482 Visa Skills Assessment: Which Occupations and Passports Need One

A 482 visa skills assessment is mandatory only when a Core Skills or Specialist Skills applicant’s nominated occupation is one of the 24 listed in IMMI 18/039 and the worker holds a passport listed for that occupation (any passport for program or project administrator), and it must be undertaken or commenced within the 3 years before the visa application. Trades Recognition Australia assesses the 23 trade occupations and VETASSESS assesses program or project administrator. Where the assessment is mandatory it must be commenced before the visa is lodged, or the application is not valid, so the first step is to find the occupation and passport in the table below and note any exemption.

The instrument’s items run from 1 to 25 with no item 23, so it lists 24 occupations. The ANZSCO codes are the version in force on 23 November 2022 (IMMI 18/039 s 4). For the 23 trades, TRA’s “SID Skills Assessment” or an earlier “TSS Skills Assessment” is accepted; for program or project administrator, the type is VETASSESS’s “Skills Assessment for General Professional Occupations” (s 5 table, column 4).

Which occupations need a 482 skills assessment?

24 occupations need a mandatory skills assessment for a 482: 23 trades and program or project administrator. They are listed in section 5 of the Migration (IMMI 18/039: Mandatory Skills Assessment—Subclass 482 Visa) Instrument 2018, made under Schedule 1 item 1240(3)(g) of the Migration Regulations 1994.

The occupation comes first. It must be on the Core Skills Occupation List or fit the Specialist Skills stream before any assessment question arises, and the assessment rule then depends on the occupation and the passport together.

An occupation outside the table needs no mandatory assessment, but the worker still proves the skills with qualifications, licences, references and a CV. The Core Skills stream page adds that Home Affairs “can request a skills assessment” even where it is not mandatory, and that it asks in writing when it does. A skills assessment is also different from registration with a regulatory body.

Which passports trigger a mandatory skills assessment?

The assessment is mandatory only for holders of the passports listed against the occupation in section 6 of IMMI 18/039. A worker in a listed trade who holds a passport not listed for that trade is not required to have one. Program or project administrator is the exception: every passport is covered unless the applicant is exempt.

• The widest lists: chef and cook each cover 15 passports, and Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan appear for no other occupation.
• The narrowest lists: electrician (general) and electrician (special class) each cover 7 passports.
• Two passports: section 6 applies to persons “who hold a passport issued by” a listed country, so the passport used in the application matters. How that applies to a dual national is a question for a practitioner.

The rules for cooks and chefs, including the trade assessment and the salary floor, are on the chef and cook visa sponsorship page.

Which authority assesses 482 skills?

Two assessing authorities handle every mandatory 482 assessment:

• Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) assesses the 23 trades, through its Temporary Skills Shortage skills assessment program. The TRA skills assessment page covers its pathways and the passport rules.
• VETASSESS assesses program or project administrator. The VETASSESS skills assessment page covers when a 482, DAMA or labour agreement nomination needs one.

The visa application asks for the assessment’s reference number (Core Skills stream page, Step by step). Other assessing authorities, such as the Australian Computer Society, Engineers Australia and ANMAC, assess occupations for other visa programs; their assessments are not mandatory for a 482.

Who is exempt from a mandatory skills assessment?

Section 7 of IMMI 18/039 sets three groups of exemptions.

Exemptions for every listed occupation

• Current holders: a person who holds a 457 or 482 visa, met the primary criteria for it, and is employed in Australia in the nominated occupation.
• Overseas business employees: a person employed by a company operating an established business overseas, in the same or a similar occupation, and nominated by that company or its associated entity as a standard business sponsor.

Exemptions for the 23 trades only

• Qualification: a relevant qualification commensurate with ANZSCO, gained through a course completed in Australia or in a country not listed for that occupation (a “permitted foreign country”).
• Licence: the licence, registration or membership the occupation requires, already granted.
• Offshore program: the standards of TRA’s Offshore Skills Assessment Program already met for the occupation.

Exemption for program or project administrator

All three conditions must be met: a relevant qualification commensurate with ANZSCO, annual earnings of at least $180,000, and nomination by an accredited sponsor.

The Core Skills stream page adds that an applicant claiming an exemption “must provide relevant evidence with your application”.

Do DAMA and labour agreement nominations need a skills assessment?

Only if the agreement requires one. The validity rule in Schedule 1 item 1240(3)(g) of the Migration Regulations 1994 applies only to applicants in the Specialist Skills and Core Skills streams, so IMMI 18/039 does not make an assessment mandatory in the Labour Agreement stream. There, clause 482.242A takes the skills, and any required assessment, from the work agreement, and the Home Affairs Labour Agreement stream page lists “a relevant skills assessment if this is required for your occupation”.

A DAMA or industry labour agreement can carry its own skills terms. An industry labour agreement has fixed terms that Home Affairs publishes; a DAMA’s terms are negotiated for each head agreement and published by the designated area representative, not by Home Affairs.

When must you hold the 482 skills assessment?

The assessment must be undertaken or commenced within the 3 years ending on the day before the visa application (IMMI 18/039 s 5(2)(d)). Where it is mandatory:

• it must be commenced before the visa is lodged, and its reference number goes in the application form;
• without it, the application “will not be valid and will not be processed” (Core Skills stream page);
• Home Affairs encourages finishing the assessment before lodging, to reduce delays.

For the later 186 Temporary Residence Transition step, no assessment is required at lodgement, but Home Affairs states it “might” ask for one.

What else must a 482 worker prove?

The skills assessment sits beside a separate criterion: the 482 visa experience requirement, which every Core Skills and Specialist Skills worker meets whether or not an assessment applies.

An immigration lawyer is more likely to get this step right, because a visa lodged without a mandatory assessment already commenced is invalid, and whether an exemption applies turns on where a qualification was gained and which passport is used.