The ACS (Australian Computer Society) will implement two new administration fees effective from January 5, 2015.

1、Recommendation Fee

As a value service to applicants who receive an unsuitable result due to choosing an incompatible ANZSCO code or application type, the ACS has provided a free recommendation service since 2011 to change the ANZSCO or application type before the case is finalised.  This service imposes additional administration costs for the ACS by way of the application requiring to be assessed a second time under the recommended changes. 

In order not to pass on additional administration costs to the majority of applicants who choose the appropriate ANZSCO or application type, a $200 fee will apply for all accepted recommendations from January 5, 2015. The ACS will provide a recommendation for unsuitable applications which can be rectified by a change in the nominated ANZSCO code or skills application type.  Recommendations are not obligatory and applicants can choose to accept or reject any recommendation.  

2、Additional Assessment Fee

The ACS has endeavoured to minimise the turnaround time of assessments by ensuring applications are decision ready and documentation is relevant to professional ICT standards and migration purposes.  In particular cases applications are received with a high number of assessment episodes which creates additional administration.

In order to maintain and further reduce assessment times, a skills assessment fee will include a total of 8 assessment episodes per application.  For example, an applicant can submit 3 qualifications and 5 employment episodes or 8 employment episodes in total or any combination of qualifications and employment episodes numbering 8 assessment episodes per application. 

A $50 fee will apply for each additional qualification or employment entry that exceeds the maximum of 8 assessment episodes per application. This will be implemented for applications lodged on or after January 5, 2015.