I'm planning to apply for either the Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored) or the subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated) Visa some time in the near future. My nominated skilled occupation would be 'Software and Applications Programmers' which is assessed by ACS.
There are two things that I'd like to find out about the skills assessment.
This ACS document writes that in order to even get assessed by this authority, the candidate must have at least 2 years of working experience in the nominated occupation or in a closely related one (never mind the other options listed there, it is the first white row that applies to me). This more comprehensive document explains that they only consider working experience the time that the applicant has spent in the nominated occupation after obtaining some sort of certificate, such as a BSc degree.
My situation: I have an IT BSc and MSc degree. I started working 1 year after I had obtained my BSc degree, while I was still doing my MSc studies. During this time I had been working in my to-be-nominated skilled occupation, but as a student, with the involvement of a student job agency (24-28 paid hours a week on avg.).
My questions:
Does the ACS even recognize employment as a student if I can provide them with the necessary documents (reference letters, etc.)?
If so, is it an option that I only attach my BSc degree to my EOI despite that I also have an MSc one? In other words, can they find out that I also have an MSc one (I didn't do my studies in Australia) and if so, can this cause any problems, or will they simply say 'OK, if he only wants to attach his BSc degree that's fine with us'? (I'd do this because like this I would only need to wait 1 more year to hand in my EOI since I already have 1 year of working experience which I had obtained before I finished my MSC studies.)
