Frequently asked questions

Only the documents that are required in the occupation checklist and Application Guide should be provided as part of your AITSL application. Providing additional documents will not assist your application and can slow down the assessment process. Examples of documents that should not be provided with applications include:

• Short courses (less than one-year full-time study), professional development programs or incomplete qualifications
• Year 12, secondary or high school certificates
• Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) certificates
• Induction certificates
• Curriculum vitae
• Reference letters
• Employment statements (this is only required for Skilled Employment Statement applications)

No. However the dashboard in the Applicant portal will show you when your application has been successfully submitted, when it is under assessment and when it has been finalised.

If AITSL needs to contact you, you will receive an email to your nominated email address asking you to log in to the Applicant portal and review your messages.

Yes, an application can be withdrawn. To withdraw an application, AITSL needs to receive a request in writing (email) from the applicant.

AITSL can only issue a partial refund (AUD861) if the assessment of the application has not commenced. No refund will be issued if assessment of the application has started.

No, AITSL no longer requires additional evidence that outlines how your study was or was not affected by COVID-19. However, AITSL reserves the right to request additional information about Covid arrangements during the assessment process.

Scan your documents in at least 300 dpi resolution and in colour. Ensure that your documents are in the correct format. The Applicant portal will only accept pdf, jpeg, jpg, png, bmp and tiff file formats. Don’t forget to click upload once you have attached your document. There will be a green uploaded message when you have successfully uploaded a document.

Once you have submitted your application, you will not be able to add documents. You will receive notification if you are required to submit additional documents and be given access to upload documents in the Applicant portal.

You can contact AITSL on the following channels

Email: [email protected]

Existing applications: Via the applicant portal message centre

For information about criteria and requirements for the different teacher occupations, please visit the Applying for a skills assessment webpage and download the Application Guide and the checklist specific to the occupation you wish to nominate. Please also read our downloadable fact sheets to support your application process.

No. We do not provide a pre-assessment service. AITSL compares an applicant's qualifications against the assessment criteria in place at the time they apply. Without a complete application including a full set of evidence, AITSL is not able to provide an assessment.

Assessment criteria may change over time to reflect current Australian teaching standards and Australia’s immigration policy. As such, AITSL advises against making educational choices solely based on hoping to achieve a particular migration outcome.

A Special Needs Teacher has a specialist qualification for teaching students in early childhood, primary, middle and secondary school, with learning difficulties or other special needs.

A Special Education Teacher (not elsewhere classified) has a specialist qualification in a distinct field/s of special education not covered by these three occupations; special needs teacher, teacher of the hearing impaired or teacher of the sight impaired.

An initial teacher education qualification is the qualification required to teach in a school classroom or educational setting. It must include at least one year of full-time study (or part-time equivalent) and be specific to the stage of schooling of the nominated occupation.

The qualification must include a program of professional studies in education including discipline-specific curriculum, pedagogical studies, general education studies and supervised teaching practice relevant to the age range of the students for the occupation you have nominated.

For teaching qualifications, AITSL is able to consider qualifications comparable to the educational level of an Australian Bachelor degree (Australian Qualifications Framework Level 7) or higher.

For non-teaching qualifications, AITSL is able to consider qualifications comparable to the educational level of an Australian Advanced Diploma / Associate Degree (Australian Qualifications Framework Level 6) or higher.

AITSL does not have a list of accredited programs for skills assessment purposes and does not assess short courses (less than one year full-time study), professional development programs or incomplete qualifications.

Applicants should include details of all completed higher education qualifications. Please refer to the occupation checklists for the documents to include for each qualification.

No, AITSL cannot consider study that has not resulted in a formal academic qualification.

AITSL Teacher Migration Services and Support does NOT have a list of accredited programs for the purposes of skilled migration. The accredited programs list on the AITSL website is a record of programs accredited as an initial teacher education program by the teacher regulatory authority in each state/territory.

No, it is your responsibility to download these documents from the university portal and upload them to your application. Do not change the file name. Changing the file name disables verification features and will result in delays to the assessment process.

Yes, the skills assessment requires an applicant to have completed at least one year of initial teacher education study relevant to the nominated occupation.

No, Montessori qualifications in general are not recognised by AITSL as meeting the professional criterion as it is considered a specialised method of teaching.

The purpose of the AITSL skills assessment is to determine whether your qualifications and English language proficiency meet the requirements for skilled migration, in one of the nominated school teacher occupations. For more information, visit the Applying for Skills Assessment webpage.

AITSL’s assessment is intended for migration purposes only.

The purpose of the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) assessment is to determine whether your qualifications meet the requirements to work in early childhood education and care services in Australia.

ACECQA’s assessment is not intended for migration purposes. For more information, contact ACECQA.

There are some differences in the qualifications requirements for assessments undertaken by AITSL and ACECQA.

AITSL’s qualification criterion is informed by initial teacher education program accreditation standards and teacher registration requirements in Australian states and territories. Teachers must be registered to teach in an Australian school. Qualification requirements can be found in the Application guide on the Applying for a skills assessment webpage.

ACECQA’s minimum qualification requirements are informed by those set in the National Quality Framework (NQF). Educators working in children’s education and care services must meet these requirements. There are also some states and territory specific qualification requirements for working with school age children (e.g. in outside school hour services).

ACECQA offers a qualifications checker to see whether your qualifications are recognised under the NQF. For more information, contact or visit ACECQA.

Yes, the minimum duration of supervised teaching practice must be undertaken within the age range but does not need to be completed with every age in the age range. The supervised teaching practice (STP) requirement for early childhood teacher states birth to 8 years range but if you have done birth to 5 years, we would consider the STP as meeting the requirement.

No. AITSL Teacher Migration Services and Support and ACECQA recognition are separate and different. Each have different requirements. It is important to understand that a successful assessment for one does not ensure a successful assessment for the other.

To work in some early childhood education and care services in Australia, you may need to have your qualifications assessed by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. For more information, contact or visit ACECQA.

No. An AITSL skills assessment and ACECQA recognition are separate and different. Each have different requirements. It is important to understand that a successful assessment for one does not ensure a successful assessment for the other.

AITSL skills assessment does not require an applicant to obtain teacher registration. However, Australian teacher registration may be considered during the assessment process. 

If you wish to work as a teacher in Australia, you will need to gain registration with the teacher regulatory authority in the relevant state/territory. A complete list of authorities is available here.

An AITSL skills assessment is for skilled migration purposes only. It is separate to teacher registration requirements. If, as part of your migration you require a skills assessment for a school teacher occupation, you will need to apply to AITSL. Please confirm with the Department of Home Affairs whether you require a skills assessment for your migration.

Although many of the requirements for teacher registration and an AITSL skills assessment are similar, you still need to submit all the evidence outlined in the occupation checklists and Application Guide. This may differ from the documents you submitted for teacher registration.

To teach in Australia, you need teacher registration. The registration and employment of teachers in Australia is the responsibility of the relevant state and territory authorities.

Contact details of the state and territory regulatory authorities can be found at Migrate to Australia links.

An AITSL skills assessment is for skilled migration purposes only. It is separate to teacher registration requirements. The Trans-Tasman mutual recognition agreement only applies to teacher registration. Visit the webpages of state and territory regulatory authorities for further information.

If, as part of your migration you require a skills assessment for a school teacher occupation, you will need to apply to AITSL. Please confirm with the Department of Home Affairs whether you require a skills assessment for migration purposes.