Medical Laboratory Technician (ANZSCO 311213)

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 Medical Laboratory Technician 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 Medical Laboratory Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

This code shares AIMS's combined process with Medical Laboratory Scientist (234611) rather than running its own separate application — one submission, one assessment committee, considering both codes together. It also has a direct route: a qualification comparable to an Australian TAFE diploma (AQF Level 5) in medical laboratory science plus two years of full-time diagnostic pathology laboratory experience in the last five years, with no examination required. The more common way applicants land here, though, is by not qualifying for, or failing, the Scientist-level Professional Examination and being assessed as suitable for this code instead — a built-in fallback, not a separate reapplication.

Where these applications come unstuck

Treating this as a lesser version of Medical Laboratory Scientist that can be upgraded later by resubmitting the same evidence is a misunderstanding — the tier depends on the underlying qualification, and a diploma-level qualification does not become a degree-level one on a second attempt. Confusing this occupation with Pathology Collector (311216) is the other real trap in the unit group: Pathology Collector runs on an entirely separate document set, a Certificate III-equivalent plus a first-aid certificate, and does not connect to this ladder at all, so nominating the wrong one wastes an assessment on the wrong evidence list.

An honest read on this pathway

Like its Scientist-tier sibling, this occupation has no statutory registration or licensing in Australia once assessed — AIMS runs a voluntary certification scheme rather than a legal gate to employment. That makes a positive result functionally final for legal work rights, which is unusual across this whole family of small authorities. The diploma-plus-experience route without an exam is genuinely accessible for someone with the right paper qualification, but the result carries the same fixed three-year validity as the Scientist tier, so timing an application against visa lodgement is worth planning deliberately.

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 Medical Laboratory Technician 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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