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An applicant is eligible to receive 10 points towards their points tested skilled migration application if they can show they have been employed in that skilled occupation or a closely related skilled occupation in Australia for a period totalling at least 12 months in the 48 months immediately before the day on which the application was made.

VETASSESS is an assessing body that conducts assessments for people applying to migrate to Australia under the Australian Government’s points tested General Skilled Migration Program (“GSM”) and Employer Nomination Scheme (“ENS”).

Skills assessments are a critical component of skilled migration visa applications.  The skills assessing body for computer professionals, the Australian Computer Society (ACS) has just made a welcome addition to their skills assessment application processes, making it possible for recent IT graduates with Australian qualifications to be assessed in Migration Occupation in Demand List (MODL) occupations. 

As a result of the global financial crisis Immigration Department processing of certain General Skilled Migration visas has slowed down dramatically.

The Immigration Department has responded to economic conditions in Australia by re-ordering processing of certain general skilled migration (GSM) visas.

In January 2009, the Department of Immigration announced new priority processing for general skilled migration applications.