# Points reduced after visa lodging due to new rule of ACS skill requirement met date



## dharmesh312 (Nov 11, 2013)

I have lodged visa application under skill select subclass 189 on 30-Oct-2013 for the occupation of 'Software Engineer' (261313). I received invitation on 7-Oct-2013. I applied for ACS Sill assessment on 26-June-2013 and received result on 25-Sep-2013. My problem is with the new rule of ACS Skill Assessment which indicates that 2 years from my total work experience will be deducted and only the remaining years of work experience will be considered for the points calculation. I was not aware of this new rule because the guidelines file from ACS was published on 30-Oct-2013 with the updated content, even though my result indicated skilled employment date which was 2 years later. I even clarified with the ACS regarding this date in my result. But I could not get clear explanation regarding it and I thought that the skilled employment date indicates only my eligibility date and it has nothing to do with my points calculation. The file which I referred for applying Skill Assessment did not contain any clarification of this new rule. By the time ACS published the new file, I had already lodged my visa application. I have total work experience of 4 years and 10 months till today. With this experience, I scored 5 points in the points test in my self-calculation and the total points resulted to 65. But if 2 years of work experience is deducted, I will not be eligible for these 5 points as my work experience would then be only 2 years and 10 months. I will be falling short of 2 months to complete 3 years of work experience in order to score 5 points. So the points will be reduced to 60. My case officer is not yet assigned. Does the case officer have right to overrule the decision of ACS skill assessment result according to which my 2 years will be deducted? I am worried whether my visa will be rejected because of this reduction in points or they will understand my unawareness because of the late publishing of the new guidelines file and consider my entire work experience after graduation. Please guide me for the steps I should take to avoid rejection and if my rejection is confirmed then what should I do next.


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2013)

You only need 60 points. The other 5 points you lose are not relevant.


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## mohkam (Jul 19, 2013)

_shel said:


> You only need 60 points. The other 5 points you lose are not relevant.


He is applying for 189... I think the mismatch between the points he claimed in his EOI and that calculated by the CO may lead to visa rejection otherwise he is able to convince his CO about the situation.....


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## dharmesh312 (Nov 11, 2013)

mohkam said:


> He is applying for 189... I think the mismatch between the points he claimed in his EOI and that calculated by the CO may lead to visa rejection otherwise he is able to convince his CO about the situation.....



Do you think the case officer can get convinced and overrule the ACS Rule? Is there any other solution to this problem?

Thanks!


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2013)

Oh dear  misread that. No the CO has to follow the regulations and cant make exceptions. You haven't really got a case you could argue if you were given a skilled date and you ignired it.


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## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi dharmesh312, 

that does not sound good. By the way, the "skilled dates" were already introduced around May 2013 and ACS posted an update in *June*, which said: 



> All ACS Skill Assessment Result Letters report on a date (mm/yy) of when an applicant becomes ‘skilled’. This date will be when the applicant meets the ACS Requirements, these requirements are detailed in the Summary of Criteria.
> 
> Please note, only employment completed after the date the applicant has met the ACS requirements will be counted as skilled employment.


It's no longer online (superseded by newer entries) but I already quoted it in this post from June 17. Initially, the COs were a bit more lenient - due to the abrupt policy change, I guess. Unfortunately that led to many people saying "just ignore the skilled date and claim full experience". I've been preaching to the choir that it wasn't a good idea to do that. Well, anyways: The CO can still override the ACS opinion because *the final decision is with DIBP*. But the general ruling is that if you overclaimed you get an instant refusal. After all, you "jumped the queue" and got an invite ahead of other 60-pointers who played by the new rule. 

I guess you'll have to wait and see... 

All the best, 
Monika


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## msaeed (Mar 6, 2013)

I am really afraid and sorry to tell that situation is not looking good..frankly speaking I have seen similar cases with CO rejecting the Visa even the points are under the desired point for immigration...This discussion of ACS is going on since months on this forum..you should have seen them before applying..if you were able to get 60 points without experience points then there was no need for you to take this kind of risk.....

Now its totally depend upon CO which I am afraid will not work in your favor...try to contact DIAC..call them...try to reach out to them before CO is assigned..I don't know if you can do that or not but don't leave any thing from your side....cal them and speak to them..inform them about your situation that you want to withdraw the application..


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## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Withdrawing the application will cost _dharmesh312_ the *visa application fee*, though. There is *no refund* if you withdraw. I would recommend to wait until the CO is assigned and see what s/he says. If it comes to that, they usually give you the option to withdraw the application rather than get a refusal.

Cheers, 
Monika


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## Guest (Nov 11, 2013)

I will say though a refusal in these circumstances is not something to be feared or worried about. Lots of people are refused due to not meeting the requirements and go on to get further visas. The concern is refusals for security, fraud and breach of immigration laws that are of concern not this. 

But yes wait for a CO and act on their instructions. You may get lucky but if not they will suggest you withdraw rather than the long long wait for refusal.


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## dharmesh312 (Nov 11, 2013)

Thank you all for your guidance. I was just concerned that I will be banned for 3 years because of over claiming points by mistake. So if you think, that I will be given a chance to withdraw even after CO is assigned, I will wait for the CO to be assigned and act accordingly.

In the worst case, if I am refused visa or I have to withdraw visa, I will be planning to reapply when I become eligible for 65 points. Regarding that, I have 2 more queries:

1. I have scored minimum 7 band in each module in IELTS. I am thinking to reappear for IELTS and try to score 8 band each. If I fail to do so and score lesser than the previous IELTS exam, will I be able to use the previous score or only the latest exam score is considered? I ask this because while filling EOI, it was mentioned to enter the score of the latest exam taken before submitting EOI.

