TRA revises trade assessment guidelines

Trade Recognition Australia  has issued a revised version of its skills assessment guidelines for offshore trade applications. Brought in on Monday 14^th January, the revised guidelines now apply to all offshore TRA trade applicants. There are only two significant changes which affect trade applicants: 1)      Requirements for trade applicants with AQF qualifications For all TRA applicants who have no initial trade qualification and who have instead been awarded an AQF III or offshore technical skills record through a training provider, they must now provide evidence of three years’ supervised work experience prior to the award of the Australian qualification. This is a reduction in the length of supervised experience required; prior to 14th January, the requirement was five years’ supervised experience. The revised requirement should make the application process more straightforward for many UK trade applicants, where three year apprenticeships are increasingly the norm. Bear in mind though, that the applicant will still need three years’  post-supervision ‘skilled experience’  in order to meet standard TRA employment requirements, so in total, TRA trade applicants with an AQF or skills record will need six years’ experience prior to application: three years’ supervised, and then three year’s qualified work experience.   2)    Evidence of Paid Employment requirements Evidence of Paid Employment requirements have been made more comprehensive. TRA will require at least one primary source of evidence or a minimum of two secondary sources of evidence for each year and each period of employment being claimed. This is in addition to employment references. Primary sources of evidence may include: • Tax records that cite the name of the applicant and the employer • Annual payment summaries/Group certificates that cite the name of the applicant and the employer Pay slips that include the name of the employer and the start date of the employment – in the UK, this means annual P60 certificates • Superannuation documents that cite the name of the applicant and the name of the employer – in the UK, this means National Insurance documents • Annual/company returns (for self employed applicants) with an accompanying accountant statement   Secondary sources of evidence may include: • Pay slips (without details of commencement date or year to date income information)  • Advice regarding wages paid in an employer statement (in accordance with Section 2.8.6) A certified statement from your registered/certified accountant.  • Letters from taxation offices that do not contain the name of the employer  • Bank statements showing income deposited from employment   In light of the above requirements, a combination of payslips and bank statements may be the most straightforward option for most clients. The revised TRA Migration Skills Assessment guidelines can be accessed here.