Surveying or Spatial Science Technician (ANZSCO 312116)

On the Regional 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 Surveying or Spatial Science Technician 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.

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 Surveying or Spatial Science Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

VETASSESS assesses this code as Group C: a qualification comparable to an Australian Qualifications Framework Diploma or higher, in a field it names as Surveying, Mapping Science or Spatial Information Systems, plus at least one year of post-qualification employment at an appropriate skill level within the last five years, at 20 hours or more a week, highly relevant to the nominated occupation. The field-of-study list is technical and spatial-science specific, distinct from the building-design or construction-management fields the family's other 3121xx codes carry.

Where these applications come unstuck

VETASSESS excludes Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians nec, Other Spatial Scientist, Cartographer, and Building and Engineering Technicians nec from this code. An applicant whose surveying work sat closer to cartography or general spatial-science research than field or construction surveying risks nominating the wrong code entirely — those excluded titles sit outside VETASSESS's occupation description for this one, and Cartographer in particular is a distinct occupation many surveying-adjacent applicants overlook.

An honest read on this pathway

Surveying or Spatial Science Technician reaches ROL and CSOL with 186, 407, 482, 491 and 494 — no state-nominated 190 and no general skilled 189. As with the rest of this family's Group C codes, the lower Diploma-level qualification bar is paired with a narrower visa spread than the two 1331 manager codes or Engineering Manager carry. Whether field-survey experience genuinely matches VETASSESS's description, rather than a broader mapping or GIS-analyst career, is worth confirming against the occupation page directly.

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 Surveying or Spatial 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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