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Australian Skills Assessment 2026: Assessing Authorities and Skilled Visa Rules
A skills assessment is a formal assessment by the relevant assessing authority for an occupation. Many Australian skilled visa pathways require a suitable skills assessment, but the timing, validity and assessment criteria depend on the visa subclass, occupation and assessing authority.
Different occupations use different assessing authorities
Home Affairs identifies assessing authorities through the skilled migration framework and related legislative instruments. Applicants should identify the correct occupation and authority before paying for an assessment because using the wrong occupation or authority can undermine the migration strategy.
A positive assessment does not guarantee a visa
The assessing authority decides whether the applicant meets its assessment criteria. The Department separately decides the visa application. A positive skills assessment therefore addresses only one part of the migration criteria.
Validity depends on the visa and assessment
Do not assume every skills assessment remains usable indefinitely. Some visa criteria specify how recent the assessment must be, and an assessing authority may issue an assessment with a shorter validity period. For example, Home Affairs states that subclass 189 applicants generally need an assessment obtained within three years before invitation unless the assessment itself has a shorter validity period.
Employer-sponsored visas can also require assessments
Home Affairs states that subclass 494 Employer Sponsored stream applicants generally require a skills assessment unless exempt, while subclass 186 Direct Entry applicants generally require a skills assessment unless exempt. Always check the stream-specific rule.
Use the Home Affairs assessing authorities page and the skilled migration legislative instruments page to identify the current framework. Related: Australian Visa Subclass Database.
