radlad
27th January 2008, 10:22 AM
Hi Everyone, newcomer here....
Having finally made the decision to go for it and after many hours of research and long distance telephone calls, please find my knowledge in relation to the above.
As many people have found, there is a huge question mark over whether IT certifications are accepted by NZIS and indeed qualified by NZQA with a view to gaining those magical 50 bonus points together with additional points for work experience etc.
I searched for weeks trying to find something in black and white and would like to share my findings with you all......
Having initially contacted NZIS, I was advised to get in touch with NZQA (no surprise there!). Anyway, spoke to a really helpful guy who had recently emigrated 2 years ago from Liverpool. He pointed me in the direction of the pre-assessment process. With 8 years experience as a technical design architect and wanting to assess my Cisco qualifications, I was advised in writing that Cisco Systems was not recognised under NZQA's policy and as such, the certs could not be assessed.
That was not what I wanted to hear - more information trawling ensued......I then contacted RecruitIT in Wellington to see if and how they had assisted other prospective ex-pats in qualifying their IT vendor certs - another dead end - they could only suggest using an immigration company!
In a last ditch effort, I again contacted NZIS with a view that I was not going to come off the phone until I had something that proved categorically whether or not, vendor certs would be considered on the EOI. I am so glad I did - spoke to a really helpful immigration officer who directed me to ANZSCO and in particular the following link which relates to all Network roles.....
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Product+Lookup/1220.0~2006~Chapter~UNIT+GROUP+2631+Computer+Netwo rk+Professionals
The key paragraph reads.....
Most occupations in this unit group have a level of skill commensurate with a bachelor degree or higher qualification. At least five years of relevant experience and/or relevant vendor certification may substitute for the formal qualification. In some instances relevant experience and/or on-the-job training may be required in addition to the formal qualification (ANZSCO Skill Level 1).
Apparently, ANZSCO skill levels are between 1-5 with 1 being the highest. This does not mean that every vendor qualification will be substituted for a formal qualification but at least gave me the confidence to complete my online EOI, scoring 120 points without a job offer and also bonus points under skills shortage. Under the work experience section of the EOI, I managed to relate my circumstances and include the above link (which I had been directed to by NZIS) in the hope that if I get selected from the pool, immigration will at least be able to refer to their own govenment policy set up with Oz.
Hopefully, for all you IT people out there, you find this information useful.
It would be interesting to know if anyone else has come across or indeed referred to ANZSCO by NZIS and has anyone actually been accepted from the pool based on their Vendor certs?
Cheers,
Dave.
Having finally made the decision to go for it and after many hours of research and long distance telephone calls, please find my knowledge in relation to the above.
As many people have found, there is a huge question mark over whether IT certifications are accepted by NZIS and indeed qualified by NZQA with a view to gaining those magical 50 bonus points together with additional points for work experience etc.
I searched for weeks trying to find something in black and white and would like to share my findings with you all......
Having initially contacted NZIS, I was advised to get in touch with NZQA (no surprise there!). Anyway, spoke to a really helpful guy who had recently emigrated 2 years ago from Liverpool. He pointed me in the direction of the pre-assessment process. With 8 years experience as a technical design architect and wanting to assess my Cisco qualifications, I was advised in writing that Cisco Systems was not recognised under NZQA's policy and as such, the certs could not be assessed.
That was not what I wanted to hear - more information trawling ensued......I then contacted RecruitIT in Wellington to see if and how they had assisted other prospective ex-pats in qualifying their IT vendor certs - another dead end - they could only suggest using an immigration company!
In a last ditch effort, I again contacted NZIS with a view that I was not going to come off the phone until I had something that proved categorically whether or not, vendor certs would be considered on the EOI. I am so glad I did - spoke to a really helpful immigration officer who directed me to ANZSCO and in particular the following link which relates to all Network roles.....
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Product+Lookup/1220.0~2006~Chapter~UNIT+GROUP+2631+Computer+Netwo rk+Professionals
The key paragraph reads.....
Most occupations in this unit group have a level of skill commensurate with a bachelor degree or higher qualification. At least five years of relevant experience and/or relevant vendor certification may substitute for the formal qualification. In some instances relevant experience and/or on-the-job training may be required in addition to the formal qualification (ANZSCO Skill Level 1).
Apparently, ANZSCO skill levels are between 1-5 with 1 being the highest. This does not mean that every vendor qualification will be substituted for a formal qualification but at least gave me the confidence to complete my online EOI, scoring 120 points without a job offer and also bonus points under skills shortage. Under the work experience section of the EOI, I managed to relate my circumstances and include the above link (which I had been directed to by NZIS) in the hope that if I get selected from the pool, immigration will at least be able to refer to their own govenment policy set up with Oz.
Hopefully, for all you IT people out there, you find this information useful.
It would be interesting to know if anyone else has come across or indeed referred to ANZSCO by NZIS and has anyone actually been accepted from the pool based on their Vendor certs?
Cheers,
Dave.