Dressmaker or Tailor (ANZSCO 393213)

On the Short-term Skilled 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 Dressmaker or Tailor 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.

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 Dressmaker or Tailor comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Dressmaker or Tailor is the only one of the three garment-workroom occupations to carry the Short-term Skilled Occupations List, which places it inside TRA's own repeated eligibility wording for the Migration Skills Assessment, the Offshore Skills Assessment Program and the TSS Skills Assessment Program — each names only the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List or the Short-term Skilled Occupations Lists, so this code is genuinely covered by that wording rather than dependent on a separate list this dossier could not reach. Its visa set is still unusual for an STSOL occupation and is worth double-checking against the current Home Affairs list before relying on it, since it does not follow the pattern of most other STSOL trades in this family.

Where these applications come unstuck

Dressmaker or Tailor covers the end-to-end trade — making, altering and repairing tailored garments, formal wear, couturier clothing and bridal wear, with Costume Maker, Wardrobe Assistant and Wardrobe Coordinator as named specialisations — the widest scope of the three garment codes in this family. A skilled cutter or patternmaker whose actual work has grown into full garment making has a real reason to check whether their evidence now supports this code instead of the narrower Apparel Cutter or Clothing Patternmaker occupations, but per the count-never-conclude rule, this dossier only shows what the evidence has to match, not who would succeed at the switch.

An honest read on this pathway

Dressmaker or Tailor's Short-term Skilled Occupations List membership opens the regional and state-nominated routes and the training visa, but — unusually for this family's STSOL occupations — it carries no Core Skills Occupation List membership, so there is no 482 or 186 employer-sponsored route on this code at all, and no points-tested or post-study route either. Being named inside TRA's own eligibility wording is therefore not the same as having a sponsorship pathway: an employer wanting to sponsor a tailor or dressmaker under the standard skilled-visa programs cannot use this occupation to do it.

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 Dressmaker or Tailor 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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Related occupations

All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents