Australian Immigration Daily News

The following information has been provided by the Business Innovation, Occupation and Employer Sponsor Policy Section.

Dear registered migration agent

Introduction of Validity Period for Skills Assessments

Following amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994, from 1 July 2014, if a skills assessment is mandatory as part of a visa application, it will only be valid for a period of 3 years from the date of issue, unless a shorter validity period is specified on the assessment.

A skills assessment must be valid at the time of lodgement for the following visas:

• Direct Entry stream of the Employer Nominated Scheme (subclass 186) visa;
• Direct Entry stream of the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187) visa; and
• Graduate Work stream of the Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visa.

A skills assessment must be valid at the time of invitation to apply through SkillSelect for the following visas:

• Skilled—Independent (subclass 189) visa;
• Skilled—Nominated (subclass 190) visa; and
• Skilled Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa.

PAM documents for the above visa subclasses have been updated to reflect this change.

These changes do not affect the Temporary Work (Skilled)(subclass 457) visa.

Should you have any questions please select the ‘Permanent Employer Sponsored Visas’ channel available in the Registered migration agents enquiry and feedback form on the Agents Gateway: http://www.immi.gov.au/gateways/agents/contact/feedback/

Regards

Business Innovation, Occupation and Employer Sponsor Policy Section
Department of Immigration and Border Protection