Ship's Engineer (ANZSCO 231212)

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 Ship's Engineer 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).

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Ship's Engineer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

AMSA assesses this code under its own label, Marine Engineer, against three eligible unlimited-grade certificates: Chief Engineer Unlimited (STCW III/2), Second Engineer Unlimited (STCW III/2), and Engineer Watchkeeper Unlimited (STCW III/1). Every rank in the engine department, from watchkeeper to chief engineer, sits under this one code — there is no choice to make between codes inside the engine room. Engineers must submit evidence of shore-based practical workshop training under STCW Code Table A-III/1 column 1, on top of the sea-service letter AMSA requires from every applicant, naming the ship, IMO number, gross tonnage, engine power, and the position actually held. AMSA benchmarks all of it against the requirements for an Australian certificate of competency under Marine Order 70, not merely against whatever certificate the applicant already holds, and certificates carrying an engine-power limit are excluded outright.

Where these applications come unstuck

The certificate itself can quietly disqualify an application before sea service is even considered: AMSA will not assess a certificate carrying an engine propulsion power limit, such as the MCA Small Vessel Engineer CoC, however senior the seagoing career behind it — a binary exclusion, not a weaker case. The sea-service letter is the second failure point: AMSA contacts the issuing authority and named employers directly to verify it, and if a shipping company has since closed, merged, or won't respond, the application closes without refund regardless of how genuine the service was. A third trap sits after the visa is granted: letting the overseas certificate lapse while working in Australia invalidates the certificate of recognition needed to work aboard an Australian-flagged vessel, since that certificate stays available only while the primary overseas certificate remains valid with its issuing country.

An honest read on this pathway

A positive assessment is a migration document, not a work permit — AMSA says this directly, and being on CSOL as well as ROL is what lets this code alone, of the four AMSA assesses, reach the 186 and 482 visas rather than only 494. Two further AMSA processes sit between the letter and a job: a fresh AMSA medical (an overseas ENG1 or OEUK certificate is explicitly not accepted), and, above rating level, a sea-service assessment that can take up to 90 days plus an oral exam, before the certificate of recognition that authorises work on a domestic commercial or regulated Australian vessel is issued. AMSA publishes no pass rate for the oral exam and no typical end-to-end timeline covering assessment, visa grant, and certificate of recognition together, so treat any total-time estimate from elsewhere with caution.

Whichever authority assesses you, the paperwork is the part applicants underestimate. The Document Vault keeps a single register of every document, what it was needed for, and what is still missing.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Ship's Engineer 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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