VETASSESS: What It Checks, and the Date That Decides Your Points

It is two assessments wearing one name

VETASSESS is the assessing authority the Australian Government has authorised for 341 professional and other non-trade occupations, as its own eligibility page put it when read on 20 August 2026, which is the largest range of occupations of any Australian assessing authority. An assessment from it considers the relevance of your qualifications and your employment to the occupation you have nominated.

What almost nobody realises going in is that the outcome letter answers two separate questions. VETASSESS says so itself: the letter states the work experience considered towards meeting the criteria, which it calls the qualifying period, and separately the employment after that which can be counted towards points.

The first question is whether you qualify at all: does your qualification sit in a highly relevant field of study, at the right level, and do you have the employment the occupation demands. That is the pass or fail everyone prepares for.

The second is quieter and costs more. It is the question of which of your working years may count towards the points test, and the answer is a date. Applicants routinely reach this stage with a points score they calculated themselves from their full career, and discover the assessment has counted less of it.

One scoping note before the detail. VETASSESS states that only a qualifications assessment is required for subclass 485 purposes, while an assessment of both qualifications and employment is required for permanent residence. If you are assessing for a 485, the employment half of this article does not apply to you yet.

The qualification test, and the Graduate Diploma trap

Two things have to be true about your qualification, and they are independent of each other.

It must be in a highly relevant field of study, which VETASSESS defines as the major field of your qualification that matches your nominated occupation. The factors it weighs include, and it says explicitly that they are not limited to, whether you hold a specialised qualification or one with a major that VETASSESS has identified as suitable for the occupation in Australia, the depth and breadth of study in that major, the employment outcomes of the qualification in the country concerned, and course requirements such as thesis work, major projects or work placements.

And it must be at the required educational level, which is benchmarked against the Australian Qualifications Framework and set per occupation. The comparability of an overseas qualification is judged on the education system that awarded it, the accreditation and recognition of the institution and the programme in its home country, and the level, structure, length and content of the study itself.

Now the trap, because it ends applications and it is stated plainly on VETASSESS’s own page. It will not assess an Australian Graduate Diploma, or a comparable overseas postgraduate diploma, as comparable to an Australian Bachelor degree. Not alone, and not in combination with underpinning sub-degree qualifications. So a qualification assessed at AQF Graduate Diploma level cannot be used to meet an occupation that requires a minimum of a Bachelor degree. VETASSESS does say that a Postgraduate Diploma may be considered against the requirements of occupations calling for a qualification at AQF Diploma or Advanced Diploma or Associate degree level, so the door is narrower rather than shut.

If your route into your profession ran through a postgraduate diploma rather than a bachelor’s degree, that is the sentence to read before anything else.

One more thing that closes a door people hope is open. VETASSESS states that highly relevant employment cannot compensate for a lack of qualification at the required educational level. Twenty years in the role does not substitute for the degree the occupation requires.

The German Bachelor Professional is not a Bachelor degree

For readers coming from Germany, this is the version of the same trap that catches people most often, and it is worth stating bluntly.

Since the 2020 reform of the Berufsbildungsgesetz, German advancement qualifications at the Fortbildung level carry the title Bachelor Professional: the Fachwirt, the Betriebswirt, the Meister and their siblings. The IHK issues an English translation of the certificate using exactly that wording, so what the holder has in hand says Bachelor Professional in English. It is an official title and it is correctly awarded.

It is not a university Bachelor degree, and the two are not interchangeable for a skills assessment.

The reason the assumption is so easy to make is that the German qualifications framework does place a Bachelor Professional at DQR level 6, the same level it gives an academic Bachelor degree. That is a real equivalence within the German framework. It is not a statement about the Australian Qualifications Framework, and it is not what VETASSESS assesses. VETASSESS judges an overseas qualification on the education system that awarded it, the accreditation and recognition of the institution and the programme in their home country, and the level, structure, length and content of the study itself. A vocational advancement qualification completed alongside employment and examined by a Kammer is assessed on that basis, not on the English wording of its title.

