Drainer (ANZSCO 334113)

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 Drainer 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 Drainer comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Drainer is one of six current plumbing-family codes under ANZSCO unit group 3341, alongside Airconditioning and Mechanical Services Plumber, Gasfitter, Roof Plumber, Plumber (General) and Fire Protection Plumber, and it carries the same full MLTSSL/CSOL visa spread as most of that group. NSW's overseas-applicants page groups "plumbing, draining and gasfitting" together as licensed trades where "qualifications from outside Australia are not recognised for contractor licences or certificates in NSW" without a further recognition step. TRA's own assessment criteria specific to drainage work could not be checked here — the authority's website did not resolve during this research.

Where these applications come unstuck

The confusable-code risk for Drainer sits in the same family as the plumbing-general renumbering trap: the 2022 ANZSCO edition restructured this unit group, and at least one state regulator's own published list, NSW's OSAP occupation list, still cites the retired 2021 code for Plumber (General) rather than the current one — a sign that state-side documentation in this family can lag the current code scheme, which is worth checking directly with the licensing regulator rather than assuming the code names online are current.

An honest read on this pathway

Drainer carries the same full eight-visa spread as most of the plumbing family, so the list position does not disadvantage this code specifically. The licensing overlay NSW describes for plumbing trades generally applies here too — a positive TRA outcome produces a partial credential, not a finished Certificate III equivalent, and both Australian context gap training and a period of supervised employment are required afterwards. This research did not separately confirm Queensland, Victoria or WA's specific drainer-licensing requirements beyond the general plumbing-and-related-trades pattern described for NSW.

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 Drainer 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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