Drug and Alcohol Counsellor (ANZSCO 272112)

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 Drug and Alcohol 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.

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 Drug and Alcohol Counsellor comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Drug and Alcohol Counsellor as a Group A occupation, requiring a qualification comparable to an AQF Bachelor degree or higher — in Counselling or Psychotherapy directly, or in a related field such as Psychology, Social Work or Mental Health Nursing paired with an AQF Graduate Diploma in Counselling or Psychotherapy — plus at least one year of highly relevant post-qualification employment in the last five years working full time or close to it. Like every other page in this unit group bar Rehabilitation Counsellor, VETASSESS's Drug and Alcohol Counsellor page closes by directing psychologist-adjacent applicants elsewhere: "Psychologists are advised to contact the Australian Psychological Society for assessment as a Psychologist for migration purposes."

Where these applications come unstuck

VETASSESS's own exclusion list for Drug and Alcohol Counsellor names Careers Counsellor, Family and Marriage Counsellor, Rehabilitation Counsellor, Student Counsellor and Counsellors nec as siblings this code will not cover under any circumstances. That five-way exclusion is far more specific than Rehabilitation Counsellor's own page, which excludes only Drug and Alcohol Counsellor by name and nothing else in the unit group — a gap VETASSESS has not explained anywhere on its site. An applicant whose real work sits closer to addiction-specific counselling than to general or family counselling needs the evidence to actually support this particular code, not simply the job title.

An honest read on this pathway

Drug and Alcohol Counsellor carries STSOL plus CSOL, reaching six visas — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494 — including genuine employer sponsorship through 186 and 482. That is a real advantage over Careers Counsellor, Family and Marriage Counsellor and Counsellors nec, all three of which sit on STSOL alone with no CSOL and no employer-sponsored route at all. It still falls one tier short of the four psychologist codes, none of which this code reaches either, so an offshore skilled-independent pathway through 189 or 485 is not open here regardless of qualification strength.

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 Drug and Alcohol 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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