Assessment Pathways

The ACS Migration Skills Assessment is a critical step in applying for your visa. It is a process for assessing and validating your IT or Data Science qualifications and work experience to determine your eligibility for skilled migration to Australia.

Before you can apply for a visa to migrate to Australia, you will probably need to undertake the ACS Migration Skills Assessment.

When lodging your application for the ACS Migration Skills Assessment, you will be required to submit a range of documents, depending on your Assessment Pathway. 

Temporary Graduate 485 - documents required:

• Proof of identity
• Evidence of qualifications

Post Australian Studies - documents required:

• Proof of identity
• Evidence of qualifications
• Evidence of work experience or completed ACS Professional Year

General Skills - documents required:

• Proof of identity
• Evidence of qualifications 
• Evidence of work experience 

Recognition of Prior Learning - documents required: 

• Proof of identity 
• Evidence of qalifications 
• Evidence of work experience 
• Completed ACS Recognition of Prior Learning form 

No – it is important that you make sure to provide all the documentation that you want to be considered in the application at the time of submission. Once your application has been submitted and is in process, additional documentation cannot be included.

No, you do not have to be an ACS member to apply for, or submit, an application for the ACS Migration Skills Assessment. When you start your application online, you will be offered a complimentary 12-month ACS membership. ACS members enjoy a wide range of membership benefits including exclusive events, offers, training and career development opportunities.

You have the option to upload a Resume or CV in the Personal Details section of your application.

Due to the extensive and complex nature of an ICT skills assessment, it is not possible to determine the outcome until an in-depth assessment of qualifications, other educational attainments and work experience has been completed.

General Skills – for applicants with ICT qualifications and professional ICT work experience.

RPL – for applicants with professional ICT work experience and no tertiary qualifications. 

For detailed information on requirements, please refer to the General Skills Assessment Pathway and the RPL Assessment Pathway.

Yes, only for RPL Assessment Pathway, applicants must provide and upload evidence of acceptable completed vendor certificates to demonstrate current knowledge in their chosen occupation and ANZSCO code. Only certain vendor certifications are accepted.

If you have a master's degree, please provide all documentation for the underpinning qualifications, such as a bachelor's degree, including non-ICT qualifications.

Seoul Accord is a multilateral agreement between countries that allows certain University level Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees to be recognised by the Seoul Accord signatories. ACS has been a signatory of the Seoul Accord since its conception in 2008.

Qualifications that are ACS accredited or recognised through mutual recognition under the Seoul Accord will be considered to have met the ICT major criteria for migration skills assessment purposes. However, for qualifications to be accepted as ICT major, they will still be expected to meet or be comparable to the ACS accreditation standards. The assessor will have discretion to determine this at the time of assessment. 

Assessment suitability is however still subject to assessment against the nominated ANZSCO occupation.

Should you wish to have your qualification assessed under the Seoul Accord, the onus of proof falls solely on the applicant to notify the ACS of this and to provide the ACS with sufficient evidence that your qualification is mutually recognized under the Seoul Accord. Evidence would include screenshots taken directly from the Seoul Accord website Accredited Programs clearly showing that their qualification is recognised. ACS assessors will have discretion to accept or reject the evidence provided. 

ACS can only assess completed qualifications. The completion date of the qualification is an assessment requirement.