Economist (ANZSCO 224311)

On the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills 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 Economist on?

MLTSSL — Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List. The widest list — occupations on the MLTSSL can access the points-tested permanent skilled visas including the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), which needs no state nomination or employer.

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).

Processing priority

Economist isn't in any of the ANZSCO groups that Directions 121 and 122 list for the priority sectors. Some of the first group is defined by the job rather than the code: a nominated position directly involved in agriculture, aquaculture or fishing, one that directly supports mining, oil and gas or coal production, or one related to defence. Otherwise the application is processed after the priority sectors. For the permanent and provisional skilled visas, applicants who were in Australia when they applied come next, then those who applied from outside Australia. For the 482, Specialist Skills stream applications come before both.

Priority changes the order in which lodged applications are looked at, not whether they are granted. Who is invited to apply through SkillSelect is decided separately. See all 202 occupations in the priority sectors.

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Economist comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Economist under Group A, the same single-pathway, Bachelor-plus-one-year structure as Actuary, Statistician, Land Economist and Valuer — but Economics is the only field named as highly relevant, with no case-by-case alternative field list at all, narrower than every other Group A occupation in this cluster. Its own page excludes Actuary, Mathematician, Statistician, Financial Investment Adviser, Financial Investment Manager and the Financial Dealer occupations by name.

Where these applications come unstuck

Its own page states plainly that roles focused on financial analysis will not meet the requirements for this occupation — a common mismatch, given how similar a financial analyst's day-to-day work and job title can look to an economist's on a CV. Applicants whose real work is investment research or financial analysis, rather than macroeconomic or microeconomic policy analysis, risk a task-mismatch finding despite an Economics-adjacent background.

An honest read on this pathway

Economist is the outlier of its own Group A cluster: it sits on MLTSSL only and reaches 189, 190, 407, 485, 491 and 494, but not 482 or 186 — while Actuary, Statistician, Land Economist and Valuer, assessed under the identical Group A structure, all reach 482 and 186 via CSOL. The gap is a list-membership fact, not a reflection of assessment difficulty.

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 Economist 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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