Migration Points Advice (MPA) FAQs

You are eligible to apply for the MPA Program if you:

• have a successful skills assessment from Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) or a TRA-approved RTO in your nominated occupation, and

• are seeking to apply to the Department of Home Affairs for a point’s tested visa in a skilled occupation assessed by TRA.

All applications for the MPA Program must be submitted through the new TRA Online Portal.

When accessing the Online Portal, you must use a MS Windows based computer or laptop operating in Internet Explorer (IE). This TRA system is not compatible with Microsoft Edge, macOS (Apple), Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari.

Your application is registered once you have completed the online form, uploaded your documents and paid the fee. You will receive a receipt via email with your TRA reference number confirming submission. Please retain this receipt as proof of submission. You do not need to contact TRA to confirm receipt of your application.

Your receipt of payment is emailed to the email address you nominated in your online submission. Please retain this email as proof of submission.

The MPA outcome is used to advise the Department of Home Affairs about comparable qualifications and employment to assist in assessing your visa application. TRA does not issue points and all enquiries regarding points must be directed to the Department of Home Affairs at https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au.

MPA applications are generally are finalised within 120 days from your online submission. Processing time may vary and are dependent on the volume of applications received and the complexity of the verification processes. In some cases, the processing time is extended due to the time taken by external sources to respond to our request for verification.

Should there be any considerable delay, TRA will post a news item on its website.

The following evidence must be provided to TRA with any request to expedite an application:

1. A letter from the Department of Home Affairs and/or a State/Territory authority responsible for State Migration sponsorship confirming:

a. approval of a 'nominated position',

b. that the applicant is the nominee for that position, and

c. the expiry date for that offer.

This information must be emailed to TRA at traenquiries@dewr.gov.au, including your full name, date of birth, and TRA reference number.

If you have forgotten your password for the TRA online portal, please follow these instructions. Go to the TRA Online Portal, select 'Click here if you have forgotten your password'. By answering the three security questions you selected when first registering your MPA application, you will be able to reset your password and log in using your username.

If you have been locked out of your online account, are unable to reset your password or have forgotten your username, please email traenquiries@dewr.gov.au. Please include your TRA reference number, username, date of birth and email address.

Please note TRA will contact you directly when your issue has been resolved. We cannot provide a timeframe as to when the account will be unlocked and re-set.

An English language test is not required for the MPA Program.

The purpose of the MPA Program is to provide advice regarding qualifications and specific periods of employment over the past ten years. Any employment prior to the ten years from the date of application will not be considered for the MPA Program.

Yes, applicants who are self-employed and can meet the program requirements specified in the MPA Applicant Guidelines are eligible for the MPA Program.

Employer Template

You will need to provide a completed Employment Template for each period of employment (or self-employment) you wish to claim. These templates are found here. Further details regarding the Employer Template are listed in section 4.3.1 of the MPA Applicant Guidelines.

Pay Evidence

TRA requires sufficient evidence of paid employment to verify that your employment was full-time (or equivalent part-time) and at the required skill level for your occupation in Australia. The employment pay evidence you are required to submit will vary depending on your employment type. A full list of employment pay evidence is listed at Section 2 of the MPA Applicant Guidelines.

Evidence of employment undertaken on a part-time basis will be noted as such on your MPA letter.

For employment completed outside of Australia, TRA will require three payslips for each year of employment you are claiming. Each payslip must cite the names of the employer and employee. Comprehensive information regarding evidence requirements can be found in the MPA Applicant Guidelines.

For employment completed in Australia, you will need to include PAYG Payment Summaries, Notices of Assessment and superannuation documents citing the names of the employer and the applicant. If you wish to claim employment for the current financial year, you must provide three pay slips from the current financial year citing the name of the employee and employer.

The visa subclass you are applying for with Home Affairs will specify whether it is a points tested visa. Unless you have already been advised by Home Affairs to obtain an MPA from TRA, you should check with Home Affairs before lodging an application with TRA.

Please note that you are required to have a successful skills assessment before you are eligible to apply for the MPA. Please also note that TRA only provides skills assessments and migration points advice. A decision to award points remains with Home Affairs.

Yes, to lodge an application through the online portal, you will be required to resubmit all required documents to TRA. Instructions on how to do so can be found on the MPA “How to apply” page.

TRA compares qualifications issued overseas to the relevant Australian qualification for the nominated occupation when determining relevance. To do this, TRA requires the academic transcript to be provided in the application.

If you do not have a copy of your qualification and transcript we suggest that you contact the institution that issued your award and ask them to provide you with either a copy of your transcript, or other official certified documentation stating your name, the qualification and the date awarded, an overview of the content of the program and the competencies/subjects completed by you.

If TRA cannot verify the content of your training, your qualification may not be considered for an MPA.

To request feedback, please email traenquiries@dewr.gov.au with your personal information including your TRA number. Please note responses to feedback requests can take up to ten working days.

If you have applied for a Migration Points Advice (MPA) and disagree with the advice given, you may choose to seek a review of your assessment outcome through the TRA Online Portal. You have 90 days from the date of your assessment to apply for a review.

Lodgement and payment for the review can be made using your Online Portal account. An additional link titled TRA Review of MPA Outcome (MPR) will be activated in your Online Portal account to make this payment.

A review will consider information submitted in your original application and any additional evidence provided in the review application to support your claims.

Before submitting your application, you should check your eligibility by reading the information about the MPA Program.

TRA may only provide advice on comparable qualifications for an occupation that TRA is authorised to assess. Qualifications must be directly related to the occupation you have listed to be considered for inclusion in the MPA letter.

You must request a replacement MPA letter in writing. TRA requires verification of your identity when requesting a copy of an MPA letter. Your request must include your full name, TRA reference number, date of birth, current postal address and email address. TRA may also require you to provide a signature or other photo identification if unable to verify your identity. Please email your request to traenquiries@dewr.gov.au.

No, It cannot be considered. For your employment to be considered it must be directly linked to your nominated occupation.

To include periods of employment in a MPA letter, TRA required verifiable evidence that demonstrates that you have worked in paid employment in the nominated occupation.