Career and Migration of Civil Engineers and Construction Project Managers in Australia

Australia is facing a shortage of civil engineers and construction project managers. This blog discusses both career and migration opportunities for these two occupations in Australia.

1. Areas of Practice & Employment Context:
Understanding these areas of practice and employment context is crucial for both employment and migration purposes. They assist employees in understanding how employers verify the authenticity of their experience and visa aspirants in knowing the Migration Skills Assessment requirements for a specific occupation, such as Civil Engineer or Construction Project Manager.

• According to EA, an area of practice isn’t the activities or projects someone does that are incidental to their work’s main purpose, an area of practice is the purpose of and forms the bulk of an engineering professional's work. Most engineers don’t work across more than one or perhaps two areas of practice. 
  
• VETASSESS defines employment context as acceptable employment. 
  

2.Graduate Outcome Survey (GOS):
According to the GOS 2024: 

• The overall employment rate for undergraduates in Building and Construction decreased from 95.3% to 87.3%. For Civil Engineering, it increased from 88% to 92.3%. For postgraduates, the employment rate increased slightly by 1.5% for Building and Construction and decreased by 4.3% in Civil Engineering over eight years. 
• The median salary for undergraduates in Building and Construction is 81,600 AUD, while it is $77,500 for Civil Engineers. For postgraduates, the median salary for Building and Construction is $117,000 and for Civil Engineering is $90,500. Overall, female graduates received lower salaries. 
• A comparison tool is available to assist students in evaluating universities before enrolment. 

3. Occupation and Industry Profiles:
According to Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA): 

• 29,400 Civil Engineers were employed with an average employee age of 34, with 89% of them working around 45 hours per week in the industries such as Construction, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services, Public Administration and Safety. 
• There is a shortage in all six states and two territories since 2021. 
• Both Civil Engineers and Construction Project Managers are among the top 10 occupations within the Construction industry. The industry is projected to increase to approximately 450,000 employees, a 70,000 increase over a decade. 
• Construction Project Managers, the top occupation in terms of projected employment, is expected to grow by 22% by 2035, with approximately 5,000 new entrants, which is around 8% of the 2021 workforce. This occupation, which was not in shortage in Victoria, South Australia, ACT and Tasmania before, is now in shortage in all six states and two territories, with more vacancies in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, the Australian Capital Territory, and Perth. The median full-time weekly earnings are approximately $3750, with an average employee age of 42. The most common qualification is a Certificate III/IV, followed by a bachelor’s degree.

4. Migration Skills Assessment (MSA) requirements:
MSA is mandatory for certain Australian skilled visas. The skills assessment bodies differ (VETASSESS for Construction Project Managers and Engineers Australia for Civil Engineers) and have unique requirements.  

• VETASSESS requires work experience while Engineers Australia does not unless it is for Engineering Manager. 
• VETASSESS does not require an English test score, but Engineers Australia does. 
• VETASSESS requires a project document while Engineers Australia requires a Competency Demonstration Report (CDR) for some qualifications. Both bodies offer priority processing, renewal, review and appeal options. 
• It is in the best interests of applicants to avoid paying third-party CDR writers who promise to provide plagiarism-free project documents and to refrain from using AI to generate an Employment Reference Letter (ERL). By providing false and misleading documents or information in relation to their MSA, applicants risk not only the refusal of their skills assessment but also future visa refusals. This is because the skills assessment bodies have a mechanism to share adverse information. 
• Both bodies have different requirements for payment evidence and supporting documents. 
• EA has four Occupational categories with Professional engineer as relevant to Civil Engineer which needs a four-year professional engineering degree that’s accredited or recognised by Engineers Australia or hold comparable overseas qualifications or a degree that’s accredited under the Washington Accord which has 25 full signatories under an international agreement between organisations responsible for accrediting professional engineering degree programmes. 
• Some applicants need to do the CDR based on their non-accredited qualifications or based on their degree title which is not Civil Engineer, for instance. To do a CDR, the applicants are to write three written career episodes and a summary statement. 
• The skilled employment can be added in the application only if the applicant wants it to be assessed as its not a mandatory requirement and has requirements to provide Government issued documents indicating the name of the applicant and that of the employer covering the whole period of employment, such as income tax statements, superannuation, social security, retirement contributions, provident fund, work or residence permits, and official government documentation such as work contracts based on the countries of employment. 
• VETASSESS requires at least one year of relevant work experience post-qualification. 
• The qualification should be a bachelor’s degree in a highly relevant field such as Construction Project Management, Building Technology or Building and Civil Engineering. 
• The Employment tasks listed by VETASSESS may differ from those in ANZSCO or OSCA. Therefore, applicants must carefully review what VETASSESS expects in their ERL. 
• In addition to a project document detailing project name, client or company name, project timeframe, project scope, project budget, applicant’s responsibilities, key stakeholders and project status, an organisation chart including the company letterhead, job position of the applicant, job position or the applicant’s superiors and subordinates, and all positions reporting to the applicant’s supervisor and to the applicant’s direct subordinates. If the chart cannot be provided by the employer, a statement detailing the required information and the reason for its non-availability is needed.

