Earth Science Technician (ANZSCO 311412)

On the Short-term Skilled Occupation List and 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 Earth Science 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.

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 assessment

A positive skills assessment for Earth Science Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Earth Science Technician as a Group C occupation, confirmed directly on its own page as requiring an AQF Diploma or higher. It sits on the Short-term list plus the Core Skills Occupation List, reaching all six visas covered in this family — the same full reach as its cluster neighbour Chemistry Technician and its unit-group nec sibling, Science Technicians nec.

Where these applications come unstuck

Both Chemistry Technician's own exclusion list and Life Science Technician's own exclusion list name Earth Science Technician directly, which confirms from two separate authority pages that this code is treated as a distinct specialism from either, not an interchangeable general laboratory or field-science title. Anyone whose actual work spans geological, chemical and biological testing in one role should read all three pages rather than assuming overlap.

An honest read on this pathway

With full six-visa reach and cross-confirmed exclusion from two neighbouring codes, this is a well-defined, genuinely open pathway for earth-science-specific technical work — rock, soil, mineral or geological sample testing and field-survey support, as distinct from chemistry laboratory work or biological life-science laboratory work, which VETASSESS's own pages treat as separate occupations entirely despite sitting in the same unit group.

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 Earth Science 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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