Australia's Skilled Occupation Lists Explained (MLTSSL, STSOL, ROL & CSOL)

The practical hierarchy is simple: if your occupation is on the MLTSSL you have the widest set of options, including the points-tested independent visa with no state or employer involved. If it is on the STSOL or ROL only, your route runs through a state or a regional employer.

Australia has run a persistent engineering shortage for a decade, and the lists reflect it. Effectively all of the 233xxx professional engineering codes — civil, structural, geotechnical, electrical, electronics, mechanical, chemical, mining, petroleum, environmental, aeronautical, biomedical, industrial, production, naval architecture, engineering technologist and engineering professionals nec — sit on the MLTSSL, along with 133211 Engineering Manager and the telecommunications codes 263311 and 263312.

The 312xxx draftsperson and technician codes generally sit on the STSOL, which means state nomination or a regional pathway rather than the independent 189. This is a good reason to check carefully whether your qualification supports Engineering Technologist (233914, MLTSSL) instead.

ICT codes assessed by the ACS — 261111, 261311, 261312, 261313, 263111 — are on the MLTSSL.

1. Confirm your ANZSCO code from your duties, not your job title.
2. Check the code against the current list on the Department of Home Affairs website — this is the only authoritative source, and it changes.
3. Check the specific visa subclass page, because a code being "on a list" is not the same as being eligible for a given subclass.
4. Check each state and territory's own nomination list separately; they publish their own, narrower, lists with their own conditions.
5. Check whether your assessing authority actually assesses that code.

Never rely on a third-party list — including this page — as your final check. Occupation lists are revised by legislative instrument and third-party pages lag. Verify on the Home Affairs site on the day you act.

Removal does not invalidate a skills assessment you already hold, and it does not affect a visa application already lodged. It does mean you cannot lodge a new EOI or visa application relying on that occupation for that subclass.

If this happens, the realistic options are: a state or regional pathway that still lists the code; an employer-sponsored route under the CSOL; or a re-assessment under a closely related code your qualification and experience genuinely support.