Engineers Australia is providing free, fast-tracked skills assessments as part of an Australian Government incentive to address the skills shortage affecting the mining industry.
Priority occupations in engineering include mining, petroleum, mechanical, geotechnical, electrical, transport, structural and civil engineers.
Eligible applicants must have been granted a family, partner, refugee or humanitarian visa since January 1, 2019, currently live in Australia, have qualifications or skills in a priority occupation and have not yet had a formal skills assessment from Engineers Australia or any other assessing authority.
“This program represents quite a dramatic difference to the time an assessment would typically take,” Engineers Australia senior manager assessments Robin Liu said.
“A normal assessment might take 16 to 18 weeks. A previously paid, fast-tracked assessment might take 20 working days. This free offer, running from February 28, 2022 to June 30, 2023 provides an outcome within 15 working days.”
Engineers Australia, as an assessing authority, will manage the assessment process for those in the engineering profession.
“We need to promote and communicate this out into various communities to make this solution work,” Liu said.
“We’re talking about people who have a permanent visa but haven’t done any assessment with us in the past.”
Liu said to take advantage of opportunities that come from this process it’s also beneficial for those in engineering to understand the assessment process and its significance.
“Applicants who already have a permanent visa can work without limit in Australia,” he said.
“Our assessment process is to confirm that they are a suitable qualified engineer whose qualifications are recognised as equivalent to an Australian engineering degree.”