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Tasman Visa Services Skills assessment
The quiet hinge of every skilled application

The first place a case
holds, or comes apart.

A skills assessment is not paperwork. It is the moment your career history gets translated into the language an Australian visa officer reads. The right assessing body, the right occupation code, the right framing of your work history, these are the differences between an approval, a "more information required", and a quiet "not suitable".

AU Migration Agents Registration Number 2418652 NZ NZQA-aware for cross-Tasman cases
Why this matters

It is the gate before the gate.

For most skilled visa pathways, a positive skills assessment from the right assessing body is the thing that has to be in hand before the visa application can begin. Which body, and which occupation, depends on your case, and the current rules sit with the official source. Get that match wrong, or frame your evidence in a way the assessor cannot accept, and you can spend months on a result you cannot use. You can see the visa pathways on the Home Affairs visa finder.

The work I do here is almost entirely before you submit anything. Choosing the occupation that genuinely fits your real-world work. Mapping that work to what the assessor is looking for. Spotting the gap in your reference letters before the assessor does. Sometimes the answer is also "this occupation is not your strongest pitch, let me show you another one that is."

AU

The assessing bodies, by occupation family

Each occupation maps to a specific assessing authority. Below are the major ones I work with most often. There are many more, and the official source is what determines which body fits your occupation. For the current list and rules, see the Home Affairs visa finder.

VETASSESS

General professional + many trade occupations.

One of the largest assessing bodies, and the one many professional and vocational occupations are routed to when no specialist authority covers them. In general terms, they look at how your qualifications and your real work line up with the occupation you are claiming. The specific streams, evidence requirements, and how they apply to your occupation change over time, so the live detail belongs with the official source rather than a page like this. For current rules, start at the Home Affairs visa finder.

Engineers Australia (EA)

Professional engineers, engineering technologists, associates.

The body that assesses engineering occupations. Broadly, there are routes for graduates of recognised degrees and a longer, evidence-based route for those whose qualification is not directly recognised. The longer route is where most of the framing work tends to sit, demonstrating your competencies through your work history. The exact pathways and what each requires are set by the official source, so check there for current detail. The visa pathways themselves are on the Home Affairs visa finder.

Trades Recognition Australia (TRA)

Trade occupations, electricians, fitters, chefs, mechanics.

The body that assesses skilled trades. Trade assessments tend to be evidence-heavy, drawing on training records, employment history, and proof of the hands-on work you have actually done, and some occupations involve a practical component. The exact pathways and what each one needs are set by the official source, so check there before you commit to a route. The visa pathways are listed on the Home Affairs visa finder.

Australian Computer Society (ACS)

ICT and computing occupations.

The body that assesses ICT and computing occupations. In general, the assessment weighs how relevant your qualification is to the field and how well your work history matches the occupation you are claiming. There are also routes for people whose qualification is not directly ICT, which can work but tend to take longer. The current rules and routes belong with the official source. The visa pathways are on the Home Affairs visa finder.

AHPRA + profession-specific boards

Health practitioners, nurses, doctors, allied health.

Health practitioner cases generally run through AHPRA and the relevant national board rather than the migration assessing authorities directly, and your registration outcome usually does the work a skills assessment does for other occupations. The requirements differ a lot from one health profession to another, and they change, so the current rules belong with the official source. Health applicants often find the process takes longer than they expect, which is worth planning for early. The visa pathways are on the Home Affairs visa finder.

The other assessing authorities

Teachers, social workers, accountants, lawyers, and more.

Many occupations have their own dedicated assessing body, covering fields such as teaching, social work, accounting, and law, among others. Your occupation determines which body assesses you, not the other way around, and the official source is what maps occupation to authority. For the current list and the rules each body applies, see the Home Affairs visa finder.

How I work on a skills case

Framing before submission.

A skills assessment that goes badly is hard to undo: you generally reapply, but with the earlier result on file. The work that prevents this is mostly done before you submit anything.

  • Occupation review, is this genuinely the right fit for your real-world work?
  • Degree mapping, is the qualification clearly comparable, or does it need a context statement?
  • Employment evidence audit, duties, hours, paid vs unpaid, gaps.
  • Reference letter review, most refusals start with vague letters.
  • Strategy for borderline cases, sometimes the right answer is a different occupation entirely.
Where I push back

Honest about the result.

Some cases are stronger than the applicant assumes. Others are weaker. I will say which, on the first call, before you commit to fees.

  • "My degree is in something completely different from my job", sometimes works, sometimes does not. Depends on the assessing body.
  • Heavy contractor / self-employed history with weak documentation, fixable, but not in a week.
  • Long career breaks without clean explanation, needs framing, not avoidance.
  • Occupations whose status has recently changed, different conversation, different strategy.
★★★★★ On a skills assessment

Suzy gave me a lot of useful information and she helped me with my Skill Assessment. Responsive, professional and transparent.

Barbara Gimesi · February 2026 · Trustpilot

"A skills assessment is the place where your real working life gets translated into a checklist. The translation is the work. Done well, the visa officer barely notices the assessment, done badly, it is the only thing they see."

Send your CV and the occupation you are eyeing. I will tell you which assessor fits and where your evidence is thinnest.

, Suzanne Tasman Visa
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