2. During my skill assessment with ACS, I did not submit reference letter of 1 company because the period of employment with that company was only 3 months and the company was out of my home city. However, I had submitted appointment letter and salary slips of that company. But that period of employment was not considered by ACS. But now in order to reapply in Jan 2014 when I will be completing 5 years of work experience (including the above mentioned 3 months), I will need to bring reference letter from that company in order to prove my work experience. So, if I provide DIBP with the reference letter (which was not provided to ACS), will DIBP consider my work experience with that company which was ignored by ACS?



espresso said:


> Withdrawing the application will cost _dharmesh312_ the *visa application fee*, though. There is *no refund*
> 
> if you withdraw. I would recommend to wait until the CO is assigned and see what s/he says. If it comes to that, they usually give you the option to
> 
> ...


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2013)

You can use any ielts you want so long as it is in date but onky for a new application. You can not add a better ielts to an application already made. 

The work experience would really only be considered if it is post the skilled date.


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## dharmesh312 (Nov 11, 2013)

Yes it is after the skilled date of ACS. So if I provide reference letter from that company to DIBP, DIBP will consider that period of employment even if ACS has not assessed that work experience because of missing reference letter. Am I right?



_shel said:


> You can use any ielts you want so long as it is in date but onky for a new application. You can not add a better ielts to an application already made.
> 
> The work experience would really only be considered if it is post the skilled date.


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## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi dharmesh312, 

DIBP performs its own work experience calculation - they only take the ACS recommendation "under consideration". You have *no guarantee* that the CO will consider the experience. If the reference letter contains all the right buzz words from the tasks/responsibilities description of your ANZSCO code and if you have sufficient proof of salary (payslips, tax return documents etc.), you should have a good chance to get it accepted. Some applicants decide to go for ACS re-assessment, just to be "safe". 

What definitely works, though: If you continue working at company X between the time you applied for skilled assessment and the submission of your EOI, you can count the weeks in-between towards your points, provided that you get an updated reference letter with a new "TO" date. Since you did not submit a reference letter for your last employer, that does not apply to you, though. 

Cheers, 
Monika


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## psrao123 (Dec 3, 2013)

Small question.
ACS Result - Country of employement.

I have total 5yrs.9months exp( 1.5yrs in Aus, rest in India).

But when I applied for ACS, I mentioned the Country of Employment as India for all the exp(instead of splitting between aus and ind)

As a result, I got my result letter indicated below
Exp: 5yrs 9monts
Comp: XXXXX
Courntyr: India.

But I claimed 5points for AUS exp.

Is there a chance for me to explain to my CO after filing VISA that I have worked for Australia though it was not indicated in Assessment Result letter.

I have valid payslips and tax returns, PCC and I am still workng for same company.


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## surikolluru (Jan 31, 2012)

Hi, 

My ACS assessment does not have skill level requirement date and all my experience post qualification was listed in result letter. Could someone let me know if there will be any reconsideration of experience by case officer to remove 2 years of experience looking at new rules published. I could not find any threads where this kind of situation is discussed. 

Regards,
SK

IELTS -7, ACS Result: 5th MAR 2013, EOI Date: 20th DEC 2013, Invitation date: 13 JAN 2014


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## laila-naqvI (Jul 30, 2015)

dharmesh312 said:


> I have lodged visa application under skill select subclass 189 on 30-Oct-2013 for the occupation of 'Software Engineer' (261313). I received invitation on 7-Oct-2013. I applied for ACS Sill assessment on 26-June-2013 and received result on 25-Sep-2013. My problem is with the new rule of ACS Skill Assessment which indicates that 2 years from my total work experience will be deducted and only the remaining years of work experience will be considered for the points calculation. I was not aware of this new rule because the guidelines file from ACS was published on 30-Oct-2013 with the updated content, even though my result indicated skilled employment date which was 2 years later. I even clarified with the ACS regarding this date in my result. But I could not get clear explanation regarding it and I thought that the skilled employment date indicates only my eligibility date and it has nothing to do with my points calculation. The file which I referred for applying Skill Assessment did not contain any clarification of this new rule. By the time ACS published the new file, I had already lodged my visa application. I have total work experience of 4 years and 10 months till today. With this experience, I scored 5 points in the points test in my self-calculation and the total points resulted to 65. But if 2 years of work experience is deducted, I will not be eligible for these 5 points as my work experience would then be only 2 years and 10 months. I will be falling short of 2 months to complete 3 years of work experience in order to score 5 points. So the points will be reduced to 60. My case officer is not yet assigned. Does the case officer have right to overrule the decision of ACS skill assessment result according to which my 2 years will be deducted? I am worried whether my visa will be rejected because of this reduction in points or they will understand my unawareness because of the late publishing of the new guidelines file and consider my entire work experience after graduation. Please guide me for the steps I should take to avoid rejection and if my rejection is confirmed then what should I do next.


Hi dharmesh312
Can you please tell me the outcome of your visa application. Because i am afraid i have made the same mistake..


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## Maggie-May24 (May 19, 2015)

laila-naqvI said:


> Hi dharmesh312
> Can you please tell me the outcome of your visa application. Because i am afraid i have made the same mistake..


If you have submitted an EOI but not been invited, then you need to correct your EOI to show the experience AFTER the ACS skilled date as relevant and any experience up to the ACS skilled date is not relevant.

If you have submitted an EOI and have received an invitation, but not yet lodged your application, than you need to let this invitation expire and submit a new EOI with the correct information (as above, only claim points AFTER the ACS skilled date)

If you have already submitted your visa application then you have a problem. If you would have received an invitation anyway, then DIBP may simply accept this as an error and they will correct it and process your application. If you would not have received an invitation, the DIBP will usually give you a chance to withdraw your application rather than refusing the visa. Either refusal or withdrawal has the same outcome - you lose the application fee and need to start over.


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