Cartographer (ANZSCO 232213)

On the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills 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 Cartographer 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.

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 Cartographer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Cartographer under its Group A pathway: a qualification comparable to an AQF Bachelor degree or higher in a field highly relevant to the occupation — including GIS, Cartography, and Surveying and Mapping, with relevant subjects such as cadastral studies, photogrammetry, remote sensing and geospatial mathematics — plus at least one year of highly relevant post-qualification employment in the last five years, at 20 or more hours a week. VETASSESS describes the occupation itself as applying scientific, mathematical and cartographic design principles to prepare and revise maps, charts and other cartographic output.

Where these applications come unstuck

This code sits inside VETASSESS's most confusable cluster of occupations. VETASSESS splits it from Other Spatial Scientist by output: roles focused on technical data acquisition and spatial equipment calibration are better suited to the separate occupation Surveying or Spatial Science Technician, while employment whose sole purpose is producing cartographic output or maps fits Cartographer. Nominating this code for broader GIS or spatial-data work that doesn't centre on producing maps and charts sends the application evidence to the wrong test, and Surveyor itself sits outside VETASSESS's remit entirely, assessed instead by ISNSW.

An honest read on this pathway

Cartographer carries both MLTSSL and CSOL, so the visa pathway is genuinely open to someone whose qualification and role genuinely centre on producing cartographic output. This research found no state licensing or protected-title regime for the occupation — that is not confirmed absent, simply not found in the authority sources checked this session, unlike the clear statutory protection covering "architect" and licensed cadastral surveying.

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 Cartographer 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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