Interpreter (ANZSCO 272412)

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 Interpreter 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 Interpreter comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

NAATI is the specified assessing authority for this code, but the eligibility gate sits earlier than the assessment itself: a NAATI skills assessment is generally only available to applicants already sponsored by an employer or nominated by a state or territory government, not to an independent points-tested applicant applying cold. Reaching that gate requires actual NAATI certification gained through sitting a test — a Recognised Practising credential, though a genuine and currently valid NAATI credential for interpreting work, is explicitly not eligible to be used for a skills assessment. Certification, and the assessment built on it, generally stays valid for three years, extended on successful recertification.

Where these applications come unstuck

The single biggest failure mode in this occupation is discovering only after starting that the sponsorship-or-nomination gate applies — an independent applicant with strong language skills and no employer or state nomination already in place may not be able to obtain a skills assessment for this code at all, regardless of how well they would perform on a NAATI test. A second trap is assuming any NAATI credential will do; only a tested certification satisfies the assessment, so a Recognised Practising credential earned through the lower non-test pathway needs to be upgraded first.

An honest read on this pathway

The pathway genuinely depends on already having a sponsor or state nomination lined up before the assessment step becomes reachable at all, which makes this one of the more gated occupations in this family for anyone without that arrangement in place. Separately, NAATI certification and the Credentialed Community Language test can earn migration points for qualifications or skilled employment outside this sponsorship-gated skills-assessment mechanism — a genuinely different, points-only use of the same credential that does not require a sponsor.

Whichever authority assesses you, the paperwork is the part applicants underestimate. The Document Vault keeps a single register of every document, what it was needed for, and what is still missing.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Interpreter 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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