Establishing your deeming date and work experience points for IT occupation applicants (skilled migration visa)

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Calculating GSM points for IT applicants and your deeming date

• The way work experience points is calculated, can be rather frustrating for IT applicants.
• You can claim work experience points for 3, 5 or 8 years (of the last 10), BUT this is only for work experience “past the deeming date” i.e. the date the skills assessment authority determines that you satisfied the criteria for your IT occupation
• In order to claim points for work experience, you can only “count the years” post your deeming date (the date the skills assessment authority deems that you have satisfied the criteria for your IT nominated occupation

Step 1 is satisfying the skills assessment criteria:

To satisfy the base criteria for your occupation we look at a combination of your work experience and qualifications

The calculating your likely deeming date 

This is a guideline to calculate your likely deeming date

• Bachelors Degree + ITC majors (and at least 75% of your degree subjects = strictly IT specific and highly relevant to your nominated occupation)+ 2 years of work experience = your deeming date will be 2 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Bachelors Degree+ ITC majors (at least 50 – 66% of your degree subjects = IT specific and highly relevant to your nominated occupation)  + 4 years post grad work experience = your deeming date will be 4 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Bachelors Degree with ITC majors NOT closely related to occupation + 4 years = your deeming date will be 4 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Bachelors Degree with ITC minors + 5 or 6 years work experience = your deeming date will be 6 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Bachelors Degree with ITC minor NOT closely related to occupation + 6 years WE = your deeming date will be 6 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Diploma or Bachelors Degree NOT related to IT  + 6 years work experience = your deeming date will be 6 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• Vendor qualifications + 6 to 7 years work experience = your deeming date will be 6 to 7 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)
• No formal qualifications  + 8 years work experience = your deeming date will be 8 years after you graduated (and after 2 years of paid employment)

You can only claim work experience points for your paid work after the deeming date

Let’s look at an applicable section of the Regs

Procedures Advice Manual (PAM3) which is used by DoHA case officers:

16.3 When is an applicant skilled

An applicant is considered skilled and therefore eligible for claiming employment points from the date the relevant assessing authority considers the person to be skilled in the nominated occupation:

• If a skills assessment provides a date at which the assessing authority is of the view that the applicant became ‘skilled’, case officers must ensure that any claimed employment experience under Schedule 6D took place from this date and not earlier.

• The date on which an applicant becomes ‘skilled’ may be different from the date that an assessing authority finds that the person meets their requirement for a suitable skills assessment. For example, an assessing authority may issue a suitable skills assessment on the basis of attainment of a tertiary qualification but may require a period of post qualification work experience before considering an applicant ‘skilled’ for the purpose of employment points.

Importance of this date for visa purposes:

The date an applicant met the Australian entry level requirement for their occupation, as prescribed by the assessing body or determined in accordance with the guidelines above, is the date from which an applicant can acquire skilled work experience in that occupation. Until that time, the applicant is in fact learning the job, albeit while on-the-job. They cannot therefore normally be assessed as performing the job at a skilled level.

For example, ANZSCO provides that in relation to ITC occupations the entry level requirement is either a bachelor level qualification or 6 years work experience (or relevant vendor certification may substitute for the formal qualification). If an applicant applied for a GSM visa and nominated a suitable occupation from the Unit Group (ITC), but had no formal qualification, the case officer would, on the basis of ANZSCO, only consider work after the applicant had been working in that occupation for 6 years to be at a skilled level. This means only work undertaken after working in that occupation for 6 years would be considered towards meeting the requirements for the award of points for the Overseas employment, Australian employment, Occupation in demand or the Partner skills factors.

What this means for a GSM applicant with an IT occupation

You can only claim points for work experience post your deeming date, so that often means you need at least 5 years post grad work experience (if your degree subjects = 75% of your degree PLUS highly relevant to your nominated occupation), and in most instances, you need at least 7 years of post grad IT work experience (paid work experience) to claim any work experience points

Quick review:

• You can claim work experience (paid work experience which means a minimum of 20 hrs paid work in your nominated occupation or closely related per week) only for work past your deeming date. 
• You can claim work experience points for 3 years, or 5 years or 8 years, so, deeming date + 3 or 5 or 8 years of work experience

The pass mark for a GSM visa = 65 points, so most people assume that getting to 60 points is all it takes to apply for a GSM visa… Unfortunately not.

Even though the pass mark is 65 points, the DoHA have been issuing invites to apply for a visa during the EOI stage of an application (we will explain this in greater detail and as it will apply to you specifically during our assessment service), for IT occupations, at 70 and more often 75 points over the last year.

So, realistically, you should only apply for a visa, if you are confident that you would be able to claim at least 70 points in total

Possible action plans for IT applicants

1. Partner points – if your partner fully satisfies the criteria for a positive skills assessment + relevant work experience + has an occupation on the same skills list as you, this can add 5 points
2. High level English test outcome – if you are able to get to a  superior level English test outcome (English Language Requirements) that can add a very valuable 10 points (over the normally proficient outcome)
3. State sponsored options can add 5 or 10 points, but, it can be a challenge to secure state sponsorship