Settlement file
After the visa: recognition, training and work.
A visa decides whether you may live and work here. It does not decide whether your qualification is recognised, whether you can be licensed, or whether an employer will hire you. Those are separate files, held by separate authorities, and they are where most of our work happens.
Five files that open after the grant.
Each card below is general information about how that part of settling in usually works. Fees and timelines are set by the authority concerned and vary by authority, so we do not publish figures for them.
Skills assessment
Most points-tested and many employer sponsored pathways turn on a skills assessment: a formal opinion from the assessing authority for your occupation on whether your qualifications and experience meet the Australian standard for it.
It is a separate application from any visa, with its own forms, evidence rules, fee and timeline. An overseas qualification is not automatically recognised, and a result from one authority does not carry over to another occupation.
We help you understand what your authority publishes, gather the evidence in a sensible order and see the gaps before they cost you a fee. Which occupation you nominate for a visa is a question for the registered migration agent.
On this card
- Who decides: the assessing authority named for the occupation, never us.
- Cost and time: set by each authority; varies by authority.
- Common evidence: qualification documents, transcripts, employment references and pay records.
- Visa link: a positive result does not by itself give any visa.
Recognition of prior learning
Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is assessment of what you can already do, measured against the units of an Australian qualification. It is carried out by a registered training organisation, within the qualifications it is allowed to deliver, and can lead to a qualification or a statement of attainment without repeating training you do not need.
RPL is not a skills assessment for migration. An Australian qualification gained through RPL is a qualification; the assessing authority for your occupation decides what it accepts. If you want to know how a qualification fits a visa plan, that is a question for the registered migration agent.
Training and recognition services are provided through the wider CAQA group, listed below.
On this card
- Who issues: a registered training organisation, within its scope of registration.
- Common evidence: work history, references, samples of work, and practical observation or questioning.
- Cost and time: quoted in writing by the provider before you enrol.
- What it is not: a migration skills assessment or a licence.
Licensing and registration
Many occupations cannot be worked in until you hold a licence or registration from the regulator for that occupation, often in the state or territory where you will work. Electrical and plumbing work, building trades and the health professions are common examples.
Licensing is separate from both the skills assessment and the visa. A positive skills assessment does not license you, and a licence in one state does not always transfer automatically to another. Each regulator publishes its own requirements, which can include supervised practice, bridging study or exams.
On this card
- Who decides: the regulator for the occupation and, often, the state or territory.
- Cost and time: varies by authority.
- Worth knowing early: whether a gap needs training here before you can work.
English
For visa purposes, the Department of Home Affairs accepts results from these tests taken from 7 August 2025 at a secure test centre: C1 Advanced, CELPIP General, IELTS Academic and General Training, LanguageCert Academic, MET, OET, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. At-home tests are not accepted.
Assessing authorities, regulators, employers and education providers can set their own English requirements, and these can differ from the visa requirement. A result that meets one may not meet another, so it is worth checking each body's published rules before you book a test.
On this card
- Who sets the score: each body for its own purpose.
- Test centre: visa tests must be taken at a secure centre, not at home.
- Updated: 22 October 2026.
Work
Visa holders have the same workplace rights as anyone else working in Australia, including minimum pay and safe conditions. The work conditions attached to your visa are printed on your grant notice.
Since 1 July 2024 it is an offence for anyone to coerce or pressure a temporary visa holder into breaching their visa work conditions, and employers who do so can be prohibited from sponsoring. Pressure of that kind can be reported to the Department.
Workplace rights information: Fair Work Ombudsman. Employer obligations: Department of Home Affairs.
On this card
- Your conditions: on the visa grant notice.
- Your rights: the same workplace rights as other workers.
- Visa questions about work: referred to the registered migration agent.
Four tools for the first months.
Each runs in your browser and sends nothing. Each links to the official source.
Training and recognition, from the wider group.
Immi Worldwide is part of the CAQA group. Training, recognition of prior learning and skills recognition are provided by the group businesses below, each under its own terms and with fees quoted in writing before you enrol.
What we do, and what we refer.
We can help with
- General information about how assessments, recognition, licensing and English requirements work.
- Putting your evidence in order and naming the gaps early.
- Introductions to CAQA group training and recognition services.
- Pointing you to the official source for each rule.
We refer, or leave to the authority
- Any question about which visa fits you, or how a qualification affects a visa: referred to Sukh Sandhu, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 1384130.
- Assessment, licensing and registration decisions: made by the authority, never by us.
- Immigration law of other countries: we do not advise on it.