In the process of applying for acs skill assessment

[ankit1987]

Hi, I want apply for acs skill assessment for 261313 Software Engineer. I've done BSc in Electronics from Delhi university in 2008. After that I joined wipro as a software Engineer. From Wipro I've done MS in software Engineering from BITS Pillani and got my degree in 2012 December. It was a 4 year program in collaboration with wipro wherein we used to work in weekdays and study in weekends. I worked as a software engineer from Oct 2008 till date. I want to get my skills assessed by acs. I've 65 overall in all PTE modules. Also my age is 29. I just wannt to check If I'm eligible for 189 or not?

[George Lombard]

Hi Ankit,

 

From your user name and history I assume you're about 29 years old so it looks like 30 points for age and 10 for English (but note that "overall" isn't the key for scoring points, you mustn't have any score under the minimum, in this case 65 on the PTE Academic test). Delhi Uni degree should be worth 15 points so the critical issues are claiming work experience points and the choice of occupation if you have a choice. Software Engineer is currently at 65 points (indeed all the SOL IT occupations are at 65 points at the moment) so you'd need 5 claimable years of work experience (for 10 points) or some other point scoring options. Note that the ACS deeming date policy would deduct either two or four years from your claimable work experience.

 

Also worth noting that a lot of the major Indian consulting firms tend to make it hard for people to obtain evidence of their work experience by having a policy of not authorising employment references.

 

Good luck!

 

Cheers,

 

George Lombard

[Mark Northam]

Hi Ankit -

 

In addition to George's excellent analysis, I'll add that we're seeing more and more Indian applicants being subjected to very strict verification of work experience, where DIBP people will either call the employer (or former employer) or show up unannounced at the workplace and start asking questions and showing a picture of you to people. We're also seeing, again in India, DIBP case officers contacting former employers and even if the work experience has been deemed as skilled by ACS, asking the workplace supervisor whether you have done each of the tasks listed on the ANZSCO tasks/duties for your occupation. Where things get difficult there is if the case officer doesn't understand the technical issues involved in your employment, and/or if whoever they manage to get on the phone doesn't understand the tasks/duties of your employment - imagine an HR supervisor being asked about whether you worked with network routers, switches, modems, etc - you get the idea.

 

If the workplace "interview" DIBP conducts doesn't work out 100%, DIBP these days is very quick to make allegations under PIC 4020 that carry a 3 year ban from Australia, with no requirement on DIBP's part other than to believe that you have provided false information or bogus documents - in other words, they don't need to prove it, they only need to believe it.

 

Moral of the story is to make sure, especially for Indian employer references, that the employer is ready to provide specific details about your employment there to a DIBP representative if/when contacted via phone or in person. If that's not possible, then you may want to consider not claiming that reference for points and instead try to meet the points test by increasing your English score, etc.

 

Hope this helps -

 

Best,

 

Mark Northam

[wrussell]

I am up to my ears in similar issues, assisting DIY applicants. The following might be of some interest:

 

10 November 2015

 

Sent as an email attachment to:

gsm.allocated@border.gov.au

 

Attention:

xxx

Position Number: xxx

GSM Visa Processing Officer

 

Response to Natural Justice Letter sent 21 October 2015

 

Client Name xxxx

Date of Birth xxxx

Date of Visa Application xxxx

Application ID xxxx

Transaction Reference Number xxxx

File Number xxxxx

 

 

 

We thank you for the opportunity to provide further information in this case.

 

It seems that officer from the Australian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan when conducting the ‘Work Report’ referred to outdated information, in particular the contact details of xxxxx’s employer.

 

We note also that the High Commission was unable to verify the existence of the company, xxx. To remedy this issue, we have attached the company’s Certificate of Incorporation, the Registration for Employee Benefits (superannuation) and company bank statements covering relevant periods, all of which the director was kind enough to provide.

 

This situation has arisen in part because xxxxx changed its address following a catastrophic fire that destroyed its premises. Here is a link to a press report about the fire:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=78786&Cat=4&dt=12/24/2007

 

Some of the documents lodged in support of the visa application for example, historical performance evaluations of our client that were true accurate when they were written have apparently been relied upon to ascertain the contact details of our client’s employer. We will not burden you with these documents since you already have them. We are instructed that the documents lodged included a current employment reference that carried the correct, current contact details of the employer, which are:

 

xxxx

 

and which apparently was overlooked.

 

To remedy this situation we have attached:

 

 

 

1. An affidavit by the director of xxxxx
2. A statutory declaration by a former colleague of our client
   
3. A current employment reference with correct address and phone number that was previously uploaded to the online visa application
   
4. Screenshot of online visa application account which shows that the above mentioned current employment reference was received by DIBP on July 01 2015.
   

 

 

We submit that our client does not fall foul of 4020, because no document she lodged was fraudulent and no information she provided was false or misleading in a material particular, or in any particular.

 

We submit that it is now open to you to make a favourable decision in this case.

 

(956 attached)

 

Best regards

 

Westly Russell

RMA 0316072

 

The visas were granted, eventually!

[ankit1987]

Hi Guys,

 

Thanks for replying. I've worked in CMMi level companies like Wipro and Mindtree. Currently I'm working for Australian bank ANZ in bangalore, India. However, my query is related to my study.I've done BSc Electronics which does not have any computer subjects. But after that I did 4 year MS program in software engineering in collaboration with Wipro from BITS pillani university. I'm working for 8 years now. Will my degree be recognised. Also how much will be my experience that will be considered coz my 4 years experience is while I was doing MS. Please help

 

Regards,

Ankit

[harmanjot]

Hi, Have you applied yet. I can help you if you have any questions.