Nurse Researcher (ANZSCO 254212)

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 Nurse Researcher 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 Nurse Researcher comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Nurse Researcher runs through the same two ANMAC pathways as Nurse Educator. Full skills assessment accepts current or prior registration in one of seven listed countries — Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom or the United States — without needing Australian or New Zealand registration first. Modified skills assessment instead requires the applicant already hold current registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, the Nursing Council of New Zealand, or the Midwifery Council of New Zealand. ANMAC describes this specific code in its own words: it "designs, conducts and evaluates nursing and multidisciplinary research projects" — a description that distinguishes it clearly from both the education-focused Nurse Educator code and the unit-management focus of Nurse Manager.

Where these applications come unstuck

Because the task descriptions for Nurse Researcher, Nurse Educator and Nurse Manager are genuinely distinct in ANMAC's own wording, the risk with this code is less about nomination ambiguity and more about the same evidence gate every ANMAC code carries: choosing a code your professional reference does not actually support means ANMAC "will need to contact you and it may delay your application." Nurse Researcher reaches STSOL plus CSOL, the stronger of the two list combinations available to this ANMAC trio, matching Nurse Educator and reaching four more visas — including 186 and 482 — than Nurse Manager, whose title reads as more senior but whose list access is narrower.

An honest read on this pathway

A positive ANMAC outcome for Nurse Researcher is a migration-assessment result only. ANMAC states without qualification that it "does not assess nurses or midwives for registration to practise in Australia" and that registration runs through the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia via Ahpra instead. For applicants outside the seven Full-pathway countries, Modified skills assessment requires that Board registration is already in place before the code-specific assessment happens — so for most applicants, NMBA registration is the first gate, and the ANMAC code decision, including whether Nurse Researcher genuinely fits the applicant's actual work, comes second.

Registration and assessment both need paperwork. Nursing and health applications run two document trails at once — the skills assessment and professional registration. The Document Vault keeps one register of what you hold, what each body has asked for, and what is still outstanding.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Nurse Researcher 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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