CPA Australia Skills Assessment

CPA Australia is one of the three bodies that have the authority to do the skills assessment of the skilled occupation that is relevant to our visa application. A suitable skills assessment must be received from CPA Australia before we can  proceed with the whole process.

As per the criteria of CPA Australia at the time of our application last August 2012, in order to receive a positive result in your chosen Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) code, you will need the following:

1. A qualification that is assessed by CPA Australia as equivalent to at least an Australian Bachelor degree
2. To have successfully studied in at least nine of the 12 "core knowledge areas", including the four mandatory core knowledge areas that are relevant to your chosen ANZSCO code
3. To have met the English proficiency requirement

We were a bit confident in requirements #1 and #3 – however item #2 was a bit complicated because CPA Australia needs to assess your syllabus versus the 12 core knowledge areas.

According to the forums that we have been reading, the waterloo for most individuals of the same nominated skills is the core knowledge area subject called Accounting Theory. Many people from all over the world have a deficiency in this said subject.

The problem was, for the nominated occupation for my wife, this is a mandatory core knowledge area that needs to be passed. Failure on this would mean not getting suitable skills assessment.

In order to strengthen my wife’s skills assessment, we came out with a tabular document that mapped out each core knowledge area subjects versus the subjects that my wife has taken during her time in college.

Furthermore, we researched from the CPA Australia website on what comprises the Accounting Theory subject and did another tabular document to further illustrate to the assessing authority that these were all taken up already by my wife albeit not necessarily on a sole class in college.

Along with the scholastic documents and the tabular doc that we prepared, we also included the documents pertaining to her work experience (COE and statutory declaration). CPA Australia can provide an opinion of your relevant work experience should you be able to get suitable skills assessment.

We did one final check to see if all documents are in place; we logged in to their website and paid for their assessment fee – another hefty amount at A$475. With all documents prepared and packed in a huge brown envelop, we mailed it first class via Singapore Post on a late Friday afternoon.

One last check before the envelop is sealed...

The waiting time before we got our response was more than four weeks. The agony of waiting and waiting for the results is something I would rather forget.

On 25^th September 2012, we finally received a small envelop in our mailbox that came from CPA Australia. The words inside were the best news that we got since getting the IELTS results several weeks back. Not only did we get suitable skills assessment (completed 12/12 core knowledge area as per their letter), all the work experience of my wife was also determined as relevant hence it can be used to claim additional points as far as work experience is concerned.

Skills assessment result

It was pure bliss during that particular moment; we immediately went out from our condo, grabbed a cab and headed to one of our favorite Church in Singapore to offer a prayer of thanksgiving.