A statutory declaration will not be accepted on its own as evidence of employment or
training. You must also provide some form of third party evidence that can be
independently verified by TRA to support the claims made in the statutory
declaration.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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comparing the qualification documents you provide with the requirements for
the relevant AQF qualifications/ apprenticeships in Australia
comparing your employment history with the requirements for a skilled worker
in your nominated occupation in Australia
The onus is on you, the applicant, to provide TRA with sufficient, valid documents to
support your claims for a comparable qualification and employment at the required
skill level.
You will not be successful in a TRA Migration Skills Assessment if the documents
you provided to TRA:
contain insufficient detail for TRA to be satisfied that you meet the TRA
Migration Skills Assessment eligibility requirements
or
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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the AQF will not be adapted to suit another nations or regions requirement
alignment will usually be between the AQF and another national or regional
qualifications framework, or if these do not exist, between the AQF and
another national or regional qualifications system
there is a clear and demonstrable link between the qualifications levels in the
AQF and the levels in the national or regional qualifications framework (or
system)
You may also wish to provide other documents which provide further detail regarding
the entries included in the academic transcript.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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a formal, government managed system for assuring the quality and standard
of qualifications issued by training providers
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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certified copies of at least one of the following documents that verify the
content of the apprenticeship:
o
Contract of apprenticeship
Qualification transcript
You may also supply any other documentation relevant to the apprenticeship to
support your claims.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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for at least three years, including 12 months in the last three years.
other certified evidence of being employed such as pay slips, tax documents
or superannuation documents (refer to section 2.8.2)
PAYG Payment Summary for every year of Australian employment you wish
to claim (excluding the current financial year for which you are yet to receive a
PAYG Payment Summary)
You may wish to also provide any other evidence that can substantiate your
claims for employment at the required skill level.
You may include a statutory declaration as partial evidence of your employment with
your application. However, a statutory declaration will not be considered by TRA on
its own as evidence of your employment. You must also provide an additional form of
third party evidence that can be independently verified by TRA, for example taxation
documents citing the name of the employer, or letters of appointment, past
references, performance reviews issued by an authorised person of the business.
To ensure a valid and reliable assessment of your employment, statutory
declarations as partial evidence must include all the details listed in Section 2.8.6 (if
an employee) and Section 2.8.7 (if self-employed).
Note: If you are seeking recognition of employment undertaken prior to gaining an
AQF qualification via a recognition of prior learning process, please see Section 2.8.4
for additional requirements
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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B Paid Employment
Employment is considered to be paid when an employer pays you wages
commensurate with the skill level required for the employment undertaken. If you are
self-employed, employment is considered paid if you charge fees commensurate with
the skill level required for the services you provide.
TRA requires sufficient evidence of paid employment to verify that your employment
was full-time (or equivalent part-time) and at the required skill level for your
occupation in Australia.
TRA will require at least one primary source of evidence or a minimum of two
secondary sources of evidence for each year and each period of employment
being claimed. Additional evidence may also be requested.
Primary sources of evidence may include:
Tax records that cite the name of the applicant and the employer
Pay slips that include the name of the employer, commencement date of the
employment and year to date income information
Superannuation documents that cite the name of the applicant and the name
of the employer
Page 24
Letters from taxation offices that do not contain the name of the employer
You may wish to provide other evidence to substantiate your claims of paid
employment.
If you are claiming Australian employment, you must include the PAYG Payment
Summary for every year of Australian employment you wish to claim (excluding the
current financial year for which you are yet to receive a PAYG Payment Summary).
2.8.3 Employment is relevant and at the required skill level for your
nominated occupation
TRA generally considers that skilled employment is undertaken after the issuance of
a qualification which is formally recognised as comparable to the Australian
qualification required for the occupation in Australia.
Employment will be considered relevant to your nominated occupation if your
employment statement/s demonstrate that you have performed tasks comparable to
those undertaken in the nominated occupation in Australia.
Employment will be considered at the required skill level for your nominated
occupation if you provide evidence that you have worked in the occupation at a skill
level comparable to a qualified tradesperson/technician in the occupation in Australia.
We will compare the statements provided by your employers and the written
description of your work in your own words in Part 8 of the application form, with the
tasks specified in the Australian Government agreed sources of the descriptions of
occupations, such as the Australian New Zealand Standard Classification of
Occupations (ANZSCO).
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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covers no less than six years of full-time (or equivalent) paid employment,
three years of which may be as a trainee under the direct supervision of a
tradesperson/employer (this is considered an informal training period) with an
additional three years full-time (or equivalent) paid employment completed at
the required skill level for the occupation.
