Engineering Australia Assesment - Required Work Experience

Question

In their website Section 3.B. it is mentioned:

for those who have at least 1 year Australian work experience, and / or at least 3 years Overseas work experience in their nominated occupation or a closely-related occupation, then an additional assessing service is available to provide an opinion on the skilled employment claims. High-level evidence will be required to support any claim of work experience as well as completion of this form.

Their PDF for Overseas Qualification Assessment:

6. I have limited engineering experience. Can I still apply for an assessment of my qualifications?

Yes, you can still apply. Twelve months of engineering experience is a guideline only. It is possible that you can demonstrate the three competencies by referring to your undergraduate professional engineering qualifications and the project/work experience elements of your academic study. Applicants may however find writing the career episodes more challenging without workplace experience from which to evidence the competencies.

So, do they give skill assessment for experience less than 3 years or not? Subclass 189 for instance require skill assessment from their authority (like Engineering Australia).

Answer 1

Based on the information found on the website of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, I think you might be conflating two distinct requirements:

• You need a skills assessment to apply for a skilled migration visa. That's a firm requirement, your application will not go anywhere without this document. Per the quote mentioned in your question, Engineers Australia, which is one of the organisations carrying out the assessment, suggests that professional experience is generally necessary but not strictly mandatory. So the duration is only a guideline, the real criteria are the skills/competencies.

• In the point system, you also need to attain or exceed the “pass mark” and you can receive extra points for relevant work experience in Australia or abroad. For this experience to count towards your mark, it must be longer than three years, it's a strict threshold in this context and not merely a recommendation. Longer experience can bring more points (up to 20 points for 8-10 years of relevant experience).

  But recognised work experience is not required to get a visa, you can still apply without it, if you have enough points from the other criteria (age, educational qualifications, language abilities, etc.) That's why they call it an “additional assessing service” because it is distinct from the skills assessment.

My understanding is therefore that you can apply with only one year of skilled work experience. A short career does not categorically rule you out for a skilled migration visa in Australia. But you should find it much easier to meet the criteria (both the skills assessment and the points threshold) with more experience under your belt.

Answer 2

This question is probably better served in https://engineering.stackexchange.com/ however I can provide a brief answer here.

Ultimately if you can prove the competencies they require, that is what they are after. What they have likely found is that 3 years is needed to prove them.