5. Migration outcomes:
Based on the data from the SkillSelect dashboard, invitations were issued for both Construction Project Managers and Civil Engineers in the points tested visas 189, 190, and 491 (State or Territory nominated) for 2024 and 2025. 

• The Home Affairs website states that both occupations are available for various temporary and permanent residence visas such as 186, 189, 190, 407, 482, 485, 491, and 494. 
• Both occupations are listed on the Tier 3 priority lists based on a document published on the department’s website under FOI. However, only Construction Project Managers received an invitation at 85 points in the last known invitation rounds in Q2 of FY 2025-26, as per the department’s plan to focus on Tier 1, Tier 2 and construction-related occupations.
• Civil Engineering professionals, which includes Civil Engineers and other four engineers, received 676 invitations in the last financial year 2024-25, making it the third top nominated occupation unit group. 

The information provided in the blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered a substitute for professional immigration advice.  

For a video on the same topic, visit SujithTalks on YouTube. 

For specific immigration advice regarding Engineers Australia and VETASSESS Migration Skills Assessment, go to https://sujithtalks.au and schedule a free discovery session with me as your future Registered Migration agent. During this session, I will discuss my scope of professional services, work breakdown, cost breakdown and your requirements including deadlines and timelines. 
 
Reference:

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022), 1331 Construction Managers, ABS Website, accessed 29 April 2026.
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2024-version-1.0), 131131 Construction Project Manager, ABS Website, accessed 29 April 2026.
3. Australia’s Migration Trends, 2024–25, Civil Engineering Professionals [https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/migration-trends-2024-25.pdf], the Department website, accessed 29 April 2026.
4. Department of Education, Skills and Employment  (02 April 2026) SkillSelect EOI data [ https://api.dynamic.reports.employment.gov.au/anonap/extensions/hSKLS02_SkillSelect_EOI_Data/hSKLS02_SkillSelect_EOI_Data.html ], Department of Education website, 1.accessed 17 April 2026.
5. The Department of Home Affairs (2026), Freedom of Information Request- FA 26/01/00545 [https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2026/fa-260100545-document-released.PDF ], the Department website, accessed 29 April 2026.
6. The Department of Home Affairs (2026), Skill Select  Invitation rounds outcomes [https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skillselect/invitation-rounds], the Department website, accessed 29 April 2026.
7. The Department of Home Affairs (2026), Skilled occupation list [https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skill-occupation-list], the Department website, accessed 29 April 2026.
8. Engineers Australia (July 2022) Civil Engineering Area of Practice/Area of Engineering [https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/credentials/chartered/areas-practice], EA website, accessed 16 April 2026.
9. Graduate Outcomes Survey (2024) Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) [https://qilt.edu.au/surveys/graduate-outcomes-survey-(gos)] , QILT website, accessed 28 April 2026.
10. Jobs and Skills Australia (April 2026) Higher Education Outcomes, Exploring Administrative Data [ https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/publications/higher-education-outcomes-exploring-administrative-data], JSA website, accessed 16 April 2026.
11. Jobs and Skills Australia (January 2026) Australian Labour Market for Migrants - January 2026[https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/publications/australian-labour-market-migrants-january-2026 ], JSA website, accessed 16 April 2026.
12. Master Builders Australia (16 April 2026) The Ultimate Guide to Jobs in Building and Construction [  https://masterbuilders.com.au/construct-your-career-launch], MBA website, accessed 16 April 2026.
13. Pristine Australia Migration (PAM)   (2026) Career and Migration Services [https://sujithtalks.au], PAM website, accessed 29 April 2026.
14. Social Research Centre (SRC) (28 April 2026) Compare up to 6 institutions or study areas [https://www.compared.edu.au/compare/study-areas], ComparED  website, accessed 28 April 2026.
15. Victorian Skills Authority (April 2026) Construction project manager [https://www.vic.gov.au/construction-project-manager], VSA website, accessed 16 April 2026.
16. Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services Construction Project Manager [https://www.vetassess.com.au/search/occupations?keys=construction+project+manager ],  VETASSESS website, accessed 16 April 2026.
17. Washington Accord (April 2026) Full Signatories [https://www.internationalengineeringalliance.org/accords/washington-accord], International Engineering Alliance website, accessed 28 April 2026.