Archaeologist (ANZSCO 272414)
On the Regional 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 Archaeologist on?
ROL — Regional Occupation List. Occupations on the ROL are limited to the regional provisional visas — mainly the Skilled Work Regional 491 and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional 494.
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).
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494) — Provisional, regional employer sponsored · all occupations for the 494
Processing priority
Archaeologist isn't in any of the ANZSCO groups that Directions 121 and 122 list for the priority sectors. Some of the first group is defined by the job rather than the code: a nominated position directly involved in agriculture, aquaculture or fishing, one that directly supports mining, oil and gas or coal production, or one related to defence. Otherwise the application is processed after the priority sectors. For the permanent and provisional skilled visas, applicants who were in Australia when they applied come next, then those who applied from outside Australia. For the 482, Specialist Skills stream applications come before both.
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 Archaeologist comes from:
- Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS) (official site) · our guide to the VETASSESS process
What the assessment actually involves
Archaeologist is a VETASSESS Group A occupation, assessed the same single-pathway way as Historian and Social Professionals nec: an AQF Bachelor degree or higher in a field highly relevant to the occupation, plus at least one year of highly relevant employment in the last five years, with no alternative route available. VETASSESS names Archaeology itself as the highly relevant field of study, which is a narrower bar than a general related humanities or heritage degree might suggest.
Where these applications come unstuck
Because Group A has no Pathway 2, 3 or 4, a degree in a neighbouring field — anthropology, history, heritage management — carries real risk of not being accepted as highly relevant, with no employment-length trade-off to fall back on, unlike every Group B, C and D occupation in this same family. Archaeologist is also one of the two occupations VETASSESS explicitly names as excluded from Social Professionals nec, so archaeological research work cannot be redirected to that nec code if the named occupation's own evidence does not line up.
An honest read on this pathway
Archaeologist sits on the Regional Occupation List, reaching only the regional-sponsored subclass 494 visa — a narrower reach than most of this family's other occupations. The underlying single-pathway structure is otherwise identical to Historian's: strong for a genuinely archaeology-qualified applicant with recent, directly relevant employment, and offering no fallback for anyone without both a relevant degree and a relevant, recent job to show for it.
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 Archaeologist 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.
Related occupations
All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents