Is your occupation on the list? This is how you look it up

Without an occupation on the skilled occupation list there is no route — this is the very first check of the whole journey. How the lists work, which of the four lists belongs to which visa, why your job title doesn't count, and what else the list tells you.

4 min read

Written and checked by Auke on 26 September 2026, against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.

Whether you can move to Australia as a skilled migrant starts with one question: is your occupation on the skilled occupation list? That is the list of occupations for which the skilled migration visas are open. This check comes before everything, before the points count and before the family conversation.

If your occupation isn't on it, there is no route. Every euro you spend after that, you spend on a journey that doesn't exist.

The good news: this check takes an evening and not a penny.

It's about your tasks, not your title

Australia classifies occupations via ANZSCO, a coding system in which every occupation has a number and a task description, with the skill level and the qualifications or experience the occupation requires. And that's where the first pitfall is: a Dutch job title rarely translates one-to-one. "Project manager", "consultant" or "team lead" means nothing to an Australian assessor. What counts is what you actually do.

So don't search on the translation of your job title, but read the task descriptions of candidate occupations and choose the occupation whose tasks most resemble your working week. That chosen occupation later becomes your nominated occupation: the occupation you apply with. Your whole file is tested against it: the skills assessment, your reference letters, your work-experience points.

Which list determines which route

There isn't one list. Home Affairs publishes a combined list of all occupations eligible for the skilled visas, and next to each occupation it says on which of the sub-lists it appears:

List	For what	What it means for you
MLTSSL, the medium and long-term list	the independent 189, and also the 190 and 491	if your occupation is here, all three routes are open
STSOL, the short-term list	the 190 and 491	only via a state or region, with the bonus of 5 or 15 points
ROL, the regional list	the regional routes	regional only
CSOL, the Core Skills Occupation List	the employer routes: the Skills in Demand 482 and the 186	via a sponsor, not via points

That is immediately useful information. If your occupation is only on the broader lists, you already know now that you should think towards state nomination or regional. Your points calculation may then add the corresponding bonus (+5 or +15). Which route belongs to which list is explained in the three visa routes.

Mind the ANZSCO version too: for the employer routes (482 and 186) Home Affairs uses the 2022 version, for all other skilled visas the 2013 version. An occupation may have been renamed or split into specialisations between those versions, so choose the code that matches the tasks of your position.

The lists change in between. Occupations are added and dropped, without a fixed calendar. So check the list again at the moment you really submit. Always use the overview page of Home Affairs, not a copied list on a migration site: that lags behind by definition. One reassurance: if your occupation is removed from the list while your application is already lodged, that application isn't affected by it.

The list tells you two more things

Next to every occupation on the list it also says which authority does your skills assessment, the assessment of your qualifications and work experience. For example ACS for IT, Engineers Australia for engineers, VETASSESS for many professional occupations. Home Affairs only accepts an assessment from that authority. So that is your next step. The processing times and costs differ considerably per authority. Some occupations also carry caveats: exceptions that exclude the occupation in certain situations, though those only apply to the employer routes.

And the ANZSCO code itself you need later for your Expression of Interest, the registration with which you compete for an invitation. So note it down, together with the date on which you looked. Then at submission you can see at a glance whether something has changed.

What if your occupation isn't on it?

First look whether a related occupation within the same occupational group is on the list and whether your tasks honestly fit under it. That is legitimate, as long as the task description really matches what you do. If there is truly no match, that is a hard answer, but a cheap one: you know it after one evening, instead of after a refused assessment.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 1 of 5 of the journey, step 1.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Australia or go straight to step 1.2 in the open plan.

What this rests on

The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.

Home Affairs — skilled occupation lists, the combined list, the four sub-lists and the two ANZSCO versions — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
Home Affairs — skills assessment, the authority belonging to your occupation — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
Home Affairs — subclass 190, the visa that requires an occupation on the relevant list — immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

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