Skills assessment, authority by authority

This is the single most misunderstood rule in Australian skilled migration. ACS does not count all your experience. It applies a "skill requirement met" date and everything before it is discarded. If your degree is a closely related ICT major, roughly 2 years are deducted. If it is ICT but not closely related, roughly 4 years. If your degree is not ICT at all, roughly 6 years plus an RPL. Someone with 6 years of real experience can end up claiming only 5 points instead of 10.

Career episodes must be your own work describing your own projects. Engineers Australia runs plagiarism detection and issues bans - commonly 12 months - where text is copied from samples, templates or another applicant. The market for "CDR writing services" is large and using one is a genuine risk to your migration timeline, not just your assessment.

VETASSESS assesses both your qualification and your employment against the occupation, and both must be at the required skill level. Working as a manager does not help if the occupation requires a specific technical field, and a degree in a loosely adjacent discipline is routinely assessed as not highly relevant. Check your occupation's group requirements before paying.

The accounting bodies generally require IELTS 7 in each band (or equivalent) before they will issue a positive skills assessment. That is above the Competent English floor for the visa. Many applicants discover this after budgeting only for the migration minimum, and it is the most common reason accounting assessments stall.

AITSL generally requires IELTS 7 in reading and writing and 8 in speaking and listening, or equivalent. That is far higher than Competent English and higher than most applicants plan for. Sit the test early - the speaking and listening 8 is what usually needs retaking.

A positive ANMAC assessment does not let you work as a nurse in Australia. Registration with AHPRA is a separate process with its own English requirements and, for many overseas-qualified nurses, a bridging program. Plan both timelines together or you will arrive with a visa and no ability to practise.

Medical assessment and registration commonly run to a year or more and can involve examinations, supervised practice and college assessment for specialists. Age points fall away while you wait, so if you are near an age band boundary the sequencing of your application matters enormously. This is a case where professional advice is genuinely worth the money.

The onshore trades pathway requires paid employment in your nominated trade plus a workplace assessment, and realistically takes over a year from start to positive outcome. If you are on a Temporary Graduate visa, start immediately - people routinely run out of visa before finishing the program.