Skilled employment undertaken after the issuance of an AQF qualification will also be
considered towards meeting the requirement.
Since 1 January 2014, TRA has included on its MSA outcome letter a date at which
TRA considered that the applicant was first able to work in skilled employment in
their occupation. This can assist applicants who are applying for a points-based visa.
The date that will be included for applicants who obtained their qualification by RPL
will be the date the applicant finished their first three years of verifiable, paid, full-time
(or equivalent) employment in their occupation (with those three years representing
an informal training period). Applicants can apply for TRA Migration Points Advice or
supply extra evidence to DIBP if they wish to claim employment prior to the noted
dated, which will be determined on the evidence available.
2.8.5 Employment for at least three years, with 12 months in the last
three years
To ensure that you have the skills and experience to meet the requirements of a
skilled worker in an Australian workplace you are required to demonstrate that you
have undertaken at least three years of employment at the skill level required for the
occupation.
To ensure that your skills are current, we require you to provide evidence that you
have worked for 12 months at the required skill level in your occupation, or a closely
related occupation where you are required to maintain your skill level for the
nominated occupation, within the last three years.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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when you worked there, that is start date and end date of your employment
a detailed description of the nature and content of the work you undertook
the name, position, telephone and email contact details of the person
authorised to make and sign the statement
the length of time that the person signing the statement has been supervising
you must also be clearly indicated.
All employment statements must be signed and dated, and on letterhead used by the
employers business where possible. If you are unable to provide employment
statements on letterhead you must provide us with an explanation of why this is not
possible.
All employment statements must be certified.
TRA may contact an employer to validate the information provided in an employment
statement.
TRA requires you to provide a contact telephone number for every person who
supplies an employment statement for you. A mobile telephone number will not be
sufficient as a primary contact number unless TRA can validate independently that
the number and person providing the statement is linked to the organisation where
you were employed.
You may wish to provide additional evidence to assist in verifying that the telephone
number and person providing the statement are linked to the organisation where you
were employed. This evidence may include telephone bills, links to online advertising
and directory listings that show the telephone number is linked to the business.
If you provide a statutory declaration as partial evidence for a period of employment
you must include all the details listed above in the statutory declaration.
2.8.7 Self-employment
TRA may consider self-employed work in your nominated occupation.
If you are or have been self-employed, you must provide evidence of trade, traderelated or occupation-specific self-employment.
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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a list of three clients, with contact details, for each year of self-employment
you are claiming.
TRA will also require you to provide the following evidence of your self-employment:
g. a certified copy of your business registration certificate valid for each period of
representative certifying the name and nature of your business, the exact start
and end dates of your self-employment and the capacity in which you were
self-employed
i.
j.
k.
l.
certified copies of references from three clients confirming full details of the
work you did for them and the dates the work was undertaken. These
references must be from different clients to those mentioned in (k) above, but
these clients must be included in (f) above
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Section 3
To enquire about the TRA Migration Skills Assessment, contact Trades Recognition
Australia.
Phone
Monday to Friday: 10.00 am 12.00 pm and 1.00 pm 4.00 pm
Australian Eastern Standard Time (GMT +10 hours), excluding public holidays
Outside Australia: +61 2 6240 8778
Within Australia: 1300 360 992
Email
General Enquiries: traenquiries@Education.gov.au
Payment Enquiries: trafinance@Education.gov.au
Fax
+61 2 6123 7883
Internet
www.tradesrecognitionaustralia.gov.au
Post
Trades Recognition Australia
Department of Education and Training
GPO Box 3022
CANBERRA ACT 2601
AUSTRALIA
Courier
Trades Recognition Australia
Department of Education and Training
Via Loading Dock
50 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Section 4
Glossary
Term used in
guidelines
Definition
academic transcript
applicant
assessing authority
Australian
Qualifications
Framework (AQF)
Currency
decision ready
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Term used in
guidelines
Definition
Department of
Immigration and
Border Protection
(DIBP)
Department of
Education and
Training
employment
level
migration agent
nominated occupation
qualification
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Term used in
guidelines
Definition
relevant
review
Trades Recognition
Australia (TRA)
validation
visa
volume of learning
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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Section 5
Acronyms
Acronym
Meaning
ANZSCO
AQF
ASRI
CSOL
DIBP
GST
APPs
NAATI
RPL
RTO
TRA
SOL
VET
Department of Education and Training TRA Migration Skills Assessment Applicant Guidelines
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