Information current to 27 October 2026. Fees, criteria and processing statements below were checked against the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Migration Skills Assessment pages and the Department of Home Affairs on this date.

If you work in IT and want an Australian skilled visa, the ACS skills assessment is usually your first formal step. Before you can lodge an Expression of Interest (EOI) for a 189, 190 or 491 visa in an ICT occupation, you need a positive assessment from ACS for the occupation you are nominating. This guide covers the 2026 ACS skills assessment fees, which pathway fits your background, how many years ACS deducts from your experience, the exact reference letter format ACS asks for, and the mistakes that send applications back as "unsuitable".

ACS skills assessment 2026: key facts

• Who assesses you: the Australian Computer Society, the assessing authority for ICT, Data Science and Cyber Security occupations.
• General Skills fee: $1,498. Post Australian Study: $1,136. RPL and Qualification Only: $625 each.
• Processing: ACS asks applicants to allow 4 to 6 weeks for applications that need no further information.
• Experience rule: some of your work experience is used to meet the "suitability criteria" and does not count as skilled employment for points.
• Submission window: once you start an application in the ACS portal, you have 90 days to submit it.
• No adding evidence later: experience and documents cannot be added once the application is submitted and in process.
• 2026 holiday deadline: ACS closes from 21 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. Decision-ready applications submitted up to 2 November 2026 are guaranteed an outcome before 18 December 2026.

What the ACS skills assessment is (and what it is not)

An ACS skills assessment is an independent check of whether your qualifications and work experience match the skill level of an ICT occupation, identified by its ANZSCO code (for example, Software Tester, ANZSCO 261314). Home Affairs states that you need a skills assessment in the occupation you are nominating before you can submit your EOI in SkillSelect, and your EOI must record the assessment date, the assessing authority and the reference number. You can read this on the official SkillSelect EOI page.

The assessment is not a visa decision. A "suitable" outcome lets you claim the occupation; Home Affairs still assesses your points, English, health, character and the rest of your visa application. It also does not guarantee an invitation. Invitation rounds depend on occupation demand and your points score, which we break down in our Australia PR points test 2026 guide.

Which ACS assessment pathway fits you?

ACS runs four pathways for migration purposes. Choosing the wrong one is the first expensive mistake, because you pay when you select the pathway in the portal.

Pathway	Who it is for	Fee (2026)
General Skills	Professionals with a recognised tertiary qualification and several years of IT, Data Science or Cyber Security work. ACS calls it the most common pathway.	$1,498
Post Australian Study	Graduates of an Australian bachelor's degree or higher with an IT, Data Science or Cyber Security major, plus at least one year (365 days) of relevant Australian IT work or a completed ACS Professional Year.	$1,136
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)	Experienced professionals without a formal IT or Data Science tertiary qualification. Assessed on career experience, two project reports and professional currency evidence.	$625
Qualification Only	Holders of an Australian diploma or associate degree with an IT, Data Science or Cyber Security major, mainly for the 485 Post-Vocational Education Work stream.	$625

Appeals are charged separately: $516 for a Level 1 appeal and $620 for a Level 2 appeal. ACS may refund an appeal fee if the appeal is successful. ACS accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal. Fees are taken from the official ACS fees and payment page; ACS reserves the right to change them, so check before you pay.

ACS skills assessment criteria: how many years will be deducted?

This is the question most Indian and Malaysian IT applicants search for, and it decides how many employment points you can claim. Under the General Skills pathway, ACS first decides whether your degree has an ICT major or minor, and whether it is "closely related" to your nominated occupation. It then uses a set amount of your relevant experience to meet the suitability criteria. That portion is not counted as skilled employment.

General Skills criteria for IT occupations

Qualification	ICT content	Relevance to occupation	Experience required
Bachelor's or higher	ICT major	Closely related	2 years in the last 10 years, or 4 years at any time
Bachelor's or higher	ICT major	Not closely related	4 years at any time
Bachelor's or higher	ICT minor	Closely related	5 years in the last 10 years, or 6 years at any time
Bachelor's or higher	ICT minor	Not closely related	6 years at any time
Diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree	ICT major	Closely related	5 years in the last 10 years, or 6 years at any time
Diploma, advanced diploma or associate degree	ICT major	Not closely related	6 years at any time

Where two options apply, ACS uses whichever gives you the earliest skill date. The "last 10 years" is counted back from the date you submit your online application. Data Science occupations follow a parallel table, where a Data Science major takes the place of the ICT major and a major in ICT, Computer Science, Mathematics, Statistics or Engineering is treated like the "not closely related" rows. Full detail is on the ACS General Skills pathway page.

