May 31, 2016

Are you an engineer applying for a skills assessment? Here’s what you need to know.

Getting a skills assessment from Engineers Australia isn’t too complicated if you have:

  1. Qualifications accredited by Engineers Australia (see list), OR
  2. Have qualifications from a country under the Washington Accord (see list of countries and qualifications), OR
  3. Sydney Accord   (see list of countries and qualifications), OR
  4. Dublin Accord (see list of countries and qualifications), AND
  5. Your qualifications were obtained after the year the signatory became accredited

Otherwise, you will have to apply for your skills assessment via the Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) Pathway.

flowchart

Taken from Engineers Australia

What’s the difference?
Here’s how to qualify

Australian, Washington, Sydney or Dublin Qualification Pathway 

 Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) Pathway 
I have qualifications 

  1. On one of the lists AND
  2. they were obtained from or after the year my qualifications were accredited

I have qualifications that are not on any accredited list or were obtained before the year my qualification became accredited 

 

Here’s what you’ll need to apply

Australian, Washington, Sydney or Dublin Qualification Pathway Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) Pathway
  • Passport photo
  • Prime identification document (Passport)
  • Academic degree certificate
  • Complete official academic transcript
  • CV/resume (even if you’re a fresh grad)
  • IELTS/TOEFL iBT results*
  • Change of name documents (if applicable)
  • Official English translations of documents (if applicable)

 

 

 

 
  • Passport photo
  • Prime identification document (Passport)
  • Academic degree certificate
  • Complete official academic transcript
  • CV/resume (even if you’re a fresh grad)
  • IELTS/TOEFL iBT results*
  • Change of name documents (if applicable)
  • Official English translations of documents (if applicable)
  • Registration certificate (if applicable)
  • List of Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
  • 3 Career Episode Reports (CERs)
  • Documentary evidence of employment over 12 months (if applicable/if employment experience used in career episode(s))
  • Summary Statement

There is no one full listing of all the qualifications so it will require quite some digging to discover if you do have qualifications that are accredited or not. We hope you do, because the CDR application is a lot trickier!

 

* English Level Requirement

You would be exempt from this if:

  • You have completed an Australian undergraduate engineering qualification or a 2 year post graduate program at an Australian university
  • Have been educated in a country (AU, NZ, USA, UK, Ireland and Canada, excluding Quebec) from primary through to tertiary

If you are not exempt, or have been requested to provide evidence either way (Engineers Australia holds discretionary rights) then you will need to provide IELTS or TOEFL iBT test results. These results need to be no more than 2 years old. The minimum scores to meet are as follows:

 

IELTS

You can submit either IELTS: General or IELTS: Academic. The minimum score for each of the four modules (reading, listening, writing, speaking) is 6.0.

 

TOEFL iBT

Newly accepted by Engineers Australia from 1 January 2016, the minimum scores for each of the modules are as follows:

Listening:     12             Reading:      13             Writing:       21             Speaking:    18

Visit page 6 to 7 of the Engineers Australia Migration Assessment Booklet for more details.

 

Application

The application is made online. These are the base fees and will differ if you are looking to gain other assessments:

Australian Engineering Qualification Assessment at  $209AUD (incl GST)
Compentency Demonstration Report (CDR) at  $715AUD (incl GST)

The full fees are found here . If you are in a hurry to receive your assessment, Fast Track! fast forwards the process and is available at an additional $250AUD. From 1 July 2016, fees will be kicked up:

Australian Engineering Qualification Assessment at  $275AUD (incl GST)
Compentency Demonstration Report (CDR) at  $825AUD (incl GST)

In our next newsletter, we will write about how to prepare your CDR application.

 

Did you know?

The Skilled – Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476) allows recent engineering graduates of eligible universities to obtain an 18 month visa for Australia to let you do whatever you like, work, play or just relax on the beach. This recent qualification for example, could be just a one year program in Engineering Management at UTS Sydney.

It is a version of the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) that allows engineering graduates (achieved qualifications within 2 years of application) from recognised institutions (not exclusive to Australia) to apply.

You will need to be under the age of 31, meet a certain English standard and fulfil health and character requirements. You may be inside or outside Australia when you apply for this visa however you must be outside of Australia when the visa decision is finalised. Visit this DIBP page for full details, including which engineering degrees and institutions are recognised.  Click here to read the our article on the subclass 476 visa.