Seven ACS-assessed ICT and data roles — and why the exact code you nominate decides more than you'd expect

One assessment, four pathways, seven occupations

ACS runs a single Migration Skills Assessment across four pathways: Temporary Graduate, Post Australian Study, General Skills and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Which pathway you use is decided by the shape of your qualification and experience, not by which of the seven occupations you nominate.

General Skills is described by ACS as the most common pathway for experienced IT, Data Science and Cyber Security professionals. Its 10-year work-experience window is counted back from the date you submit your online application — not a fixed calendar date — and if your employment history has overlapping roles, ACS only counts the overlap once toward your total experience duration. Relevant IT work experience has to be professional IT employment of at least 20 hours a week.

RPL is aimed at applicants with substantial IT, Data Science or Cyber Security experience who lack a relevant tertiary qualification. It does not assess any tertiary qualifications at all. Instead it sets six years of relevant work experience, with your most recent experience active or within the last two years of your application, plus two Project Reports (one from within the last two years, one from within the last four) and at least two forms of Professional Currency evidence in your nominated code.

Across every pathway, ACS states plainly that it reserves the right to assess the relevance of your experience and determine the standards a nominated occupation is judged against. That discretion matters most in this family because, as the next section covers, several of these duty descriptions sit unusually close together.

The deduction almost everyone misses

ACS's outcome letter names a specific date — the point at which you first held both the qualification and the amount of experience your pathway requires — called the Skill Level Requirement Met Date. Only work completed after that date counts toward the Skilled Employment total that migration points are claimed on. ACS states it directly: all relevant work experience completed after that date is considered Skilled Employment, and the work experience used to meet the suitability criteria in the first place is not included in that total.

The consequence is that your total years of experience and your claimable skilled years are two different numbers. Someone who needed two years of closely-related experience to become eligible under their qualification tier, and has worked eight years in total, does not get eight skilled years on paper — the first two are consumed proving eligibility, leaving six as the claimable total. ACS applies this identically across all seven occupations in this family; the code you nominate changes the inputs to the calculation, not whether the deduction happens.

Three manager codes that open with the same sentence

Chief Information Officer (135111), ICT Project Manager (135112) and ICT Managers nec (135199) are ACS's three manager-tier codes in this family, and their published duty descriptions are genuinely distinct even though they read as close cousins.

Chief Information Officer: plans, organises, directs, controls and coordinates the ICT strategies, plans and operations of an organisation so ICT infrastructure supports the organisation's overall operations and priorities. Organisation-wide and strategic.

ICT Project Manager: plans, organises, directs, controls and coordinates quality accredited ICT projects. Explicitly scoped to a project, not an organisation.

ICT Managers nec: plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate the acquisition, development, maintenance and use of computer and telecommunication systems. The residual code — day-to-day systems and infrastructure management that isn't organisation-wide strategy and isn't a defined project portfolio.

All three open with the same verb pattern, which is exactly why ACS states that employment references with duties copied directly from its Occupations and ANZSCO codes page, or from another reference, will not be accepted. A reference letter describing generic 'IT management' work could plausibly support any of the three — which is the problem ACS's rule exists to stop, and the reason the choice between these codes deserves real scrutiny rather than defaulting to whichever title sounds most senior.

The visa reach differs too. ICT Project Manager and ICT Managers nec both carry the Short-Term Skilled Occupation List plus the Core Skills Occupation List, reaching the Employer Nomination Scheme, state nomination, temporary work streams, the Skills in Demand visa, regional state nomination and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa. Chief Information Officer carries the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List plus the Core Skills Occupation List, but its published reach is narrower — the Employer Nomination Scheme, temporary work streams, the Skills in Demand visa and the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa, without state nomination. That gap between what the list membership would normally suggest and what the published reach actually shows is an unresolved data point; treat the published reach as the current picture.

Data Analyst and Data Scientist: the same assessment, no points-tested route for either

Data Analyst (224114) and Data Scientist (224115) are two of the most-searched occupation titles on the entire list, and the natural assumption — 'IT is a shortage area, so there must be a points-tested route' — is wrong for both of them specifically. Both sit on the Core Skills Occupation List only. Neither carries the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List. Neither has an independent or state-nominated route. The published reach for both is the Employer Nomination Scheme and the Skills in Demand visa — employer-sponsored routes, and nothing else.