The skill level requirement met date, in plain English

Your outcome letter shows a "skill level requirement met date". Relevant work after that date counts as skilled employment. Work before it does not, including the years used to satisfy the criteria. ACS gives this example: a degree completed on 31 January 2014, followed by four years of work, gives a met date of 31 January 2016. Only work after 31 January 2016 is skilled employment.

The second rule catches many applicants: if you worked before finishing your degree, all of that work is excluded too. ACS's own example has someone working from 2008 to 2013, finishing a degree on 31 January 2016, then working again. Their met date is 31 January 2016, and everything before it is not skilled employment.

Worked example: an Indian B.Tech graduate

Priya completed a B.Tech in Computer Science in June 2019 and has worked full-time as a software engineer in Bengaluru since July 2019. If ACS assesses her degree as an ICT major closely related to Software Engineer, 2 years are used for the criteria. Her met date falls in mid-2021, so by late 2026 she has roughly 5 years of skilled employment. Under the points test, 5 to under 8 years of overseas skilled employment is worth 10 points. If ACS had instead assessed her degree as not closely related, 4 years would be used, leaving about 3 years and only 5 points.

That difference of 5 points can decide whether you get invited, which is why your nominated occupation should match both your degree content and your actual duties.

Experience rules that apply to every pathway

• Work must be professional IT employment of at least 20 hours per week. Part-time work under 20 hours is assessed as unsuitable.
• Work that was a requirement of your qualification (such as a compulsory internship) does not count.
• Overlapping jobs are counted once. Two one-year roles overlapping by three months give 1 year and 9 months.
• Experience only counts up to your application submission date.

RPL pathway: if you don't have an IT degree

The ACS RPL pathway requires 6 years of relevant work experience. Your most recent work must be current or have ended within the 2 years before you submit. You also need:

• Two project reports on the ACS RPL form: one on a project completed within the last 2 years, and one within the last 4 years. If your role is not project-based, you describe your work and the challenges you handled.
• At least two forms of professional currency evidence for your nominated ANZSCO code.
• Accepted vendor certifications showing current knowledge for your occupation. These are optional only for DevOps and Cyber Security codes.

Project reports are where RPL applications most often fail. They need to show your own technical decisions, not a project summary copied from your company's website.

ACS employment reference letter format

ACS will not assess a reference that misses any required item. Per the official ACS employment references page, each reference must include:

1. Company letterhead, employer name and address, and company website URL
2. Your full name and the date of the letter
3. Start and end dates in DD/MM/YYYY format ("current" or "till date" if still employed), with a table of positions if you held several roles
4. Employment status (permanent full-time, part-time or contractor) and minimum hours worked per week
5. Annual salary before tax and benefits
6. Work location for each position, stated as "Australia" or "Outside Australia"
7. Position title and bullet-point duties you personally performed, listed under each role
8. Signature of an authorised person, with their full name, position, phone number and work email (not a personal email)

ACS prefers digital signatures with a verification certificate. Duties copied from the ANZSCO description or from a colleague's reference are rejected, and unclear dates or duties make that period unsuitable. Do not upload offer letters, contracts or position descriptions instead of a reference. If you were placed through a recruitment agency, the reference must come from the host company. If you are self-employed or cannot get a reference, you need a statutory declaration or affidavit from a colleague, supported by an employment or leaving certificate.

Payment evidence

ACS also wants proof that you were paid. For each employment period, you provide two different document types from the start and two from the end (or recent documents if still employed), and at least one in each pair must come from a source other than your employer. Accepted types include payslips, bank statements showing salary deposits, official government tax records, employment-linked insurance documents, and superannuation or provident fund records. Cash payments are not accepted. See the ACS payment evidence page.

