Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Structures) (ANZSCO 323113)

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 (Structures) 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 (Structures) comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Structures follows the same TRA program structure as Avionics and Mechanical — six named programs, chosen by occupation, passport country, study location and visa type, with the documentary Migration Skills Assessment the default for most offshore applicants. ANZSCO's own text separates this code from its two siblings by subsystem: it covers dismantling and reassembling aircraft structures and repairing aircraft frames, “works with both metal and carbon fibre composite materials.” TRA publishes no specific qualification level for this code and applies its general MSA rule without exception: a formal qualification is required, and work experience cannot substitute for one.

Where these applications come unstuck

The composite-materials line in ANZSCO's own description matters for evidence: an applicant whose real trade history is purely sheet-metal airframe work, assessed against a Structures nomination that TRA reads as covering composites too, risks an evidence gap if the documentation doesn't reflect both material types. As with the other two aircraft codes, the larger trap is assuming the TRA outcome is the finish line — none of TRA's program pages for this discipline reference the separate licence still required to actually perform the work in Australia.

An honest read on this pathway

Structures reaches the same six visas as its siblings on the STSOL and CSOL — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491, 494 — via standard employer sponsorship or regional and skilled-worker routes. The genuine constraint sits with CASA's Part 66 licence, assessed on an entirely different timeline and against different criteria than the TRA outcome: direct recognition only for UK- and USA-issued AME licences, a Part 147 Maintenance Training Organisation RPL assessment for everyone else, and a dedicated pathway (never the home licence alone) even for New Zealand-licensed engineers.

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 (Structures) 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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