The Australian Computer Society (ACS) have recently provided comment on the re-classification of occupations following the recent switch from the Australian Skilled Classification of Occupations (ASCO) to the Australia and New Zealand Skilled Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). You can click here to read it for yourself. 

While applicants who have received a positive skills assessment from ACS are able to stay in the occupation that they have been matched to, ACS have made provisions for applicants who wish to be assessed in an occupation that their current one does not correlate to. These applicants are able to apply for a new skills assessment to be recognised under a new occupation by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

The ANZSCO occupations that have been matched to the ASCO occupations are as follows, including whether they will appear on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL - Schedule 3) AND/OR the State and Territory Skilled Occupation List (StatSOL - Schedule 4):

ASCO	ANZSCO	On SOL? (Schedule 3)	On StatSOL? (Schedule 4)
Computing Professional (nec)	Software and Applications Programmers (nec)	No	Yes
IT Manager	Chief Information Officer	No	Yes
Applications and Analyst Programmer	Analyst Programmer OR Developer Programmer	Yes Yes	Yes Yes
Computer Systems Auditor	ICT Security Specialist	No	Yes
Software Designer	Software Engineer	Yes	Yes
Systems Designer	Computer Network and Systems Engineer OR ICT Business Analyst OR Network Analyst OR Systems Analyst	No Yes No Yes	Yes Yes Yes Yes
Systems Manager	Database Administrator OR Systems Administrator	No No	Yes Yes
Systems Programmer	None	-	-

As you will see, some ASCO occupations can be matched to multiple ANZSCO occupations, some of which are on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) and some of which are not. Additionally, all ANZSCO occupations also feature on the StatSOL. The only exception is the Systems Programmer ASCO occupation as this has yet to be matched against an ANZSCO occupation. Whether this was a deliberate omission by DIAC remains to be clarified.

If you have an ASCO occupation that has multiple ANZSCO occupation matches, we are presuming you can choose from any of these ANZSCO occupations in order to proceed with your visa application. HOWEVER, we recommend that you proceed under the occupation that is most fitting to your circumstances and history. If you are applying for a Skilled Independent (subclass 175) visa or a Skilled Family Sponsored  (subclass 176 / 475) visa, please be aware that your recent work experience needs to be in an occupation that features on the SOL. Additionally, if you are requiring state sponsorship then there may be some further criteria which could prevent you from proceeding under certain ANZSCO occupations.

For example: Should you have received a positive skills assessment in the ASCO occupation of Systems Designer and you qualify for a Skilled Family Sponsored (subclass 176) visa, you could potentially lodge your visa application with ICT Business Analyst as your nominated ANZSCO occupation. However, if you are unable to demonstrate that your references are most in line with ICT Business Analyst tasks (as opposed to the tasks associated with another potential ANZSCO occupation match that isn't on the SOL, such as Computer Network and Systems Engineer) then you will not meet the criteria. 

Getting an occupation classified by the ACS

Should you wish to be reclassified under a new occupation by the ACS, then you will need to have your application reassessed, though we are currently unsure of how long it will take for applicants to be reassessed.

This service is free to all applicants who received a positive skills assessment between 1 May, 2010 and 30 June, 2010, although most applicants will need to gather further references etc. Applicants who received a positive skills assessment prior to 1 May, 2010 that wish to receive a  skills assessment under a different occupation classification will have to submit an entirely new skills assessment. 

While it's very likely that a number of States and Territories will feature IT occupations on their State Migration Plan sponsorship lists, as ANZSCO is an entirely new classification system, we have no way of knowing which specific occupations will become most 'desirable'. Therefore, I would advise against taking any action at this time.

- Lauren Mennie is Casework Department Manager for the Australian Visa Bureau.

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