Life Science Technician (ANZSCO 311413)

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 Life 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.

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).

Processing priority

Life Science Technician 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 Life Science Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses Life Science Technician as a Group C occupation, requiring a highly relevant field of study at a minimum AQF Certificate IV level. Its own exclusion list is the longest of any code checked in this family and reaches into the neighbouring medical-technician cluster within the same unit group: Chemistry Technician, Earth Science Technician, School Laboratory Technician, Hydrographer, Science Technicians nec and — as published, singular — "Medical Technician."

Where these applications come unstuck

This code sits on the Short-term list only, with no Core Skills Occupation List membership, reaching four visas — 190, 407, 491, 494 — but not the Skills in Demand visa or Employer Nomination, unlike its cluster neighbour Chemistry Technician, which reaches all six. Someone doing genuinely biological laboratory work has no direct employer-sponsorship route under this code at all, however senior the role.

An honest read on this pathway

The exclusion of "Medical Technician" (singular, as published) from this code's own page is VETASSESS's explicit statement that biological/life-science laboratory work and medical-technical work are not interchangeable, even though both sit in the same unit group, 3111. For anyone whose plan depends on sponsorship, this code cannot deliver it, and the narrower visa reach compared with its immediate neighbours is a genuine structural limit, not an oversight worth appealing.

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 Life 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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