Furniture Finisher (ANZSCO 394211)

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 Furniture Finisher 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 Furniture Finisher comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

TRA assesses Furniture Finisher through its general programs rather than a page written for this trade specifically. Furniture Finisher sits on both the Short-term Skilled Occupations List and the Core Skills Occupation List, and the STSOL membership puts it cleanly inside TRA's Migration Skills Assessment eligibility wording, which names MLTSSL and STSOL occupations with TRA as the assessing authority. TRA is explicit that a formal qualification is required and that work experience is never accepted in its place, and that non-English documents need a NAATI-accredited translator in Australia or an embassy-approved one overseas. A skills assessment lodged with a visa application must be no older than three years from the date it was issued.

Where these applications come unstuck

ANZSCO's own description of this occupation is narrow and worth reading literally: applying finishes such as stain, lacquer, paint, oil and varnish, and polishing and waxing finished surfaces, with French Polisher as its only named specialisation. It is surface work, not fabrication or assembly — someone who actually builds or repairs the furniture, rather than finishing it, is more accurately described by Furniture Maker or Cabinet Maker, and nominating Furniture Finisher for fabrication-heavy work risks an assessment officer finding the evidence does not match the occupation claimed. It is also easy to assume this code shares TRA's Construction Occupations List benefits with Cabinetmaker; it does not appear on that list at all.

An honest read on this pathway

Furniture Finisher carries the fullest visa reach in this family — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494 — because it holds both STSOL and CSOL membership at once, though it does not reach subclass 189 or 485. For a specialised surface-finishing trade, that is a genuinely open set of both sponsored and state-nominated routes, and its clean STSOL membership means it does not carry the CSOL-only ambiguity that Cabinet Maker, Furniture Maker and Picture Framer face over which TRA program actually applies. Neither ANZSCO nor TRA flags a licensing requirement for this occupation, and no state-specific overlay was found for it in this research.

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 Furniture Finisher 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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