ACS draws the line between the two occupations at algorithm-building. Data Analyst's own duty text: gathers, processes, analyses and interprets data using data analytical tools — descriptive and statistical work. Data Scientist's own duty text: applies analytical techniques and scientific procedures to datasets by creating algorithms, and specifically builds and deploys machine learning and artificial intelligence frameworks. That machine-learning line is the clearest marker ACS itself publishes for telling the two apart.

Because both codes carry identical visa reach, nominating the wrong one of the two doesn't open or close a visa route — but it does change whether ACS accepts the nomination at all, since the ML/AI-framework distinction is exactly the line an assessor checks a reference letter against. A third, separately-assessed ACS code sits nearby and is easy to reach for by mistake: ICT Business Analyst, which covers analysing an organisation's business processes and systems rather than analysing data. 'Analyst' appears in both titles; the underlying work is a different discipline.

Web Administrator is not Web Designer

Web Administrator (313113) is ACS-assessed: designs, builds and maintains websites, and provides web technology solutions and services. A closely-worded but differently-authorised occupation sits one keystroke away in casual conversation — Web Designer (232414) — and it is assessed by VETASSESS, not ACS. VETASSESS describes a Web Designer as someone who plans, designs, develops and prepares information for internet publication with particular emphasis on the user interface, ease of navigation and location of information, using text, pictures, animation, sound, colours, layout and data sources.

The consequences of picking the wrong side of this line are real: a different assessing authority, a different application portal, a different fee, and different evidence — VETASSESS asks for a design portfolio for Web Designer, where ACS's evidence regime is the reference-letter and payment-evidence model described below. Nothing transfers between the two if you submit to the wrong one.

The honest test is your actual day-to-day work, not your job title. Server, CMS, hosting and deployment work points to Web Administrator. Visual design, navigation, colour and layout work points to Web Designer.

What ACS wants as evidence — and what it explicitly won't accept

For every occupation in this family, ACS requires an employment reference signed by an authorised person from the company, with a digital signature and verification certificate preferred, stating your actual duties as bullet points. ACS explicitly will not accept employment contracts, offer letters, appointment letters or position descriptions as evidence of duties — they are described as not assessable.

For payment evidence, ACS accepts payslips, bank statements, tax records, and insurance or superannuation documents naming both you and your employer. When you provide two types of payment evidence, at least one has to come from a source other than the employer.

Applicants who cannot get an employer reference — including the self-employed, a real scenario for independent ICT Project Managers and contracting Data Analysts — can submit a Statutory Declaration instead.

One more limit worth knowing before you rely on any outcome letter: ACS states directly that a suitable letter is not a formal IT award, qualification or licence and should not be used as such. Its stated purpose is that you may submit it to the Department of Home Affairs, or a relevant Australian government authority, as evidence of a successful assessment — migration evidence, nothing more.

No licence sits behind any of these seven

Unlike engineering, health or teaching, none of these seven occupations carries a state licence or board registration requirement on top of the ACS assessment. A positive ACS outcome is both necessary and sufficient to be recognised as skilled for Chief Information Officer, ICT Project Manager, ICT Managers nec, ICT Trainer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist and Web Administrator alike — there is no second regulator standing between a visa grant and starting work in any of these roles.

Where the sponsors are

Any employer-sponsored route in this family is subject to the standard minimum salary thresholds that apply to sponsored ICT roles generally — check the Department of Home Affairs' current published figures directly rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere, since they're indexed annually.

South Australia's Adelaide City Technology and Innovation Advancement DAMA — a Designated Area Migration Agreement specific to that city's tech sector — names Chief Information Officer and ICT Project Manager directly on its published occupation list, under its Specialist Managers category. That's a genuine, city-specific labour-agreement lane worth knowing about if your employer is Adelaide-based, since DAMA lanes typically carry concessions not available on the standard employer-sponsored route. No source found in this research named ICT Managers nec, ICT Trainer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist or Web Administrator on that same list — their absence there isn't evidence they're excluded from every labour-agreement lane nationally, only that they weren't found on this particular one. Check the current DAMA occupation lists for your own region directly.

What real applicants have run into

First-hand accounts specific to this family are thin, but a handful of real, verifiable posts touch directly on these codes.