How to apply for an ACS skills assessment: step by step

1. Pick your ANZSCO occupation. Compare your duties with the occupations on the ACS occupations list, and check the occupation is on the relevant Home Affairs list for the visa you want.
2. Choose the pathway. Use the table above. If you hold a master's degree, ACS also needs your underlying bachelor's degree, even if it is not in ICT.
3. Collect every document before you start. Two photo IDs (plus any name-change evidence), degree certificates, full transcripts, reference letters, payment evidence and certified translations of anything not in English.
4. Start the online application and pay. Payment unlocks the upload section. The 90-day clock starts here.
5. Upload and submit a decision-ready application. ACS defines this as every document on your pathway checklist being provided.
6. Track progress on your applicant dashboard using the ACS reference number in your confirmation email.
7. Check your outcome letter carefully: the assessed occupation, the met date, which employment periods were found suitable, and the validity date printed on the letter.
8. Lodge your EOI. Enter the assessment date and reference number and claim only the employment ACS found suitable.

ACS processing time in 2026

ACS states that applications needing no further information should allow 4 to 6 weeks. Requests for more documents add time. Priority processing is only available where your Australian visa deadline is less than 12 weeks from the date of application.

For the 2026 holiday period, ACS closes from 21 December 2026 and reopens on 4 January 2027. Decision-ready applications submitted up to 2 November 2026 are guaranteed an outcome before 18 December 2026. If your visa expires during the closure, ACS asks you to submit a decision-ready application before 16 December, and to expect up to 4 extra weeks after reopening. This is on the ACS information for applicants page.

Common ACS assessment mistakes

• Nominating the occupation with the most invitations rather than the one your duties support. ACS decides relevance from your reference letter duties.
• Copying ANZSCO duties into the reference letter. ACS explicitly rejects this.
• Missing items in the reference letter, especially salary, weekly hours, the "Australia/Outside Australia" location line or the signatory's work email.
• Claiming points for experience ACS did not count. If your EOI claims employment before your met date, your points are overstated.
• Submitting before all documents are ready. You cannot add experience after submission.
• Counting internships that were part of your degree, or part-time work under 20 hours a week.
• Thin payment evidence, such as payslips only, when ACS wants two document types and one from outside the employer.
• Letting the outcome expire before you are invited. Check the validity date on the letter and plan around invitation rounds.

Tips for applicants from India and Malaysia

Most IT applicants from India and Malaysia apply under the General Skills pathway with a B.Tech, B.E., BCA, MCA or a Malaysian computing degree. A few practical points:

• Get references from HR early. Large Indian IT services firms often issue standard experience letters without duties or salary. Ask HR for a letter in the ACS format above. If HR will only issue a standard letter, a statutory declaration from a manager or colleague, backed by your relieving or experience certificate, may be needed.
• Provident fund records help. ACS accepts superannuation or provident fund documents showing your name and employer, which gives you an independent document besides payslips. Bank statements with salary credits naming the employer are another.
• Onsite assignments abroad still need a clear location entry for each position, and the reference should come from your actual employer.
• Translations: any document not in English must be translated before upload.
• Seoul Accord degrees: if your degree is accredited under the Seoul Accord, tell ACS and provide evidence, such as screenshots from the Seoul Accord website. ACS may treat it as meeting the ICT major criteria, at the assessor's discretion.
• Studied in Australia? If you finished an Australian IT bachelor's or master's, compare the Post Australian Study pathway with General Skills, and look at our 485 visa requirements guide if you need time to build Australian experience.

After a positive ACS outcome: what next?

With a positive outcome, your EOI can target the 189 Skilled Independent visa, state nomination under the 190 visa, or regional 491 nomination. Remember that Home Affairs asks for detailed proof of employment with your visa application, such as bank statements, payslips and tax statements, and says a work reference alone is not enough. Keep the same documents you gave ACS ready for that stage.

How EazyViza can help

EazyViza's migration team, backed by the lawyers at Collins Quarters in Sydney, Melbourne, Chennai and Kuala Lumpur, helps IT professionals prepare ACS skills assessments and the skilled visa applications that follow. We can:

• Match your degree and duties to the right ANZSCO code and pathway before you pay ACS
• Draft reference letter templates in the ACS format for your employer to sign
• Estimate your likely met date and employment points before you lodge
• Plan your EOI and state nomination strategy once the outcome arrives

Start with our free eligibility checker, or book a consultation to have your documents reviewed.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not legal or migration advice. ACS criteria and fees and Home Affairs rules change, sometimes with little notice. Check the official ACS and Home Affairs websites, or speak to a registered migration agent or lawyer, before you apply. Information current to 27 October 2026.