AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

TRA - Significant Change to Skills Assessment Procedure

Thursday, 6 September 2007

Trades Recogniton Australia (TRA) have announced that they will no longer accept applications that predominantly rely on evidence of work experience.

This unexpected change to their assessment policy has been met with concern from the migration industry. The Migration Institute of Australia have advised that they will be seeking further clarification from the Department of Immigration & Citizenship on this unexpected change to the assessment guidelines.

As a consequence of this change, the TRA has announced that any applications, not yet processed which solely rely on evidence of work experience (and with no formal or informal trade certificates) will be returned back to the applicant with the application fee. This process will apply to all applications received up until 30 September 2007.

Applications received on or after 1 October 2007 will be assessed by the TRA against the UAC. Formal training and work experience will be required. From that date, only the following skill pathways will be recognised:

• Skill Pathway A: Formal apprenticeship
• Skill Pathway B: Informal apprenticeship
• Skill Pathway C: Vocational traineeship
• Skill Pathway E: Australian qualifications

To view a copy of the guidelines, please click http://www.migrationexpert.com/australia/applications/TRA_Guidelines.pdf

Any applicants who are able to provide evidence of formal training & work experience, should not be affected by this change.

In the event that this decision is reversed at a future date or a transitional period is announced, we will post further news to ensure you have the latest information.