Toolmaker (ANZSCO 323412)

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 Toolmaker 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 Toolmaker comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Toolmaker is assessed through the same TRA six-program structure as the rest of the family, with the documentary Migration Skills Assessment the usual offshore route. ANZSCO's description centres this code on making and repairing tools, dies, jigs, fixtures and precision parts and equipment to fine tolerances for machine tools and production machinery. TRA publishes no occupation-specific qualification page for Toolmaker, and applies its general rule that a formal qualification is required and cannot be replaced by work experience or by holding an occupational licence.

Where these applications come unstuck

The reverse of Engineering Patternmaker's trap applies here: someone whose actual background is pattern and mould making, largely in timber, who nominates Toolmaker because the trades feel adjacent, risks supplying evidence that doesn't match Toolmaker's precision-metal-tooling description. The list consequence is real too — Toolmaker's broader reach depends on the work genuinely being precision metal tooling, not the pattern-making Patternmaker actually covers.

An honest read on this pathway

Toolmaker sits on the STSOL and CSOL, reaching six visas — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494 — the strongest reach of any code in the Toolmakers and Engineering Patternmakers unit group, including the 190 and 407 routes its sibling Patternmaker cannot use. It still falls short of Locksmith's full eight-visa spread elsewhere in this family, since Toolmaker carries no MLTSSL membership and therefore no 189 or 485.

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 Toolmaker 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.

Compare registered agents — free

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All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents