Chef Skills Assessment Australia

If you are a Chef moving to Australia, you will need to complete the mandatory Chef skills assessment, which is required for a skilled points-based visa, an ENS 186 employer sponsored visa or 482 employer sponsored visa for Australia (if you have a passport from one of these countries listed). The Chef ANZSCO Code is 351311.

The Down Under Centre and Australian Trade Training College (ATTC) are proud to assess Chefs for Trades Recognition Australia (TRA). We work with Chefs emigrating to Australia to ensure that they are ready for the Chef skills assessment required for migrating to Australia.

At successful completion of the Chef skills assessment, you will receive your full Australian Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery and your Skills Assessment letter required for migration. The AQF IV is the relevant Australian qualification for employers looking to hire Chefs in Australia.

See our Frequently Asked Questions for Chefs emigrating to Australia

If you would like to see if you are eligible for a Skilled Visa, use our Free Visa Points Calculator or complete our Enquiry Form and our Migration Consultants will be happy to advise on your options.

Find out more about our Agency Service for Chefs who want to migrate to Australia.

Process for Chef Skills Assessment Australia

The Chef skills assessment process is broken up into two stages. Many Chef employers in Australia insist you hold your Australian Chef Qualification.

1. Documentary Assessment for Chef skills assessment Australia $1,120

This is where you will need to provide as much information and documentary evidence as you can of your previous work experience as a Chef.

  • If you hold trade related qualifications, you’ll be asked to prove you have a minimum of 3 years’ full-time paid work experience.
  • If you don’t have trade related qualifications, you’ll be asked to prove you have a minimum of 5 years’ full-time paid work experience.

You will also need to prove that you have worked as a Chef for a minimum of 12 months out of the last 36 months for the Chef skills assessment for Australia. To prove work experience required for the Australian Chef skills assessment, you will need to provide pay and tax evidence, statements of service, photos, videos and more. For most Chefs moving to Australia, this is the hardest part of the Chef skills assessment.

It is very important to remember that most of your evidence gathering for your Chef skills assessment is also required for your skilled points-based or employer sponsored visa. The Down Under Centre can provide you with an Agency Service £600 + VAT to assist you with the gathering of your documentation for your Chef skills assessment. We can also advise how many years of work experience will be required to give you maximum points for your visa to migrate to Australia as a Chef. This stage is considered to be the most difficult stage of your visa application.

As part of our Agency Service, we give you access to your bespoke Chef Skills Assessment Portal that will advise exactly what photos, videos, pay/tax evidence to gather, what your CV needs to focus on, employer references and more. You’ll be assigned a Client Manager and one of our Chef Assessors, who can answer questions and advise on the documents you have supplied via the Skills Assessment Portal. We do this so you can obtain a successful skills assessment as a Chef.

Our Agency Service also includes;

  • Access to our private Facebook group, giving you access to our staff and other clients that are in the process or have already made the move to Australia. To have like-minded people who have either achieved their goal of migration or currently in the process of migrating, answering questions and offering tips is a real asset. Our DUC family is an amazing community that offers so much support.
  • 10% off the PTE Academic English Test (for clients in the UK) and Scored Practice Tests.
  • Free access to set up your DUC Employment Hub profile.
  • Should you use the DUC to process and lodge your visa application, you’ll also be offered a free relocation call with a DUC Relocation Agent, who can advise of many topics on the area/State of Australia you are looking to move to and save you money on the move.

Please call our UK office on +44 (0)20 3376 1555 or our Australia office on +61 (0)3 9123 3260 to enquire about our Agency Service and how it can specifically help you.

2. Technical Interview for Chef skills assessment Australia $2,000

The final part of your Chef skills assessment is an online Technical Interview.

We will organise an Australian qualified Chef who is also an Australian qualified Trainer and Assessor in Cookery, to discuss your stage two application with you and your everyday working life as a Chef. This is why it’s very important that you have provided the assessing body and their assessor with a complete application.