So if your nominated occupation requires a qualification at AQF Bachelor level or above, a Bachelor Professional does not meet it because of what it is called. If your occupation sits at AQF Diploma, Advanced Diploma or Certificate level, it may be exactly the right qualification. The question is never how the certificate translates. It is the level VETASSESS assesses it at, against the occupation you have nominated.

This is the most common surprise in German applications we see, and it is worth resolving before you commission an assessment rather than after the outcome letter arrives.

The employment test is stricter than it reads

Only full time, paid employment counts, and VETASSESS defines full time as a minimum of 20 hours a week.

That is a floor per period, not an average across a career, and the example on its own page is worth quoting because it surprises people. If you worked 12 hours a week for three months and then 40 hours a week for seven months, only the seven month period counts. Irregular periods that average out to 20 hours a week over a year are not considered.

Unpaid or partially paid leave does not count. Nor does volunteer work, nor work undertaken towards gaining professional skills or qualifications. Only leave taken on full pay counts as paid employment.

Beyond the hours, employment has to be skilled, and VETASSESS sets two tests for that: the work was undertaken after you met the entry level requirements for the occupation, and your primary duties were performed at the level of depth and complexity the occupation requires. The major tasks in your everyday work should closely match the major tasks usually undertaken in that occupation in Australia, so the ANZSCO task list for your unit group is worth reading alongside your own statement of service.

The occupation groups, and why your neighbour needed less experience

VETASSESS classifies occupations into groups, and the group decides whether your pre-qualification experience counts at all.

For Groups A and E, employment must be post-qualification. Experience earned before you held the qualification is not counted, full stop.

For Groups B, C and D, pre-qualification employment may be considered. That is the concession, and it comes at a price. VETASSESS sets out what it calls the pre-qualification employment requirements: Group B needs five years of relevant employment in addition to at least one year of highly relevant employment at the required skill level in the last five years before applying, and Groups C and D need three years of relevant employment in addition to that same one year.

Read those numbers carefully, because it is easy to take them for the general requirement and they are not. They are the terms on which pre-qualification experience is allowed in. An applicant in Group B who qualified first and worked afterwards is assessed on post-qualification employment and does not need to show five extra years.

So the same career history can produce different outcomes depending on the occupation nominated, because the groups track the nature of the occupation rather than the applicant. Check your occupation’s group before you decide what your history proves, and check what evidence it demands: managerial occupations, along with management consultant, marketing specialist, internal auditor and program or project administrator, require an organisational chart on company letterhead showing your position, your superiors, your subordinates, and everyone reporting to your immediate supervisor and to your direct subordinates. If your employer will not provide one, VETASSESS accepts a statutory declaration setting out the same information and explaining why the chart cannot be supplied.

If you are not sure which group or which occupation applies to you, our eligibility check takes two minutes and will point you at a destination and a broad route, though the group question has to be answered against the occupation itself.

The Date Deemed Skilled, which is the whole article in one paragraph

Here is the mechanism that costs people points.

As part of the assessment, VETASSESS determines the date on which you met the skill level requirements for your nominated occupation. That is the Date Deemed Skilled, and it appears on your outcome letter. VETASSESS states the consequence flatly: it will only count skilled employment after the Date Deemed Skilled as eligible for points test purposes.

Everything before that date is the qualifying period. It got you through the assessment. It does not score.

Once the date is set, all highly relevant or closely related work experience after it, performed within the last ten years before applying, counts as skilled employment eligible for points. Your outcome letter sets out both halves: the work experience considered towards meeting the criteria, and the employment after it that can be counted towards points.

The size of that qualifying period depends entirely on how you meet the criteria, which is why the group matters so much. Take a Group B applicant relying on pre-qualification experience: five years of relevant employment plus a year of highly relevant employment is what gets them assessed, those six years are the qualifying period, and the points clock starts after them. The same applicant, qualified first and working afterwards, is assessed on post-qualification employment and reaches the date far sooner.

So the Date Deemed Skilled is not a fixed offset. It is whenever your qualifications and employment together first met the criteria, and the route you took to meet them decides how much of your career sits behind it. That is the single most common gap between an applicant’s own points calculation and the one that will be accepted, and it is worth modelling before you lodge an expression of interest rather than after an invitation arrives.

