LIN 18/050 — Specification of Occupations and Assessing Authorities 2018

LIN 18/050 (Specification of Occupations and Assessing Authorities 2018) is the legislative instrument made under the Migration Regulations 1994 that specifies, for each occupation eligible for skilled migration, which assessing authority is responsible for conducting skills assessments. Without a positive skills assessment from the relevant authority listed in LIN 18/050, an applicant cannot satisfy the skills assessment requirement for most skilled visa subclasses.

LIN 18/050 is made by the Minister under regulation 1.03 (definition of "assessing authority") and related provisions of the Migration Regulations 1994. It is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation and may be amended by the Minister to update the list of occupations and their designated assessing authorities. Changes to the instrument take effect from the date of registration unless a later commencement is specified. Parliamentary disallowance applies.

LIN 18/050 maps each occupation (identified by its ANZSCO code) to one assessing authority. For example:

• Engineers are assessed by Engineers Australia or VETASSESS depending on the specific engineering occupation;
• Accountants are assessed by CPA Australia, CAANZ, or IPA;
• Trades workers are assessed by the relevant State/Territory authority under TRA (Trades Recognition Australia);
• IT professionals are assessed by ACS (Australian Computer Society);
• Nurses are assessed by ANMAC.

An applicant seeking a skills assessment must apply to the assessing authority listed in LIN 18/050 for their nominated occupation. A skills assessment from a different authority — even if credible — will not satisfy the visa requirements.

The skills assessment must generally be positive (finding the applicant's qualifications and/or experience are at the required level) and be for the specific nominated occupation, not just a related field.

LIN 18/050 applies to most skilled visa subclasses, including the Subclass 189, 190, 491, 482 (Core Skills stream), 186, and 187. Some visa streams have additional or different requirements specified separately.