Technical Interviews are held at our UK offices in Leatherhead and Dumbarton. They are also hosted in Australia (QLD, VIC, NSW and WA), India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa, UAE and Fiji.

Please note that if the Assessor feels that you do not have the necessary skills to work in Australia as a qualified Chef, they will ask you to provide further information which will be at your cost. The Down Under Centre have never had a client that has required a site visit as yet as we work closely with them to ensure that this does not need to happen. The assessors understand that you may be nervous, and they will discuss your application with you in a calm manner in a relaxed environment and do all they can to assist you and put you at ease.

Free Australia Visa Points Calculator

Complete our Australian visa points calculator to check your eligibility to immigrate to Australia as a Chef.

Chefs FAQs

Chefs emigrating to Australia FAQs

Think of the Chef skills assessment as a 2 stage approach. You need to prove to the assessor you have the necessary skills as a Chef.

The first stage is paper based, proving you are a Chef though pay and tax evidence, detailed CV, references, videos, photos, qualifications. This is called the documentary assessment for the Chef skills assessment.

The second stage is a technical interview with an Australian qualified Chef and is also a qualified trainer and assessor, who will discuss your work experience and evidence provided in your application. 

No, its not mandatory. If you completed an apprenticeship as a Chef, then you are required to show 3 years’ of full-time paid work experience pre or post qualification. If you are from the UK and hold an NVQ3 as a Chef, you would require the 3 years’ full-time paid work experience as a Chef.

If you do not hold an NVQ3 as a Chef, then you are required to have a minimum of 5 years’ full-time paid work experience as a Chef.

The costs of the Chef skills assessment is dictated by TRA (Trades Recognition Australia). You pay them directly and they have chosen RTOs (Registered Training Organisations) that deliver the Chef skills assessment for Australian skilled migration.

Documentary Assessment for Chef skills assessment is $1120.

Technical Interview for Chef skills assessment is $2000.

A skills assessment is required so you, the migrant, can apply for an Australian visa. This is the way Australian Immigration can gauge if you are in fact a Chef under the Australian guidelines.

Many people want to move to Australia as a Chef and without a skills assessment delivered by an approved assessing body, Australian immigration have no way in checking a migrant has the necessary skills.

To emigrate to Australia as a Chef you will need to complete the Chef skills assessment for a skilled visa.

The Down Under Centre work with Australian Trade Training College (ATTC), an approved TRA assessing body, to deliver the Chef skills assessment for Australia. You can contact our office in the UK on +44 (0)203 376 1555 or contact our office in Australia on +61 (0)3 9123 3260.

The Down Under Centre are very proud to be working with ATTC – this is what we do! We have over a decade of experience working with Chefs during the skills assessment process. We have developed software to assist with the process, and have the staff and assessors to hold your hand throughout the Chef skills assessment process.

You also get the opportunity to speak with other Chefs who have gone through the skills assessment process via our exclusive Facebook Group. We can save you money on your move and assist with finding employers in Australia, via the DUC Employment Hub.

Migrating to Australia as a Chef has its challenges and you, the migrant, will have plenty of questions. We know the answers and are always available to answer any of your questions.

Check out our free monthly migration webinars, and bespoke Podcasts to hear more from Chefs that have completed the Australian skills assessment and now are living in Australia.

Your TRA Australian Chef skills assessment is valid for 3 years from the date the skills assessment was issued. This means that you need to have your invitation to apply for the visa within 3 years of your skills assessment completion.

Your Australian Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery has no expiry date.

In Australia, Chef = Chief! A Chef in Australia must be able to demonstrate a broad range of kitchen management skills and experience, in addition to cooking skills. This includes people management (e.g. rotas, coaching, training & development, handling conflict), finance management (budgeting, costings, stock control) as well as daily operational management including overseeing Food Hygiene standards and Health & Safety.

If your roles have not included these management tasks in depth, you will likely be advised to complete the Cook skills assessment. Any questions please make contact with the Down Under Centre.

