Engineer Credentials for Australia

Last Updated On: July 7, 2017 by The Migration Translators

There are many good, highly qualified engineers of all types around the world and some of them may be thinking about a move to Australia, where there is a constant demand for them. Whether you are thinking about a short term work contract or migrating permanently to Australia, there are a number of hurdles that you have to negotiate before either being accepted by a suitable employer or by immigration authorities.

One of the biggest hurdles is getting your engineering credentials approved by Engineers Australia. The recognition process depends partly on the classification of your engineering qualifications and where they were obtained. The added hurdle for some engineers will be the question of the language their qualification documents are written in. If they are not in English, then they must be translated by accredited professional translations services.

Once your engineering credentials have been approved, employment contracts can proceed and immigration applications can be processed.

Engineers Australia recognises three main categories of engineer. These are:

• professional engineers
• engineering technologists and
• engineering associates

There are three international accreditation agreements that cover these categories if you do not have a qualification obtained in Australia. The agreements are between Australia and certain other countries.

The Washington Accord is an agreement that recognises the qualifications for professional engineer as being equivalent. There are thirteen other countries apart from Australia where this agreement is recognised. If your qualifications meet the standards f the Washington Accord you complete a specific application form, pay a fee and submit it to Engineers Australia with certified copies of your qualifications.

The Sydney Accord and the Dublin Accord exist to cover mutual recognition for engineering technology and engineering associate qualifications respectively. These two agreements cover a much more limited number of countries than the Washington Accord.

If your qualifications are not covered by the Washington, Sydney or Dublin Accords, then you will have to apply for recognition by submitting a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR), which is a more complicated process and costs more, too.

As has already been mentioned, if your qualifications are not in English you will need to use professional translation services approved by Engineers Australia to translate them into English. As you will also need to use immigration translation services to translate any other documents into English it may make sense to use the same agency for all of them.