Fashion Designer (ANZSCO 232311)

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 Fashion Designer 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 Fashion Designer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Fashion Designer as a Group B occupation, requiring a qualification comparable to an AQF Bachelor degree or higher. Four pathways trade off how closely the degree's field matches the occupation against how many years of post-qualification employment you can evidence, from one year (highly relevant degree) up to six years (any Bachelor, unrelated field). A portfolio of design work, capped at 5MB per sample, must be submitted alongside the qualification and employment evidence.

Where these applications come unstuck

Fashion Designer excludes Industrial Designer, Jewellery Designer, Apparel Cutter and Clothing Patternmaker by name, so a title drawn loosely from a garment-industry job ad can point at the wrong code. Self-employed applicants, common in this field, face a heavier evidence bar than salaried staff: sole-trading or business registration details, an accountant's or solicitor's letter, a statutory declaration of duties, and invoices matched against bank statements, rather than a single employer-letterhead statement.

An honest read on this pathway

Fashion Designer sits on the STSOL only, with no CSOL listing, so it cannot be nominated for the employer-sponsored 186 or 482 visas at all. The genuinely open routes are 190, 407, 491 and 494 — state or regional pathways rather than direct employer sponsorship, worth knowing before assuming a design job offer alone will carry a visa. There is also no dedicated fashion or design-industry labour agreement lane on the official register, so an employer-led route around this gap does not currently exist for the occupation either.

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 Fashion Designer 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.

Compare registered agents — free

Related occupations

All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents