Hardware Technician (ANZSCO 313111)

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 Hardware 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 Hardware Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

TRA assesses Hardware Technician — installing, configuring, testing, troubleshooting and repairing computer hardware and peripherals — under Migration Skills Assessment, the Temporary Skills Shortage program, the Offshore Skills Assessment Program or the Job Ready Program, depending on occupation, passport, study location and visa sought. ANZSCO rates this a Skill Level 2 occupation, and unlike the engineering-technician codes in this family, its own unit group explicitly recognises relevant vendor certification, not only a formal qualification or three years' experience, as a possible substitute. TRA's own published material does not confirm which vendor certifications it accepts in practice, or whether it applies ANZSCO's allowance the way ANZSCO states it.

Where these applications come unstuck

The recurring mistake for this code is reaching for ACS by default because the work is IT-shaped. ACS assesses the Professional-tier ICT occupations in a different major group entirely; Hardware Technician sits in the Skill Level 2 technician tier TRA assesses. Real applicants in adjacent ICT-support roles have gone to ACS first and had to correct course mid-application. TRA's baseline evidence rule still applies underneath the vendor-certification question: work experience alone, without any accepted qualification or certification behind it, is not treated as sufficient on its own.

An honest read on this pathway

On the Short-term Skilled Occupations List and the Core Skills Occupation List, reaching the standard employer-sponsored and state-nominated routes. Genuinely open for applicants with hands-on hardware support experience, and the vendor-certification allowance is a real advantage this code has that the engineering-technician codes in this family do not — though TRA's own acceptance practice for any specific certification is not something published material could confirm.

Going through Trades Recognition Australia? TRA pathways lean heavily on documented work history and evidence of on-the-job experience. The Employment History Builder reconstructs it with gap detection, so the record you submit holds together.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Hardware 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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