Got Questions? We’ve Got Answers.
The questions we get asked most often in consultations, and the ones we hear most from potential clients. For questions specific to a particular service — like CDR, KA02, or ACS RPL — check out the FAQ section in each service page.
General Questions
Routing, timing, geography, and quality — the four things every engineer asks about first.
Which service do you need — CDR, KA02, or ACS RPL?
+CDR is for engineers heading to Australia (assessed by Engineers Australia). KA02 is for engineers heading to New Zealand (assessed by Engineering New Zealand). ACS RPL is for ICT professionals — software, networking, cyber security, data — heading to Australia (assessed by the Australian Computer Society).
Need help figuring out which service is right for you? Book a free 15-minute consult and we’ll get you on the right track — and we’ll tell you if none of these services apply because you qualify for a streamlined recognition route instead.
How long does the full process take?
+Our drafting time is anywhere from 5 to 21 days depending on the package you choose.
Then there’s the assessing body’s review:
• Engineers Australia — around 12 to 16 weeks
• ACS — 8 to 12 weeks
• Engineering New Zealand — 8 to 12 weeks
Plan your visa lodgement timeline accordingly.
Are your services available outside of Australia?
+Yes. Most clients work with us from their own countries of origin. The initial consultation happens over the phone or WhatsApp, and we don’t need to meet up in person to do the drafting work.
Everything runs remotely — we don’t take in-person appointments at our Strathfield office. That’s how we keep response times fast and writer availability flexible across time zones.
Will my CDR or KA02 sound like it was written by someone else?
+The drafting process takes your project material, runs a structured consultation, and writes up a draft in technical English good enough for the assessors. Because it’s all based on the work you’ve actually done and the decisions you made, it’s going to sound like your work.
You get the draft to review and can ask for changes to anything that doesn’t feel right.
Pricing & Payment
Cost, payment terms, assessment fees, and what happens if things don’t go to plan.
How much does a CDR cost?
+Our packages run from A$599 (Essential, 21-day delivery) to A$1,599 (Supreme, 5-day delivery). The same pricing applies to KA02 and ACS RPL.
See our pricing page for full details on all four packages.
Is the Engineers Australia assessment fee included?
+No. EA charges around AUD 907.50 for standard CDR assessment, and you pay that directly to them when you submit. ACS and Engineering NZ charge their own fees, same setup as EA.
We don’t mark those fees up or collect them on your behalf — you pay the assessing body directly through their portal.
What if my CDR gets rejected?
+We have a 98% success rate but can’t guarantee your outcome. If EA comes back with a negative outcome on a CDR we wrote, and their reasons match the scope of our work, we’ll prepare the recovery rewrite at no extra charge under our outcome support guarantee.
What payment methods do you accept?
+We take Visa, Mastercard, bank transfers (both Australian and international), and PayPal.
Payment is split: 50% deposit on engagement, and the balance on draft delivery.
Question not answered here?
Book a free 15-minute consult — most engineers get full clarity on their situation in one call.
Process & Quality
How we work, what we don’t do, and what protects your confidentiality.
Do you use AI to write CDRs?
+No. Every sentence of every document we deliver is written by an engineer, straight from your project material.
Engineers Australia started rolling out AI-content detection in 2026. If we used AI to write CDRs, it’d risk rejection regardless of detection capabilities — AI writing looks notably different from human writing to the assessors.
Do you reuse content between clients?
+No. Every engagement starts with a structured consultation that takes your project material and puts it into your own words.
Past clients’ work isn’t rehashed and re-sold as templates. Past project material isn’t sampled across new submissions.
Can I see sample CDRs before engaging?
+We don’t share past clients’ CDRs as examples. Every CDR we submit gets stored in the internal database at Engineers Australia, and reusing any of it would put both that client’s confidentiality at risk and the originality of your new submission.
If you want a feel for how the format works, you can ask us about anonymised excerpts and overviews during your consultation.
Will you keep my information private?
+Absolutely. We treat every client engagement as confidential. We don’t share, publish, use, or reuse client material in any way.
If you want us to sign an NDA, that’s no problem — standard terms of engagement include a confidentiality clause as a matter of course.
Special Situations
Recovery from rejection, AI-tool use, trans-Tasman applications, and niche specialisms.
I was rejected last time — what now?
+If you’ve already submitted a CDR and it got knocked back, our Plagiarism Removal & Rewriting service can help with recovery cases.
We review what went wrong and rebuild the problem sections, working from your original project material — but with a fresh writer who hasn’t seen the bits that got flagged the first time round.
To make doubly sure the changes don’t get picked up again, we run multiple checks on the rewritten content using plagiarism detection and AI-content checking tools.
I used ChatGPT or another AI tool to help me write my CDR — can I still use it?
+Honestly, probably not. Engineers Australia introduced new detection systems for 2026 that can spot AI-generated content. Even if you’ve had a good go at editing it to make it look more human, the underlying stats are still likely to give it away.
We highly recommend rewriting your CDR from your project material instead. The recovery process is the same whether the problem was AI or just reusing someone else’s template.
We’ll work out the best approach for you in our consultation.
I want to apply for registration in both Australia and New Zealand — do I need two different services?
+No, you don’t. We offer combined CDR + KA02 trans-Tasman engagements that let you work from the same project material but restructured for both Engineers Australia and Engineering New Zealand.
That saves you time and money in the long run, and we have a special combined pricing package that covers it all. See the details on our pricing page.
My specialism isn’t one of the ones listed on your website — do you still do that kind of work?
+The consultation is the first place to figure that out. Often, we can match you with a writer who has the right expertise even if we don’t have a special page listing their discipline.
If it’s a very niche area, we might need to schedule the work a bit further in advance — usually a week or two.
One thing we’ll always do is be honest with you. If we can’t find a writer who fits, we’ll let you know right away rather than stretching our resources too thin.
Still got questions?
We’ve got a few ways to reach us — pick whichever feels easiest. Most engineers get full clarity on their situation in a single 15-minute consult.
Mon–Sat 9am–7pm AEDT · Closed Sundays