Nominated Skilled Occupation

The Australian Department of Immigration's Skilled Occupation List (SOL) which was last updated on the 1st of July 2010 could be found by clicking here. It basically tells you how many points you get for whichever occupation you choose to apply with. The SOL also tells you who your skill assessing authority is so that you can get your skill assessed by them.

I will be applying for residency as a General Accountant which carries 60 points (the maximum) with it. And the skill assessing authority that I have to refer to are the CPA, ICAA and the NIA. Two really common skill assessing authorities are the CPA and the ICAA. Both of these organisations charge the same amount for the skill assessment; $350 and promises to get your result back to you within 2-3 weeks. But only the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) has a fast track option for this skill assessment. The downside, it costs an extra $45 for it. And they will get your application processed within 1-1.5 weeks.





Because I'm sort of in a hurry to get my application in before the 30th June dateline, I decided to use the ICAA fast track option and pay that extra $45. My uni results were officially released at 3pm on the 10th of June. I went to uni on that day, hoping to get my academic transcript as well as my completion letter printed but was told that I could only get my academic transcript on that day and had to wait till the following Wednesday for my completion letter to be processed (because Monday was a public holiday). This delay is due to the fact that the computer system hasn't updated my completed status because the results were only just announced on that day itself and will take some time before my completion letter could be printed.

What I did was I enlisted the help of my course convener whom I was on good terms with (being such a good student) to help me try and fast track the process of my completion letter. Fortunately for me, I managed to get my completion letter that evening itself (after numerous phone calls made by my convener).

So anyway, the subject requirements for each Australian University could be found here. What that document does is it tells you which subjects you need to have completed in your degree to be eligible for this skill assessment.

To apply for my skill assessment with the ICAA, I had to:
1. take the IELTS test and achieve a Band 7 in all four sections of the test
2. get a certified copy of my academic transcript
3. get a certified copy of academic award, stating the title of the award, name of the awarding institution and the year the study was completed
4. download the application form
5. fill up the application form, attach the required documents and post it off together with the payment

Cost: Application fee $395 (fast track) + Academic transcript $10 + Postage $4.80 (express mail)
Total: $409.80

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