One applicant, unsure whether their qualification counted as an ICT Major or Minor under General Skills, wrote: 'I am not sure if this qualifies as ICT major or minor. I see that only 10-15% subjects are related to ICT directly.' They went on to report a successful ACS assessment shortly after — the uncertainty itself is the useful data point, since the Major/Minor line isn't always obvious from a transcript.

On the experience-tier timing gap, one poster warned another with roughly three years of IT experience that they would not pass the ACS assessment outside the newly-graduated tier — a recurring trap in how ACS's experience tiers are structured, described in the forum's own (older) tier naming rather than ACS's current pathway names above.

On Web Administrator specifically, one applicant listed '313113 - Web administrator' among the codes they considered before concluding it wasn't on that year's independent-visa list — consistent with this code's current published reach, which excludes the independent 189 today as well.

On ICT Trainer, one poster described a partner's occupation as sitting on the more restrictive schedule, naming '223211 - ICT Trainer' directly — consistent with this code's current STSOL-only placement.

No real forum account specific to Chief Information Officer, ICT Managers nec, Data Analyst or Data Scientist was found; that gap is left as is rather than filled with an invented example.

Is 482 the independent visa for IT occupations?

No. Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) is an employer-sponsored visa — an Australian business has to nominate you. The independent, points-tested route is subclass 189, and it depends on your occupation sitting on the right list. Two occupations in this family, Data Analyst and Data Scientist, don't reach 189 at all on the current published data; their only routes are employer-sponsored.

Does being an IT occupation automatically mean there's a points-tested pathway?

No, and this is the single most consequential fact for Data Analyst and Data Scientist specifically. Both carry the Core Skills Occupation List only, with no Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List membership, no independent 189, and no state nomination — reach is limited to the Employer Nomination Scheme (186) and Skills in Demand (482). Other ACS-assessed codes in this same family, like ICT Project Manager, do carry state-nomination reach. Check the specific code, not the industry.

What's the actual difference between Data Analyst and Data Scientist for ACS purposes?

ACS's own duty text draws the line at algorithm-building. Data Analyst is framed around gathering, processing, analysing and interpreting data using analytical tools — descriptive and statistical work. Data Scientist explicitly includes creating algorithms and building and deploying machine learning and artificial intelligence frameworks. Since both codes carry the same visa reach, the choice doesn't change which visas are theoretically available — it changes whether ACS accepts the nomination against what your reference letter actually describes you doing.

How is Chief Information Officer different from ICT Project Manager or ICT Managers nec?

ACS's own wording: Chief Information Officer is organisation-wide ICT strategy; ICT Project Manager is explicitly scoped to running projects; ICT Managers nec is the residual code for day-to-day systems and infrastructure management. All three share a similar opening verb pattern in ACS's published text, which is exactly why ACS refuses reference letters that copy that text rather than describing the specific role performed.

Is Web Administrator the same as Web Designer for migration purposes?

No — they're assessed by entirely different authorities. Web Administrator (313113) is assessed by ACS and is framed around building and maintaining websites and web technology infrastructure. Web Designer (232414) is assessed by VETASSESS and is framed around visual design, user interface and navigation, and requires a design portfolio rather than ACS's reference-letter model. Submitting to the wrong authority wastes the fee and the processing time, with no transferability between the two.

I have years of IT experience but no relevant degree. Can I still be assessed?

ACS's Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) pathway exists for exactly this situation. It doesn't assess any tertiary qualifications at all. Instead it requires six years of relevant work experience, with your most recent experience active or within the last two years, plus two Project Reports and at least two forms of Professional Currency evidence in your nominated code.

Why does my ACS outcome letter show fewer 'skilled' years than I actually worked?

ACS's outcome letter names a Skill Level Requirement Met Date — the point you first held both the qualification and experience your pathway required. Only work completed after that date counts as Skilled Employment for points purposes; the years spent becoming eligible in the first place are explicitly excluded from that total. This applies identically across all seven occupations in this family.

Do I need a separate licence to work in one of these roles once I'm assessed?

No. None of these seven occupations carries a state licence or board registration requirement beyond the ACS assessment itself. ACS states its outcome letter is migration evidence only, not a formal IT award, qualification or licence — but there is no second regulator standing between a positive assessment and starting work in any of these roles.