Flying Instructor (ANZSCO 231113)

On the Regional Occupation List and Core Skills 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 Flying Instructor on?

ROL — Regional Occupation List. Occupations on the ROL are limited to the regional provisional visas — mainly the Skilled Work Regional 491 and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional 494.

CSOL — Core Skills Occupation List. The employer-sponsorship list — occupations on the CSOL can be nominated for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Employer Nomination Scheme 186.

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

Flying Instructor 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 Flying Instructor comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS treats Flying Instructor as a Group B occupation, requiring a qualification comparable to an AQF Bachelor degree or higher through one of four pathways: one year of employment with a highly relevant degree, two years with a non-relevant degree plus a highly relevant Diploma-level top-up, three years with a non-relevant degree and no top-up, or six years of employment where only one year, within the last five, needs to be highly relevant. The qualification itself has to be in flight instruction specifically, not aviation generally — training pilots toward a private or commercial licence. VETASSESS's own occupation description adds one line worth not skipping: registration or licensing is required.

Where these applications come unstuck

The confusable-code trap here is naming, not evidence. VETASSESS lists Helicopter Pilot Instructor as a suitable title under Flying Instructor (231113) — a title one keystroke from Helicopter Pilot (231114), a different occupation entirely assessed by CASA, not VETASSESS. Nominate under the wrong title and the application goes to the wrong body. The pathway VETASSESS uses to close the qualification gap, six years of employment with only one highly relevant, is generous on paper, but the shorter pathways still demand a genuinely flight-instruction-specific study background — a general aviation or engineering degree does not automatically count as highly relevant here.

An honest read on this pathway

The four-pathway structure makes this occupation genuinely reachable without a purpose-built degree, provided the employment record is real and continuous. What VETASSESS's own page does not resolve is the licensing side: it states registration or licensing is required, which in Australia sits with CASA under flight crew licensing rules for the Flight Instructor Rating specifically — and the exact requirements for that rating could not be confirmed from a primary CASA source for this guide, because casa.gov.au blocks this research environment. A positive VETASSESS assessment supports the visa; whether it lines up with what CASA requires for the rating is a separate question to check directly with CASA.

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 Flying Instructor 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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