From 4 February we will use the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) as the basis for assessing whether an applicant's job or job offer is 'skilled employment'. The ANZSCO is a list of occupations, which provides a 'skill level' for occupations, a description of the core tasks, and the qualifications and/or work experience needed for a person to do the job.
What we will consider 'skilled employment'
The ANZSCO gives occupations a 'skill level' between one and five – 1 is the highest, 5 is the lowest. In general, we will consider occupations that have skill levels 1, 2, or 3, to be 'skilled employment'. Applicants will have to show that their job/offer is consistent with the ANZSCO's description of the occupation, and that they have the qualifications and/or work experience to do the job (and in some cases meet a minimum salary requirement) . See below for full details, including exceptions to the above, clarification, and other changes to the Skilled Migrant category.
Recognition of qualifications
Qualifications at level 4 of the NZQA's NZ Register of Quality Assured Qualifications (the Register) will now only ordinarily be recognised for the award of points under the SMC if they are also:
- National Qualifications Framework qualifications (Trade Certificates) or
- assessed as comparable to a New Zealand National Certificate by the NZQA.
Only certain level 3 qualifications listed on the Register as exceptions will be recognised for the award of points.
Find out more
We will contact people who have an Expression of Interest (EOI) in the pool, and people who have been invited to apply for residence, with more information and guidance on how the changes to policy may affect them. For mor information:
If you want to view the ANZSCO, it is available on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.