Family and Marriage Counsellor (ANZSCO 272113)

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 Family and Marriage 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 Family and Marriage Counsellor comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Family and Marriage Counsellor as a Group A occupation: an AQF Bachelor degree or higher in Counselling or Psychotherapy, or a related field such as Psychology, Social Work or Mental Health Nursing plus an AQF Graduate Diploma in Counselling or Psychotherapy, alongside at least one year of highly relevant post-qualification employment in the last five years. VETASSESS's own occupation page names Family Court Counsellor specifically as a suitable role under this code — the only sibling title it names as included rather than excluded anywhere in this unit group — before closing with the standard line directing psychologist-adjacent applicants to APS instead of VETASSESS.

Where these applications come unstuck

VETASSESS's Family and Marriage Counsellor page names its own exclusions in writing: Careers Counsellor, Drug and Alcohol Counsellor, Rehabilitation Counsellor, Student Counsellor and Counsellors nec are all stated as not considered under this code at all. That is a full five-way exclusion list, unlike Rehabilitation Counsellor's own page, which names only one excluded sibling and stops there. An applicant doing genuinely broader relationship or general counselling work risks a poor outcome nominating this specific, family-and-marriage-focused code, just as narrowly-focused applicants risk the reverse mistake nominating a broader sibling code instead.

An honest read on this pathway

Family and Marriage Counsellor sits on STSOL alone, reaching four visas — 190, 407, 491 and 494 — with no CSOL and therefore no 186 or 482 employer-sponsored route available. That is the same narrow tier as Careers Counsellor and Counsellors nec, and genuinely narrower than Rehabilitation Counsellor, which reaches six visas including both employer-sponsored options through its CSOL membership. Someone whose real practice spans both family counselling and, say, rehabilitation or student counselling has a real reason to check which code their actual evidence supports before nominating either one.

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 Family and Marriage 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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