Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Avionics) (ANZSCO 323111)

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 Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Avionics) 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 Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Avionics) comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

TRA's own site names six assessment programs and works out which applies to you by occupation, passport country, where you studied and the visa you're seeking — there is no single fixed process for Avionics. Most offshore applicants land in the documentary Migration Skills Assessment: a passport identity page, the formal qualification and transcripts, an Employer Template for each job and matching pay evidence. TRA states plainly that it “does not accept work experience as a substitute for a qualification”, and that “an occupational licence cannot substitute a formal qualification.” Avionics work is defined narrowly around aircraft electrical and avionic system components, and TRA does not publish a specific qualification level for it anywhere reachable — only a landing page pointing to an uncaptured document.

Where these applications come unstuck

Nominating Avionics when your real background sits closer to the Mechanical or Structures discipline is the specific risk here — the three Aircraft Maintenance Engineer codes are split by ANZSCO along which part of the aircraft you work on, not by seniority, and TRA's evidence has to be directly relevant to the nominated occupation. The bigger trap: treating a successful TRA outcome as permission to touch an aircraft. TRA states outright, “We do not award Australian qualifications, occupational registrations or occupational licences.” None of its Avionics-adjacent program pages mention the separate government body that actually licenses the work.

An honest read on this pathway

Avionics sits on the STSOL and CSOL, reaching six visas — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494 — a genuinely open pathway with standard 482 or 186 sponsorship as the direct route. What a positive TRA outcome does not do is put a wrench in anyone's hand: CASA, not TRA, decides who may hold an Australian Part 66 aircraft maintenance engineer licence, and it recognises foreign AME licences from only the UK and the USA for its streamlined conversion path. Everyone else needs a further Part 147 Maintenance Training Organisation assessment before the TRA outcome translates into paid work.

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 Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Avionics) 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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