Welder (First Class) (ANZSCO 322313)

On the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills 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 Welder (First Class) on?

MLTSSL — Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List. The widest list — occupations on the MLTSSL can access the points-tested permanent skilled visas including the Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189), which needs no state nomination or employer.

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 Welder (First Class) comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Welder (First Class) is the code ANZSCO places on the skilled lists in this unit group, defined around structural steel and metal-joining welding work, distinct from Metal Fabricator's broader fabrication and repair scope and Pressure Welder's pressure-equipment focus in the same unit group, 3223. All three share the identical full MLTSSL/CSOL, eight-visa spread, so the code choice among them is a duties question, not a visa-strategy one — nominating "Welder (First Class)" on evidence that actually documents fabrication or pressure-specific work risks a mismatch TRA's own assessment, which this research could not verify directly, would need to reconcile.

Where these applications come unstuck

The specific trap for this code is treating "welder" as a generic label that covers Metal Fabricator's and Pressure Welder's duties as well as its own — ANZSCO defines the three as separate occupations inside one unit group, and the evidence base behind a nomination should match whichever the applicant's actual work supports. This research also found no dedicated Trades or Construction industry labour agreement covering welding work — Home Affairs names Aged Care, Meat and Horticulture as its example industry agreements, and construction/trades is not among them.

An honest read on this pathway

Welder (First Class) reaches the full eight-visa spread shared by its unit group. Sponsorship for this occupation runs through standard 482, 186 or 494 employer sponsorship, or a regional DAMA where one applies to the relevant industry and region — Migratio's own labour-agreement data name-tags at least 112 current DAMA holders as trades or construction businesses, a floor figure rather than a precise total, since most DAMA holders in that dataset could not be classified by industry from the business name alone.

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.

We've also written a full pathway guide for this occupation: read the Welder (First Class) pathway guide.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Welder (First Class) 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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