All you need to know about validating your career in Australia

Validating a career is an essential step for any professional wishing to work in Australia. It is crucial that your skills and qualifications are recognized locally to start your journey in the professional Australian job market.  

In this article, we will explore everything you need to know about validating a career in Australia and we will go through all the steps to successfully carry out this process. Whether you are looking to start your career or advance your professional path, understanding the validation process is key to opening doors to a promising future.

Validating a career in Australia

The process involves recognising and certifying your degree, credentials, knowledge, and experience by a competent authority in Australia. Completing this process and obtaining a positive outcome is a significant achievement because it means your studies, experience, effort, and sacrifice will be recognised in another country, which should be a reason for great pride.

The importance of validating my career

Many people decide to validate their career because they dream of applying for permanent residency in Australia, and validation is one of the requirements. Others want to have more options in the Australian professional sector, work in a specific industry, earn better wages, and for that, they need their studies to be recognised. Perhaps all the above reasons apply, so get motivated—there’s no time to waste!

Australia has a program called the Skilled migration program, that has been designed to attract highly skilled professionals that are willing to come to Australia and fill positions that Australians workers have not filled in order to boost the economy. This means that there are visas available for skilled professionals from other countries whose professions are on a list of in-demand careers in Australia and who meet other requirements.

If your goal is to apply for residency in Australia through a skilled visa, you will definitely need to validate your career with the appropriate authority in Australia.

Understanding the validation process 

The process varies depending on the state of Australia where the validation will take place and depends on the type of career. Each profession is endorsed by a different body, and the procedures can be long, complex, and tedious, but the good news is that you can do it yourself.

In some careers, the process is straightforward because you only need to submit documents (qualifications, work experience), pay, and that’s it. In other careers, you may need to submit essays, technical exams related to your profession that must be passed, English tests, or even take courses or subjects.

But first, check if your studies are endorsed by any authority in Australia. There is a website that contains all the links regarding who the regulatory authority is in each field. It’s called Assessing Authorities, and here you can also see which types of visas are linked to those professions in case you want to start a migration process.

It’s important to check this page frequently because regulations and norms are often changed.

Here are the evaluating authorities for validating some careers:

• Engineering: Engineers Australia

• Medicine: Australian Medical Council (AMC)

• Scientific careers like Microbiology, Bacteriology: Vetassess

• Pharmacy: Australian Pharmacy Council (APC)

• Nursing: Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC)

• Psychology: Australian Psychological Society

• Graphic Design: Vetassess

• Dentistry: Dental Board of Australia

• Veterinary: Australian Veterinary Boards Council

Frequently asked questions 

What do I gain by validating my degree in Australia? 

Salaries in Australia for professionals range from AUD 60,000 to AUD 200,000 per year. So if you are a professional and have full rights to work in Australia, consider the option of validating your career.

Australia is a country where everything is regulated; labor industries are regulated to ensure standards of quality, safety, and worker’s protection. However, some professions are more regulated than others.

People coming from other countries need to undergo a Skill Assessment, which means evaluating their credentials, qualifications, and competencies by an Australian evaluating body to be able to access the job market and practice their profession like anyone in Australia who studied the same career there.

What do I need to validate my career in Australia? 

You must have your documents in order. This includes diplomas, qualifications, and certified work experience through employment letters.

Note! As I mentioned before, work experience might expire after a certain number of years, which means that some Australian authorities do not recognize that work experience from your country because many years have passed and you have not work in that same thing, so hurry up and try to do the validation as soon as you can. 

You need to have your diplomas apostilled. Apostilling means certifying the authenticity of a document so it can be recognized in another country. This process is done through an apostille (certificate), which is added to public documents, such as birth certificates, diplomas, or power of attorney. The apostille ensures that the document is valid and has been issued by a competent authority in the country of origin.

Documents must be translated by an official translator. In some cases, it is required that the translator is accredited by NAATI (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters) in Australia. NAATI ensures that the translator meets quality and professionalism standards, which are very important in legal, medical, or situations where accuracy and comprehension are essential.

An English exam may be required in some cases, such as IELTS, TOEFL, or others. There are certain scores required by the assessment authority, for example, in the case of IELTS, it varies between 6 and 7.

You must pay the established fee; costs can range from AUD 300 to AUD 1,500 or more. It also varies depending if you are inside Australia at the moment of the application or not.

It may seem like a lot of money to apply for career validation, but if you think about it carefully, consider it an investment that you will recover over time.

Be patient; it’s essential to understand that the evaluation of your credentials and verification of your academic background can take several months. Use this time to research the job market in your area of specialization in Australia. You can start preparing for possible interviews, updating your resume, or even improving your English skills if necessary.

Do all careers need validation? 

Not all careers need validation. Some are not even on the list of careers mentioned above but can still be practiced as long as the Australian regulations state that validation is not required for that career.

There are jobs in Australia that do not require a person to have a university undergraduate degree or postgraduate degree to work; they simply require vocational training, known as Vocational Education and Training (VET), which is equivalent to technical training and not a professional qualification.

What happens when my career is validated? 

Once your career is validated, you can technically work as a professional in Australia. However, validating your career does not guarantee that you will get a job; this depends on many factors, such as your work experience, your credentials, how attractive your resume is, or how well you perform in the interview.

To be honest, employers in Australia tend to trust studies completed in Australia more than those completed abroad. If you validate your career and also pursue further studies in Australia, this will increase your chances of securing a job.

Do I have to study my same degree in Australia again in order to validate? 

In Australia, many professions and academic degrees from other countries are recognised, but this doesn’t always mean they can be validated straightaway. 

As mentioned earlier, each industry has a regulatory body that establishes the necessary standards for the profession. For example, in the case of health professionals, such as doctors and nurses, a thorough evaluation of credentials is required, and in many cases, a competency exam. This may involve additional studies or practical training in Australia.

Summing up

The validation of your degree is an area that you must explore with knowledge and patience, as there is much to do and learn.

Remember to inform yourself before paying or undertaking any procedures. Make sure you are eligible and meet the requirements to apply.