Migration skills assessment

Your qualification is the main factor in choosing the right assessment pathway. It’s determined by:

• the country you received it
• the type of qualification
• whether it’s accredited.

Accredited qualifications are engineering qualifications which are recognised through agreements known as Accords. There are three relevant Accords – the Washington Accord, Sydney Accord and Dublin Accord. We’ll recognise your qualifications under these Accords if:

• It was completed after, or in the same year in which the country was accepted as a full signatory under the Accord.
• Your program falls within the time period specified as accredited on the signatory’s website for your country. This may be referred to as a program’s intake, commencement or graduate year.
• Your program is listed as fully accredited, provisional accreditation isn’t sufficient.

Use the qualification checker on the International Engineering Alliance website to check if your qualifications are accredited.

If you completed your qualification in Australia and it’s listed in Engineers Australia’s list of accredited programs, then you can apply directly through the Australian qualifications pathway.

Engineers Australia recognises four occupational categories for skilled migration:

• Professional engineer
• Engineering technologist
• Engineering associate
• Engineering manager.

Based on your qualifications and skills, you will work in Australia in one of these occupational categories.

If your qualification is accredited, you can choose between four assessment pathways or types:

• Australian qualification
• Washington Accord
• Dublin Accord
• Sydney Accord

If you have a French qualification, you can apply under the Washington Accord.

You can apply via the Australian qualification pathway if:

• your program is accredited by Engineers Australia, and
• you started your program during or after the year of accreditation commencement.

Engineers Australia recently updated the Australian qualification pathway for those holding Advanced Diplomas or Associate Degrees and seeking a skills assessment outcome. From 1 September 2024, only qualifications accredited by Engineers Australia will be eligible for assessment under this pathway.   

If you possess a provisionally-accredited Australian qualification, you should utilise the competency demonstration report (CDR) assessment pathway. 

If your qualification is not accredited and you have additional qualifications in engineering, this combination could be considered under the CDR pathway. Under the CDR pathway, your knowledge, skills and competency will be evaluated based on Engineers Australia standards. 

During the CDR pathway online application, you will be prompted to select your engineering occupation (or qualification) from a dropdown list. Currently, this list includes 31 engineering occupations, as determined by the Australian government. 

Upon successful assessment, both your occupational category and engineering occupation will be displayed in the outcome letter. 

Engineers Australia is the internationally recognised accrediting body in Australia. Accreditation applies to a program, not an individual. Any graduate from a fully accredited program is deemed to have met the stage 1 competencies for the relevant occupational category. Find out more about accreditation.  

You can start your online application and save and exit at any point and then return to complete it.

Read through the requirements in the online application for the assessment type you’ve chosen. Then gather all the documents you’ll need and read the detailed information on how to Prepare your migration skills assessment application. This downloadable publication explains the:

• full list of documents you need to provide for the assessment pathway you’ve chosen
• English language requirements
• ethical standards you must follow in your application.

Be sure to read this material thoroughly to ensure your assessment has the best outcome.

To apply online, you’ll need to create an account in the portal. You’ll receive your account ID via email once you’ve created your account.

When you receive your account ID, login and select migration skills assessment from the menu. Select your assessment pathway, upload all the required documents and submit your application. The online application is easy to follow, but if you need help refer to the online application guide.

You’ll receive an email confirmation when your application has been successfully submitted.

Assessment processing times

Migration skills assessment applications submitted for standard assessment generally take 15 weeks to be assigned to an assessor. This doesn’t mean you’ll receive an outcome in this timeframe. The time it takes to process your assessment depends on the quality of the documents you provide and whether we need to ask you for more information.

Login to your account on the portal to check the status of your application. Online status updates appear throughout the assessment process until finalised. You can also email us to request an update on the status of your application.

Assessment fees

The fee for apply for migration skills assessment is detailed on the assessment fees and additional services page.

You’ll receive an email from us to let you know if your application has been successful or not. If your application is successful, you’ll also receive a migration skills assessment outcome letter which you can use for migration purposes. You can verify your outcome letter by logging into the EA portal.

Your assessment letter is valid for an indefinite period with Engineers Australia. You’ll need to check the Department of Home Affairs website for how long your letter is valid for migration visa applications.

Note that Engineers Australia is not allowed to give you migration advice. We also do not award the points for migration as part of our process. Contact the Department of Home Affairs for all questions about migration or visa-related issues. We can’t help you with these matters.

If you disagree with your assessment outcome, you can ask for a review or an appeal.