Interior Designer (ANZSCO 232511)

On the Short-term Skilled 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 Interior 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.

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 Interior Designer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Interior Designer as a Group B occupation: an AQF Bachelor-or-higher qualification, plus one to six years of post-qualification employment depending on how closely the degree's field matches the role, with the qualification itself required under every pathway including the six-year unrelated-field route. A portfolio of design work must be submitted alongside the standard qualification and employment evidence, and the occupation covers planning, designing, detailing and supervising the construction of commercial, industrial, retail and residential building interiors.

Where these applications come unstuck

Interior Designer excludes Architect, Architectural Draftsperson, Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians nec, Interior Decorator, Civil Engineering Draftsperson and Visual Merchandisers — six adjacent occupations that share vocabulary and sometimes job titles with interior design work. The Interior Decorator exclusion matters most in practice: the two titles are used interchangeably in Australian industry, but they sit at different VETASSESS tiers, and applying under the wrong one has real consequences rather than cosmetic ones.

An honest read on this pathway

Interior Designer carries STSOL and CSOL, reaching 186 and 482 employer sponsorship as well as 190, 407, 491 and 494. A Bachelor-qualified interior designer who nominates Interior Decorator instead — because a recruiter or an old forum thread used the terms loosely — gives up this entire employer-sponsored reach for no qualification benefit, since a Bachelor degree already clears Interior Decorator's lower Diploma-level bar.

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 Interior 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.

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