Manufacturer (ANZSCO 133411)

On the Short-term Skilled Occupation List

From the official Home Affairs skilled occupation lists, as at 2026-08-12. Lists change at each government update — always confirm on the official page before acting.

Which lists is Manufacturer on?

STSOL — Short-term Skilled Occupation List. Occupations on the STSOL can access state-nominated and regional skilled visas (190/491), but not the Skilled Independent 189.

Visas this occupation can access

Being on a list makes the occupation nominatable for these visas — each visa still has its own requirements (points, age, English, a positive skills assessment, and for sponsored visas a willing employer or state).

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Manufacturer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Manufacturer is a VETASSESS occupation on STSOL only, reaching four visa subclasses — state nomination and both regional streams, but no direct Employer Nomination or Skills in Demand main-stream sponsorship, since it carries no CSOL listing. Unlike Importer or Exporter and Wholesaler, VETASSESS states plainly that it is common for Manufacturers to be self-employed or part owners of the establishment, and sets out exactly what self-employed applicants must provide: sole-trading or business registration details, and an accountant's or solicitor's statement naming the applicant, the dates of self-employment and the nature of the business.

Where these applications come unstuck

The occupation is explicitly reclassified where it shouldn't be nominated: applicants limited to planning, directing, controlling and coordinating production activities inside a manufacturing operation are told directly to nominate Production Manager instead. A factory floor manager whose job title is Manufacturer, but whose actual duties are production-side rather than commercial or ownership-side, risks a mismatch between the code claimed and the description VETASSESS is testing the evidence against — the commercial or ownership dimension is what separates this code from its Production Manager siblings.

An honest read on this pathway

Four subclasses, no direct employer sponsorship route, but the one code in this family's owner-operator trio with a genuinely worked-out self-employment pathway — accountant's statement, business registration, payment evidence, all spelled out rather than left to an organisational chart a sole trader cannot produce. The trade-off against Importer or Exporter and Wholesaler is real: narrower visa reach, but an evidence path that actually fits how a self-employed applicant would document the work.

VETASSESS assesses qualifications and employment separately. Both need documentation that agrees with itself. The Employment History Builder and Document Vault organise each trail before you lodge.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Manufacturer is your best route depends on your points, experience evidence and timing — exactly what a MARA-registered agent works through in an initial consultation. Describe your situation once through Migratio and compare real consultation quotes from registered agents, free.

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