Australia’s Core Skills Occupation List holds 456 occupations, and being on it is only the first of two hurdles. The second is the one nobody explains: for the permanent route, what your occupation actually needs in points, which ranges from the published minimum to thirty points above it.
Australia is effectively running a scarcity auction and publishing the results, which makes it the most legible immigration system in the world once you know where to look.
What the list is
The Core Skills Occupation List was introduced on 7 December 2024, consolidating the old Temporary Skill Shortage 482 occupation lists into a single list of 456 occupations and incorporating 16 new or modified ANZSCO occupations. It did not replace the MLTSSL or STSOL, which still exist for other purposes, so you may find your occupation on one list and not another.
It sits under the Skills in Demand visa, which replaced the TSS 482 with a three-tiered structure based on annual earnings and occupation. For most people that means the core stream, and the core stream means the income threshold below.
The two numbers for employer sponsorship
| Amount | Note | |
|---|---|---|
| Core Skills Income Threshold | AUD 79,423 | From 1 July 2026, up from AUD 76,515. Applied at nomination for subclasses 482, 494 and 186, and indexed each 1 July |
| Subclass 482 visa charge | AUD 4,015 | For you, and AUD 4,015 again for each dependant aged 18 or over. AUD 1,005 under 18. Up from AUD 3,210 |
That second row is the highest visa charge in the developed world and it is charged per adult, so a couple pays over AUD 8,000 before anything else. It is routinely left out of comparisons. Full costs in salary floors and what they cost you.
The number that actually decides it
For the permanent, unsponsored route, the subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa, the published minimum is 65 points. What invitations actually required in the 2025-26 programme year is a different matter entirely:
| Occupation group | Points that received an invitation |
|---|---|
| Trades: stonemason, wall and floor tiler, carpenter, plasterer, gasfitter, glazier | 65, the published minimum |
| Healthcare | 75 to 80 |
| Engineering | 85 to 90 |
| ICT | 90 to 95 |
Thirty points is not a margin, it is a different application. It is the difference between qualifying on age, English and experience alone, and needing a doctorate, superior English, a partner with a skills assessment and state nomination on top.
So the honest advice splits. If you are a tradesperson, Australia is the best offer available anywhere and you should treat the 189 as your primary plan. If you are in ICT, the published 65 is actively misleading and you should either target state nomination or look at Canada instead. Volume for context: the SkillSelect round on 4 June 2026 issued 10,000 invitations, and November 2025 issued 10,000 as the programme year’s first round. See Canada and Australia compared.
Where nomination changes the maths
If your occupation’s cutoff is out of reach, the lever is regional. A state nomination on a subclass 190 adds five points, and a regional subclass 491 adds fifteen. For an ICT applicant facing a 90-point bar, fifteen points from a regional commitment is the difference between applying and not.
The trade-off is that you agree to live somewhere specific, usually outside the big cities, for a defined period. That should be a decision rather than a discovery. See the subclass 190 and the 186, 189 and 190 compared.
The other list worth reading: the Skills Priority List
Australia separately assesses how well occupations are being filled, against a threshold of 67 per cent. Anything below counts as a shortage, and the numbers are more specific than any list of occupation names:
- Internal audit: around 40 per cent. The deepest professional shortage in the data.
- General accountant and external audit: around 49 per cent.
- Taxation accountant: around 55 per cent.
- Finance managers: assessed as about right. Not a shortage, and the shortage argument is not available to them.
That is how to read Australian policy generally. Being on the Core Skills Occupation List makes you eligible. Being in a genuinely unfilled occupation makes you wanted, and the two are different things. More in accountant jobs abroad.
What to do
- Find your ANZSCO occupation on the Core Skills Occupation List. Everything is decided by the code, not the job title.
- Look up what your occupation group actually cleared, not the published 65.
- Start the skills assessment. It is run by an assessing authority for your occupation, separately from immigration, and it is usually the slowest step.
- Sort out state licensing if your trade or profession is licensed. It is state-based, not national.
- Price it per adult. AUD 4,015 each changes the answer for a family.
Related: the subclass 189 in full, applying for visa jobs in Australia and Australian skill level 1 jobs and salaries. Browse Australian shortage jobs with visa sponsorship on our board.
Last checked September 2026. The income threshold indexes each 1 July and invitation cutoffs are observations from past rounds rather than rules. Confirm your occupation and its current requirements with the Department of Home Affairs.
