My occupation was removed from the skilled list: what now

MARN 1576536

Which list governs which visa

There is no single skilled list. At the date of this page, the points-tested visas draw on the combined skilled occupation list instrument: the 189 can be invited only in occupations on its medium and long-term component, while the 190 and 491 can use occupations on the short-term and regional components as well, where a state nominates them. The 482 Core Skills stream and the 186 draw on the Core Skills Occupation List, introduced in December 2024, which is separately maintained and in many trades and care occupations broader than the points-tested list. Each state and territory publishes its own nomination list, drawn from the national ones but not identical to them. Labour agreements and Designated Area Migration Agreements carry their own occupation schedules, often including occupations on no national list. An occupation removed from one list can remain on three others, and the first task after a removal is to find out which.

The skills assessment

A positive skills assessment is the assessing authority's finding that your qualifications and experience meet the standard for that occupation. It is valid for the period the authority states, or three years from issue where it states none, and a change to a visa's occupation list does not shorten it. What changes is what it can be used for. It still supports any visa whose list carries the occupation, any state nomination that does, and any employer nomination under a list that does. It does not support a visa whose list has dropped the occupation, however valid it remains. The assessing authority will sometimes also stop assessing a removed occupation, and a person mid-assessment is offered the choice of continuing, withdrawing with a partial refund, or changing the nominated occupation; continuing is right only if a usable list still carries it.

The expression of interest

For the 189, an invitation can be issued only if the nominated occupation is on the relevant list at the date of the round, so an expression of interest in a removed occupation sits in SkillSelect and is never invited. For the 190 and 491, invitation follows a state nomination, and a state whose list still carries the occupation can nominate; the expression of interest should then select that state and that visa. The practical step is to update the expression of interest to an occupation and visa combination that can be invited, with the assessment that matches, and to do it promptly, because the date of effect for the new occupation starts when it is entered. The EOI guide covers the mechanics.

An invitation already issued

An invitation fixes the criteria as at its date. An applicant invited in an occupation that is removed the following week applies within the 60 days on the invitation and is decided on the list as it stood when the invitation was issued. The removal does not reach back. What matters is lodging inside the window, complete, with the assessment still valid at the invitation date; an invitation allowed to lapse cannot be re-issued in the removed occupation.

An application already lodged

A lodged application for a points-tested visa is assessed against the occupation list as at invitation, and an employer-sponsored application against the list as at the nomination. A removal after lodgement does not affect a pending application. A nomination lodged after the removal, for an occupation the Core Skills list has dropped, is refused, and the fix is a different occupation or a different route.

Route one: a related occupation

ANZSCO occupations overlap, and the duties that supported one assessment often support another. A removed occupation in a unit group whose other occupations remain listed, a specialist title whose general title is still on the list, a management title whose professional title still qualifies: each is a candidate. The assessing authority for the related occupation assesses on the same qualifications and references, sometimes with additional evidence of the specific duties, and the new assessment takes its usual months and fee. The occupation must genuinely match the work; an assessment obtained by describing duties that were not performed is the kind of document that later fails under PIC 4020. The skills assessment page lists the authorities and their timelines.

Route two: state nomination

State and territory lists are the most common route after a removal from the 189 list, because they draw on the broader components and because several states keep occupations the national list has dropped where their own labour market needs them. Each state sets its own criteria: residence in the state, a job offer, minimum experience, a commitment to live there. The 190 adds five points and the 491 fifteen, and both lead to permanent residence. The eight programs and their current lists are on the state nomination page.

Route three: employer sponsorship

The Core Skills Occupation List is broader than the points-tested list in many occupations, and an occupation removed from the points-tested list often remains sponsorable. An employer that nominates you for a 482 in a Core Skills occupation, at the Core Skills Income Threshold and the market rate, provides a four-year visa and a path to the 186 after two years. The skills assessment held usually satisfies the 482's requirement where one applies. The Core Skills list is searchable by occupation and code.

Route four: Specialist Skills

The 482 Specialist Skills stream has no occupation list, apart from excluding trades, machinery operators and labourers, for roles paid at least the Specialist Skills Income Threshold, A$146,576 from 1 July 2026. An employer willing to pay at that level can sponsor an occupation on no list at all. It is a narrow route in salary terms and a wide one in occupation terms.

Route five: regional agreements

Designated Area Migration Agreements and industry labour agreements carry their own occupation lists, negotiated for the region or sector, and they commonly include occupations the national lists have dropped or never carried, with concessions on salary, English and experience. The employer must be in the agreement's area or sector and endorsed under it. The DAMA pages list the agreements and their occupations.

Keeping watch

Lists change on 1 July most years and at other times by instrument, and the government has signalled that the points-tested visas will move to the Core Skills list in due course. An applicant part-way through an assessment or waiting for an invitation reads the announcements, and where a removal is flagged, lodges what can be lodged before it takes effect. The rounds page and the migration changes page on this site are updated as instruments are made. My job is not on the skilled list covers the routes for occupations that were never listed, which after a removal are the same routes.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Occupation lists are the instruments made under the Migration Regulations 1994 as in force at the date above and change by instrument; thresholds from 1 July 2026. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.