Getting a Chef job in Australia isn’t too hard for Chefs. Australia has lots of pubs, restaurants and holiday destinations that require great Chefs.

Our busy cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth are always on the look out for skilled Chefs to work in Australia. We also have a need for Chefs in rural areas of Australia and mining towns are always on the lookout for a skilled Chef to work in Australia.

The Down Under Centre works with many Australian Chef employers who take on our English speaking skilled migrants. The employers have no hesitation taking on our Australian qualified Chefs moving to Australia by using our DUC Employment Hub.

Our Employment Team in Australia can also help Chefs with employment opportunities.

At successful completion of your Australian Chef skills assessment, you will receive your TRA skills assessment required for a skilled visa to Australia and you will also receive your Australian Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery.

If you are a Chef looking to migrate to Australia, you need to be between 18 and 45 years old. However at age 18, Chefs will not have yet achieved the necessary qualifications and experience to prove their competence.

Chefs between the ages of 25-32 years old generate the maximum points for age towards their visa application. Complete our free visa points calculator to confirm your points.

If you are under 31 years old you can look into Working Holiday Visas Australia.

Yes, you can. First, complete our free visa points calculator. We’ll contact you to determine your eligibility for migrating to Australia and explain the Australian visa process. We have clients all over the world and the tools to get you to Australia as a Chef.

With a passport from the UK, Ireland, Canada, USA or New Zealand you automatically add 5 points to your partner’s Australian visa application.

If you completed the Chef skills assessment for Australia (and are under 45 years of age) this may add 10 points. You would also benefit from the Chef Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery, which will benefit when applying for a job as a Chef in Australia.

Applying for a Chef skills assessment to migrate to Australia does not necessarily require a qualification; this is dependent upon the country of your passport. 

The Down Under Centre has access to Australia’s Country Education Profiles and can confirm if your qualifications will be recognised so you can complete your skills assessment as a Chef and obtain a visa to work in Australia as a Chef.

If you don’t hold any qualifications you can still move forward with your Australian skills assessment if you can provide 5 years of full-time paid work experience.

Yes, The Down Under Centre Employment Hub is here to help!

We are not a recruitment agency, we are employment specialists, servicing migrants who are actively looking to relocate to Australia as well as employers who are seeking talent from overseas.

With extensive experience in the Australian labor market, our team understands the needs of employers and empathises with the unique challenges migrants and their families face during the relocation process.

We are dedicated to finding the right candidates for your business. Using our exclusive candidate database, we can match you with visa-ready Chefs and skilled migrants seeking employer sponsorship.

Click here to contact our Employment Team and start your hiring journey today.

If your country of passport is listed below, this means it is mandatory for you to obtain the Chef skills assessment for a Subclass 482 visa application. 

  • Persons who hold a passport issued by Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam or Zimbabwe

https://www.downundercentre.com/mandatory-skill-assessment-subclass-482-visa

The best way to prepare for your Chef skills assessment Technical Interview is to view the Self-Assessment Questionnaire and Applicant Kit you completed in your Documentary Assessment stage. On your DUC Skills Assessment Portal, we have a tips section on how to pass the Chef Technical Interview, how to prepare and how the Technical Interview works. 

Chefs do usually need to complete the English test when emigrating to Australia, to generate points towards the visa application.

Chefs in Australia

Chefs plan and organise the preparation and cooking of food in dining and catering establishments. Chefs and Cooks are different occupations with different tasks so you need to make sure you are getting the correct Australian qualification. These tasks include; selecting and training staff, preserving and freezing food, planning menus, ordering food supplies and more. Chef = Chief!

Chef jobs in Australia

People who work in the Catering industry could be earning up to $61,000 p/a in Australia! The DUC Employment Hub is a tool that connects migrants to employers in Australia as well as providing you with a relocation hub to make your journey to Australia smoother.

Posted jobs for Chefs in Australia via DUC Employment Hub:

Check out our blogs on migrating to Australia