Irrigation Designer (ANZSCO 311115)

On the 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 Irrigation Designer on?

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 in Demand visa (subclass 482) — Temporary, employer sponsored · all occupations for the 482
• Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186) — Permanent, employer sponsored · all occupations for the 186

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Irrigation Designer comes from:

• Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services (VETASSESS) (official site) · our guide to the VETASSESS process

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Irrigation Designer as a Group C occupation on the shorter "highly relevant employment within the last five years" wording rather than the more common post-qualification, 20-hours-a-week phrasing used across most of this family. Its own occupation page excludes three titles at once — "Irrigation Technician," Landscape Architect and Farm Hand — which is notable because "Irrigation Technician" is a real job title with no dedicated ANZSCO code of its own anywhere in this occupation family.

Where these applications come unstuck

Anyone holding the job title "Irrigation Technician" rather than "Irrigation Designer" is the specific trap here: VETASSESS's own exclusion list rules that title out under this code by name, and no alternative code in the family names it as suitable instead, leaving genuinely design-adjacent irrigation technician work without an obvious home. This code reaches Employer Nomination and Skills in Demand via the Core Skills Occupation List only.

An honest read on this pathway

For applicants whose work is genuinely irrigation design — system layout, specification and planning rather than field installation or maintenance — the sponsorship pathway is open on the same Core Skills Occupation List terms as its siblings. For applicants whose actual job title and duties sit closer to "Irrigation Technician," this dossier found no code that names the title as accepted, which is worth confirming directly before nominating.

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 Irrigation Designer 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.

Compare registered agents — free

Related occupations

• Agricultural and Agritech Technician (311112)
• Agricultural Technician (311111)
• Animal Husbandry Technician (311113)
• Aquaculture or Fisheries Technician (311114)

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