Wood Machinists and Other Wood Trades Workers nec (ANZSCO 394299)

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 Wood Machinists and Other Wood Trades Workers nec 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 Wood Machinists and Other Wood Trades Workers nec comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

TRA assesses this occupation, like every other trade in this family, through a small set of general programs rather than a page written for it specifically. It sits on both the Short-term Skilled Occupations List and the Core Skills Occupation List, and its STSOL membership puts it inside TRA's Migration Skills Assessment eligibility wording, which names MLTSSL and STSOL occupations with TRA as the assessing authority. TRA does not accept work experience as a substitute for a formal qualification here or in any of its programs, and 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

This code is explicitly a residual catch-all — ANZSCO's own worked examples for what belongs here are Cooper and Wood Model Maker, occupations with no dedicated code of their own. Someone whose actual trade is Cabinetmaker, Cabinet Maker, Furniture Maker, Furniture Finisher, Picture Framer or Wood Machinist should never default to this nec code out of uncertainty or because it feels like a safe general option; ANZSCO's structure only routes here when none of the named occupations genuinely fit, and using it for a trade that already has its own code misdescribes the evidence a TRA assessment officer expects against the occupation actually being claimed.

An honest read on this pathway

This nec code carries the same broad reach as Furniture Finisher and Wood Machinist — 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494, through combined STSOL and CSOL membership, though not subclass 189 or 485. For a genuinely uncategorised wood trade like coopering or wood model making, that is a workable spread of both sponsored and state-nominated routes. Neither ANZSCO nor TRA flags a licensing requirement for this occupation. Given how broad and residual the code is, an applicant relying on it should be prepared for closer scrutiny of exactly what their trade involves, since there is no single occupation description to test the evidence against.

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 Wood Machinists and Other Wood Trades Workers nec 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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