Employment Assessment for Points in GSM visas If you had been EMPLOYED outside/ in Australia in your nominated or a CLOSELY RELATED Skilled occupation in the 10 years immediately before that time of the invitation, you can claim up to 20 points under "employment experience qualifications" part. You can read the section of the Migration Regulations here. Please find the information below for each points awarded.
AU employment - 1 year in the past 10 years before the invitation 5 points AU employment - 3 years in the past 10 years before the invitation 10 points AU employment - 5 years in the past 10 years before the invitation 15 points OS employment - 3 years in the past 10 years before the invitation 5 points OS employment - 5 years in the past 10 years before the invitation 10 points OS employment - 8 years in the past 10 years before the invitation 15 points Employed? Now we will explain what "employed" means for 189/190/489 visa application. The Reg 2.26AC(6) says "employed means engaged in an occupation for remuneration for at least 20 hours a week." It means the employment doesn't need to be full-time (35-38 hours per week) to claim the points. Overseas students may also be eligible to claim their employment in Australia if they are employed at least 20 hours per week. If overseas students work less than 20 hours per week, the periods will generally not be considered. Case officers do have the discretion if the hours fall just below the 20 hour mark but this should not be relied upon in applications. As the Regulation defines, the employment needs to be remunerated. Unpaid experience will not be considered. The periods of unpaid leave also will not be counted but paid leave will be considered part of employment. Skilled? The employment must be skilled to receive the points. In order to check whether the employment is skilled, PAMS advises the following; -work which was undertaken after the applicant met the entry level requirements for that occupation (that is, completed a sufficient level of study or amount of on-the-job training) and - work which involved duties at the level of depth and complexity expected in Australia. "In assessing both factors, case officers should have regard to ANZSCO. For occupations for which ANZSCO does not provide adequate guidance, case officers should consider the requirements set by the relevant assessing authority. Please find the link here for ANZSCO dictionary. An applicant will be considered of skilled employment only after they have met the entry level requirements for that occupation. If the entry level prescribed for the applicant's nominated occupation is a certain qualification only work undertaken after the applicant has completed that qualification will be counted as skilled employment." Closely related occupations? Under the department policy, if occupations are on the same unit group classified under ANZSCO occupations, they can be considered as closely related occupations. For example, 221111 Accountant (general), 221112 Management accountant and 221113 Taxation account can be considered as closely related as they are under the same Unit 2211. If a nominated occupation is a general accountant, the employment as a management accountant or taxation account will be considered closely related. Examples Example 1 Sam completed his Bachelor of Accounting in December 2012 in Australia. He landed an accountant job in July 2010 while he was studying Bachelor course and still working as an accountant. He wishes to claim 3 years of Australian employment as an accountant. According to ANZSCO description, Accountant ( Skill level 1) requires at least Bachelor qualification. Hence Sam can only claim his work experience after the completion of his Bachelor degree in December 2012. He will only receive 5 points for one year Australian employment part. Example 2 Chirag completed his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in December 2010 in India. His Bachelor qualification is commensurate to Australian Bachelor qualification. While he is in Australia on student visa completing his MBA, he is working at least 20 hours as a mechanical Engineer for one year. As his Australian employment is after the entry level of the qualification, he will be able to claim 5 points for one year Australian employment part. Example 3 Tom completed his Bachelor of IT- Software Engineering in December 2011 and received his Skills assessment as a Software Engineer (261313) from ACS. Since then, he has been working as a Developer programmer (261312). Even though Software Engineer and Developer Programmer are the different occupations, he can claim this employment as a Development Programmer as it can be considered closely related to the nominated occupation. Example 4 Julie completed her Bachelor of Nursing in Australia in December 2012. She has been working as a Nursing Aide whilst studying and after her degree. Due to the English proficiency requirement of 7.0 on each component of an Academic IELTS test, she was not able to obtain the registration as a Registered Nurse until July 2013. Julie can only claim her employment after she has obtained her registration in July 2013. Example 5 Morris completed his Bachelor of Commerce in December 2007. After this he worked as an Accountant in Dubai for three years. He applied for a formal skill assessment as an accountant for migration purposes to Australia in 2010 but received a negative result for his Bachelor degree was not equivalent to an Australian Bachelor degree. Morris came to Australia and completed his Masters of Professional Accounting (MPA). Whilst studying the Masters program he obtained a job as an accountant in Sydney and worked 20 hours per week. Morris expected to be able to claim 10 points for work experience with 5 points for the work in Dubai and 5 points for work in Australia. He was disappointed to learn that neither periods of his work was accepted for the CPA stated that he only became qualified as an accountant after he completed his MPA. It was the MPA that upgraded his qualifications to be equivalent to the Australian Bachelor Degree level. Still confused about Skilled Employment? We will discuss more in the next newsletter regarding duties at the level of depth and complexity of the occupation to claim employment points. Stay tuned. | 
