VETASSESS Fees Go Up on 9 September 2026: What It Means for Your Skills Assessment

If you are planning a VETASSESS skills assessment for a professional occupation, there is a deadline worth knowing about. From 9 September 2026, VETASSESS is increasing its fees for Professional Skills Assessments in line with inflation.

The increases are modest compared to the visa fee rises we saw on 1 July, generally around 4 to 5 percent. But the practical point is simple: applications received before 9 September are charged at the current rates. If you were planning to lodge anyway, the timing matters.

What is changing

The increase applies to Professional Skills Assessments and the services attached to them. That includes Priority Processing, Chinese Qualifications Verification, non-migration assessments and administration fees.

Importantly, it does not apply to trade occupation assessments. If you are being assessed for a trade, your fees are unchanged.

The main fees

These are the headline changes for professional occupation applicants. All figures exclude GST.

A full professional skills assessment with priority processing now costs $2,009 before GST, up from $1,921. For most applicants the full assessment fee is the number that matters, and it is rising by $50.

Review fees

If you receive a negative outcome and want it reviewed within the 90 day window, the fee depends on what is being reviewed.

Review fees are one reason it pays to get the application right the first time. A review of both qualification and employment outcomes now costs almost as much as the original assessment.

Graduate visa assessments

If you are applying for the Post-Vocational Education Work stream of the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485), these fees also rise.

Chinese Qualifications Verification

If any of your qualifications were awarded in China, you will need the CQV service as part of your assessment. Those fees are also increasing.

These apply per document, so applicants with several Chinese qualifications can expect the total to add up quickly.

What is not changing

A few things stay where they are. Trade occupation assessments are unaffected by this increase. Skills Assessment Support services also hold at current rates: the consultation service for migration agents and lawyers stays at $391, the applicant consultation stays at $282, and document checking stays at $191.

The date that decides your fee

This is the part that matters. Any application received by VETASSESS before 9 September 2026 is charged at the current rates. Lodge on or after that date and the new fees apply.

Like the 1 July visa fee increases, it is the lodgement date that counts, not the date you started preparing your documents or gathered your references.

Does this change your plans?

Probably not on its own. A $50 increase on a full assessment is not going to make or break a migration decision, and rushing an assessment application to save it would be a poor trade. VETASSESS assessments turn on documentation quality: employment references that meet their requirements, qualifications that map correctly to your nominated occupation, and evidence that clearly demonstrates the skill level.

A negative outcome costs you far more than $50. It costs the original fee, then the review or reassessment fee, then months of delay in a process where timing often matters for points test scores and invitation rounds.

That said, if your documents are already in order and you were going to lodge in the next few weeks anyway, there is no reason to wait until after 9 September.

Where VETASSESS fits in your application

A positive skills assessment is a prerequisite for most skilled visas. You need one before you can lodge an Expression of Interest for the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), the Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) or the Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491). It is also required for most Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) nominations.

VETASSESS is the assessing authority for a large number of professional and general occupations. Our VETASSESS skills assessment guide covers the process, eligibility and common issues. Other occupations go through different bodies, and using the wrong one is a costly mistake. Nurses go through ANMAC, engineers through Engineers Australia, IT professionals through the Australian Computer Society, and accountants through CPA Australia or an equivalent body.