Registered Nurse (Aged Care) (ANZSCO 254412)

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 Registered Nurse (Aged Care) 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).

Processing priority

Registered Nurse (Aged Care) is a healthcare occupation under Directions 121 and 122 (ANZSCO Sub-Major Group 25, Health Professionals). Since 19 September 2026, skilled visa applications by a primary applicant in this occupation are in the first group processed: for the 482 under Direction 121, and for the permanent and provisional skilled visas, including the 186, 189, 190, 491 and 494, under Direction 122.

Priority changes the order in which lodged applications are looked at, not whether they are granted. Who is invited to apply through SkillSelect is decided separately. See all 202 occupations in the priority sectors.

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Registered Nurse (Aged Care) comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

ANMAC's core assessment — qualification comparability, English test evidence, and the Full or Modified Skills Assessment route — is the same regardless of which Registered Nurse specialisation code you nominate. What earns you the Aged Care code specifically, rather than the general Registered Nurse (Not Elsewhere Classified) code, is a professional reference evidencing a recent period of paid work in an aged care setting — ANMAC sets the minimum duration and how recent it must be, and that threshold is the thing to confirm with ANMAC directly before you rely on it. ANMAC runs more than one assessment route, and which one applies depends on where you trained and where you are registered — check the current pathway list on ANMAC's site, as the eligible countries and the English evidence each route requires do change.

Where these applications come unstuck

The recurring trap is timing: aged care experience that falls outside ANMAC's recency window cannot support the specific code — it only ever counts toward the general Registered Nurse (Not Elsewhere Classified) code, so confirm the current window before assuming older experience carries. Nurses who spent early career years in residential aged care and then moved into general ward nursing often assume that history still carries the specific code; it does not.

An honest read on this pathway

Genuinely open for a nurse who can produce a recent, specific reference — the barrier is rarely the specialty itself but whether the applicant has kept, or can retrieve, an employer reference precise enough to name the facility and hours worked, not just a general nursing job title.

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 Registered Nurse (Aged Care) 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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