It is a legal requirement that a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) may only issue a Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualification or a VET statement of attainment to an individual who has been assigned a Unique Student Identifier (USI). However, an RTO may issue a VET qualification or a VET statement of attainment to an individual who has not been issued a USI in certain limited circumstances, including where the individual has declared they have a genuine personal objection to being assigned a USI.

Requesting an exemption from the USI

If you wish to express a genuine personal objection to being assigned a USI, complete the Commonwealth Statutory Declaration form. To complete this form, you need to outline your genuine personal objection, and demonstrate you have an understanding of the consequences or potential consequences of not being assigned a USI.

You must include all the information required in the Statutory Declaration, which you must sign before an authorised witness. The list of authorised witnesses is included in the Statutory Declaration form.

Once complete, please send your Statutory Declaration to the Registrar at the following address:

Student Identifiers Registrar
C/- Department of Education, Skills and Employment
GPO Box 9880
Adelaide SA 5001

Or email the completed form to: BusinessStrategy@usi.gov.au

What happens after I send in the Statutory Declaration?

You will receive written advice from the Student Identifiers Registrar confirming whether your statutory declaration permits an RTO to issue you a VET qualification or a VET statement of attainment, if you do not have a USI. The advice will be sent by post to the address nominated in the Statutory Declaration.

You should note that if you do not provide all the information required in the Statutory Declaration form, you will be asked to submit a new complete form.

Privacy Notice

Any personal information provided in the Statutory Declaration Form is personal information protected by law, including under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), and is collected by the Student Identifiers Registrar for the purpose of administering the Student Identifiers Act 2014 (Cth). The consequences for not providing some or all of your personal information are that an RTO will not be able to issue a VET qualification or VET statement of attainment to you until you have been assigned a USI.

The collection of your personal information is authorised by paragraph 8(c) of the Student Identifiers (Exemptions) Instrument 2018, and subsection 53(3) of the Student Identifiers Act 2014.

The full privacy policy, at www.usi.gov.au/documents/privacy-policy outlines the way in which the Student Identifiers Registrar will manage your personal information, including information on accessing or correcting your information.