Careers Counsellor (ANZSCO 272111)

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 Careers Counsellor 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 Careers Counsellor comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Careers Counsellor as a Group A occupation: a qualification comparable to an AQF Bachelor degree or higher in a highly relevant field such as Counselling, or a related field such as Psychology or Social Work plus an AQF Graduate Diploma in Counselling or Psychotherapy, plus at least one year of post-qualification employment in the last five years at appropriate skill level. VETASSESS's own occupation page for Careers Counsellor closes with the same line every counsellor page in this unit group carries but one: "Psychologists are advised to contact the Australian Psychological Society for assessment as a Psychologist for migration purposes" — a direct signal that career-guidance work resembling psychological practice belongs with APS instead of here.

Where these applications come unstuck

VETASSESS's own Careers Counsellor page states in writing which siblings will not be considered under this code: Drug and Alcohol Counsellor, Family and Marriage Counsellor, Rehabilitation Counsellor, Student Counsellor and Counsellors nec. That is a materially different — and shorter, more specific — exclusion list than Rehabilitation Counsellor's own page carries, which names only Drug and Alcohol Counsellor as excluded and nothing else in the unit group. Nominating Careers Counsellor for work that is genuinely closer to one of those five excluded siblings risks an unsuccessful outcome under this specific code, not a fallback assessment against whichever sibling actually fits the evidence.

An honest read on this pathway

Careers Counsellor sits on STSOL alone — no CSOL — reaching only four visas: 190, 407, 491 and 494. That is a materially narrower reach than Rehabilitation Counsellor, which carries STSOL plus CSOL and reaches six visas including 186 and 482. There is no employer-sponsorship route available to Careers Counsellor at all; state or territory nomination, the Temporary Work (International Relations) visa, or a regional visa are the only paths this code opens, regardless of how strong the qualification or the employment evidence actually is when it's assessed.

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 Careers Counsellor 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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