Photo illustrating: Who assesses your occupation? The Australian skills-assessment authorities, mapped
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Guide · 30 Oct 2025

Who assesses your occupation? The Australian skills-assessment authorities, mapped

Before a skilled visa application, one body checks whether your training and work match the Australian standard for your occupation. Here is the map.

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Before you can use your ANZSCO code in a skilled visa application, one body has to say your training and work experience match the Australian standard for that occupation. That body is your assessing authority. It is tied to your occupation code, not to your choice. Find your code first. The authority follows.

This page maps each major authority to the occupations it covers, with links to those occupation pages so you can check the detail for your own code.

How the assessment works

A skills assessment is a document-based check. The authority compares your qualifications and work history to what Australia expects for your nominated ANZSCO occupation. A positive outcome is evidence that you meet the standard, not a visa decision. The visa decision belongs to the Department of Home Affairs.

List membership is a separate question. An occupation can be on the Core Skills Occupation List and still require a positive skills assessment before a visa sponsor can nominate it. The lists and the assessment are two different gates.

The main authorities

ICT occupations: ACS

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) assesses ICT occupations for migration: software, networks, security, data, and the IT analyst and management roles around them.

Examples from the ICT Professionals group (26):

Engineering occupations: Engineers Australia

Engineers Australia assesses engineering occupations. It covers professional engineers, engineering technologists, engineering associates, and engineering managers.

Examples from the Engineering Professionals group (233):

Nursing and midwifery: ANMAC and AHPRA

Two separate bodies sit in the nursing pathway. ANMAC (the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council) assesses skills for a skilled visa. AHPRA registers you to practise. You need both. ANMAC is for the visa; AHPRA is for the licence.

Examples from the Midwifery and Nursing Professionals group (254):

Medical practitioners: AHPRA (Medical Board)

Doctors are registered by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency through its Medical Board of Australia. This covers the full range of medical practitioners in the Health Professionals group (25).

Examples:

Accounting occupations: CPA Australia, CA ANZ, or IPA

Accountant codes are assessed by CPA Australia, CA ANZ, or the Institute of Public Accountants. The check is subject by subject: your degree must cover the named competency areas for your exact code.

Examples from the Accountants group (2211):

Trade occupations: TRA and VETASSESS

Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) and VETASSESS both cover trade occupations, but for different trades. The authority for your code is on the occupation page.

Examples from the Construction Trades Workers group (33) and related groups:

General and professional occupations: VETASSESS

VETASSESS covers the widest range of occupations of any single authority. If your job is not handled by a specialist body, VETASSESS is often the assessor. Its scope includes science, health, arts, education, business, hospitality, and retail roles not covered by the specialist bodies above.

Aviation and maritime: CASA and AMSA

CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) assesses aviation occupations. AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) assesses maritime ones. Both are regulatory bodies with their own licensing frameworks.

Examples:

Architecture: State Architects Boards

Architect (232111) and Landscape Architect (232112) are assessed by the state and territory architects registration boards. Browse the Architects, Designers, Planners and Surveyors group (232) for more codes in that family.

Teaching: State teacher registration bodies

School teachers are registered by state and territory bodies, not a single national one. Examples: VIT in Victoria, NESA in New South Wales, QCT in Queensland.

Examples from the School Teachers group (241):

How to confirm your authority

The authority for any ANZSCO code is on the occupation page. Browse all occupations or search by title or keyword. If you are not sure which code matches your background, paste your CV into our matcher. Each result shows the closest code and the assessing body for it.

Fees, timeframes, and exact document requirements change. Always read them on the authority’s own site before you plan around any number. We link the current pages above.

Information only, never visa advice. For advice on your own case, talk to a registered migration agent.

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