What counts as closely related, once the clock has started

After the Date Deemed Skilled, VETASSESS counts employment that is related to and at the skill level of your nominated occupation.

Concretely, that means paid employment of at least 20 hours a week in an occupation in the same ANZSCO Unit Group as your nominated occupation. VETASSESS notes that unit groups generally sit at one skill level, defined by the range and complexity of tasks in the occupation.

It will also consider employment consistent with a career advancement pathway relating to your nominated occupation, which it describes as usually taking the form of a promotion to a senior or higher level role that relates to the occupation and carries greater responsibility. So being promoted out of the exact job title does not automatically end your countable experience, which is genuinely good news for anyone who has been doing well.

How long it takes, and what the timetable does not cover

VETASSESS publishes its own processing times, and they are worth setting against a visa timeline. The figures below were published when read on 20 August 2026 and they change, so check them before you plan around them.

A skills assessment for professional occupations was listed at 7 weeks, and VETASSESS says it may take longer where the application is complex or the documents are insufficient. Priority processing was listed at 10 business days after an application is confirmed as eligible for it, and it is available for professional and general occupations but not for trade occupations. Note that eligibility for priority processing depends on VETASSESS being able to verify your employment claims within 10 business days, so the evidence has to be complete at the point you ask for it.

The other services matter when something goes wrong. Points test advice was 2 to 4 weeks. A renewal was 2 to 5 weeks. An outcome review was 7 weeks. A reassessment was 7 weeks, with priority processing available where it is submitted under a different occupation from the original assessment. An appeal was 12 weeks.

Two additions catch people out. If your qualifications were awarded in China you need VETASSESS verification of them, listed separately at 8 to 10 weeks, and for priority processing that verification must be completed before you apply.

And trade occupations sit outside this timetable, though not outside VETASSESS. It assesses 25 trade occupations, and it describes itself as a registered training organisation approved by Trades Recognition Australia. What it does not publish is a time range for them: the trade programmes are TRA programmes and their approximate times appear in the relevant TRA applicant guidelines.

Set a 7 week assessment, or a 12 week appeal, against the Department’s rule that an assessment must have been obtained in the three years before the date of invitation, and the sequencing becomes a real planning question. One rider on that rule is worth carrying: if the assessment was itself issued for a shorter period, that period must not have passed.

The mistakes we correct most often

Calculating points from a whole career. Only employment after the Date Deemed Skilled scores.

Assuming a postgraduate diploma will stand in for a bachelor’s degree. It will not, on VETASSESS’s own published position, for occupations requiring a Bachelor degree minimum.

Expecting long experience to make up for a missing qualification. VETASSESS says explicitly that it cannot.

Averaging part time hours to reach 20 a week. VETASSESS says irregular periods that average out to 20 hours a week over a year will not be considered.

Counting unpaid leave, volunteering, or time spent gaining qualifications as employment.

Not checking the occupation group before deciding whether pre-qualification experience helps. In Groups A and E it does not count at all, and in Groups B, C and D it is allowed in only against an additional qualifying period.

Submitting a statement of service without the exact dates, the hours per week, the duties, the salary and a signatory senior to you. VETASSESS will not accept references from colleagues at the same level or below.

Treating the assessment as the last step rather than the first. It is a gate in front of the visa, with its own weeks attached.

Where to start

Confirm the occupation before you confirm anything else, because it decides the assessing authority, the group, the educational level and the evidence. Our skilled occupation list guide covers how to find the right record, and the points tested routes page sets out what a competitive score looks like once you know which years count.

Then model the Date Deemed Skilled before you build a points score on top of it. Our MARA-registered advisers do that calculation first, because a score built on the wrong start date is not a small error, it is the difference between an invitation and years of waiting. If you are about to commission an assessment, it is worth a conversation first.

Sources

• Department of Home Affairs, Skills assessment
• Department of Home Affairs, Skilled occupation list
• Department of Home Affairs, Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190)
• VETASSESS, Skills assessment for professional occupations
• VETASSESS, Am I eligible to apply with my professional occupation
• VETASSESS, Application process for a professional or general skills application
• VETASSESS, Skills assessment for trade occupations
• VETASSESS, Current processing times