• New Skilled Occupation List
• State Migration Plans (SMPs)
• State Sponsorship
• Lodging Applications
• Processing Priorities
• Skill Assessments and ANZSCO
• Contact Us

The Australian Government has introduced a new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) effective from 1 July 2010. 

This list is based on a “dictionary” of occupations called the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).  ANZSCO contains some occupations that were not included in the old SOL (which was based on the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, better known as ASCO).  Most importantly, more than half of the occupations on the previous SOL have disappeared and the new SOL contains now 188 occupations. All of these occupations are based on ANZSCO and comparative tables have been published by DIAC for the purpose of transitional arrangements.

The reasoning behind the new list was to tailor the General Skilled Migration Programme to more accurately identify those occupations that are in demand in Australia.  This will allow the Government to try to build a stronger workforce in areas of specific skill shortages. 

The new SOL list can be found at the following link:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/_pdf/sol-schedule3.pdf 

It is important to note that this list applies only to General Skilled Visas and not to applicants who are applying for an Employer Sponsored visa.

The new SOL also only applies to applicants who have not yet lodged their visa application.

** If you have already lodged your visa then this new list does not affect you**

If you have not lodged your visa application then you should contact your migration agent to discuss the best pathway forward (you may need a new skills assessment or might need to consider a State Migration Plan Visa).

Transitional Arrangements for the new SOL:

**The transitional arrangements apply to international students only**

The new SOL will not apply to any valid GSM applications already lodged before 1 July 2010.

If you are an international student and as at 8 February 2010 you had already lodged an application for a Graduate Skilled Visa (subclass 485) or you already held a Graduate Skilled Visa then the new list also does not apply to you provided you apply for permanent residency before 31 December 2012.
The new SOL will also not apply to you if you held one of the following Student Visas as at 8 February 2010:

- a subclass 572 (vocational education and training sector) visa;
- a subclass 573 (higher education sector) visa; or
- a subclass 574 (postgraduate research sector) visa

when you apply for the Graduate Skilled Visa (subclass 485) on or before 31 December 2012.

This means that if you held one of these student visas as at 8 February 2010 and your occupation is not on the new SOL, then you will only be able to apply for the Graduate Skilled Visa on completion of your course (or look at further study or other visa options).

The Graduate Skilled visa will enable you to remain in Australia for 18 months on the temporary visa after the completion of your study to gain valuable work experience and the opportunity to secure an employer or state/territory government to sponsor you.

State Migration Plans (SMPs)

At this stage none of the States have introduced their SMPs. 

The list of occupations that the States will be able to use in their SMPs can be found at the following link:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/_pdf/sol-schedule4.pdf

More information is expected to be released in the upcoming months.

There are no “off list” sponsorships available any more.

As a direct result of the suspension of Offshore General Skilled Visa applications by DIAC on 8th May, many states also suspended processing state sponsorships. As of 1 July, these were expected to be re-instated but there is no clear indication how this will proceed.

There has been no change to the processing priority direction that was announced on 8 February 2010.  Applications in order of priority are:

1. Employer Sponsored – Employer Nomination Scheme visas – must be sponsored by an employer;

2. State Migration Plan applications (not yet released)

3. Applications from people who are nominated by a state/territory government agency and whose nominated occupation is on the Critical Skills List (CSL). *This is people nominated under the existing State Sponsorship program and who are also on the CSL. The Critical Skills list is a list of 42 ‘in demand’ occupations that has been used by the minister since January 2009 to prioritise the processing of applications.

4. Applications from people who are neither nominated nor sponsored in priority groups 1, 2 or 3, but whose nominated occupation is listed on the CSL. The link to the CSL is here:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/critical-skills-list.pdf

5. Applications from people who are nominated by a state/territory government agency whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL.

6.     (i) Applications from people whose occupations are listed on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL). 
        (ii) Applications from people who are sponsored by family and whose nominated occupation is not listed on the CSL.

7. All other applications are to be processed in the order in which they are received.

Skill Assessments and ANZSCO

As explained above, if you have not yet lodged your visa application, you will need to have an occupation that is on the new SOL. This means you will need to have an ANZSCO code nominated occupation, rather than the ASCO code.

That sounds great, but what does that actually mean and what is the situation if you have already obtained your skills assessment with an ASCO Code?
The different skill assessing authorities have come up with ways to deal with the ASCO / ANZSCO issues.  This is the information released so far:

• Australian Computer Society

If you have a skills assessment with an ASCO code and this occupation is no longer on the new SOL then you will have to apply under the new ACS guidelines and pay the full fee for an ANZSCO assessment, EXCEPT where you received the outcome letter between 1 May 2010 and 30 June 2010.  In this case you can apply for free to be re-assessed under ANZSCO.
If you are not sure if this applies to you then please contact us and we can go over the new ACS guidelines with you.

• VETASSESS

DIAC will continue to accept all VETASSESS Skill Assessments from both the old and new system provided that your nominated occupation remains on the Skilled Occupation List and VETASSESS is the designated assessing authority for that occupation.

• Engineers Australia

From (and including) 1 July 2010, assessment outcome letters will be issued in ANZSCO codes only and this will also apply to any reissued outcomes after that date

Please note - For applicants who hold, or are about to hold, an assessment outcome letter with an ASCO code issued by this office prior to 1 July 2010, and who lodge an application to DIAC within 12 months of the date of this letter:

The ASCO based skills assessment will remain valid - please check the specific schedule(s) from the new SOL/ENSOL that applies to your individual situation.

Australia - Level 7, 199 George Street, Brisbane - Ph: 07 3212 2200
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UK - Suite 560, 24-28 St Leonards Rd, Windsor SL4 3BB - Ph: 0800 0383853
Malaysia - Level 36, Menara Maxis, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50450 KL - Ph: 60 327117133
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At Australian Migration and Visa Lawyers, we are committed to providing you updates as soon as we can and, if you are an existing client, to then reviewing your application in light of the changes and advising how these changes will impact on you as a visa applicant.

We encourage you at all stages to contact your appointed agent if you have any specific questions about your particular application. 

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