Painting Trades Worker (ANZSCO 332211)
On the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills 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 Painting Trades Worker 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.
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).
- Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189) — Permanent, points-tested, no sponsor needed · all occupations for the 189
- Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190) — Permanent, state or territory nominated · all occupations for the 190
- Skilled Work Regional visa (subclass 491) — Provisional, regional, points-tested · all occupations for the 491
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494) — Provisional, regional employer sponsored · all occupations for the 494
- Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) — Temporary, recent Australian graduates · all occupations for the 485
- Training visa (subclass 407) — Temporary, workplace training · all occupations for the 407
Processing priority
Painting Trades Worker is a construction occupation under Directions 121 and 122 (ANZSCO Sub-Major Group 33, Construction Trades Workers). Since 19 September 2026, skilled visa applications by a primary applicant in this occupation are in the first group processed: for the 482 under Direction 121, and for the permanent and provisional skilled visas, including the 186, 189, 190, 491 and 494, under Direction 122.
Priority changes the order in which lodged applications are looked at, not whether they are granted. Who is invited to apply through SkillSelect is decided separately. See all 202 occupations in the priority sectors.
Skills assessment
A positive skills assessment for Painting Trades Worker comes from:
- Trades Recognition Australia (TRA) (official site) · our guide to the TRA process
What the assessment actually involves
Painting Trades Worker is the earlier ANZSCO edition's name for the same code — 332211 — with specialisation Paperhanger rather than House Painter. This is the name Home Affairs' Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List uses, so it is the row a points-tested 189 or 491, or a post-study 485, applicant nominates under. TRA's own construction occupations list also uses this older name, not the current Painter name, when it marks the trade Prioritised for faster processing. The assessment itself is the standard document-based Migration Skills Assessment — a formal trade qualification plus verifiable pay evidence for every claimed period of employment, with no allowance for work experience alone.
Where these applications come unstuck
The core risk is the mirror image of the Painter row's: nominating Painting Trades Worker for an employer-sponsored 482 or 186 application would be lodging against a list — the strategic skills list — that does not carry those visas for this name. A Paperhanger specifically should know that specialisation sits under this older name, not under the current Painter entry, which lists House Painter instead. TRA also warns applicants directly that it cannot advise which occupation to nominate — the choice, including which edition name to research under, is the applicant's own, based on the visa route actually being pursued.
An honest read on this pathway
Painting Trades Worker reaches the points-tested 189, state-nominated 190, working-holiday 407, post-study 485, regional 491 and 494 — a materially wider visa spread than the Painter row's two sponsored visas, but it does not include 186 or 482 under this name. This is not an error to resolve in either direction; Home Affairs has not retired either edition's mapping, so both rows are live for the one trade simultaneously. Which name actually matters comes down entirely to which visa programme is being pursued, not which name feels more accurate to the work performed.
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 Painting Trades Worker 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.
Related occupations
All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents