Optical Mechanic (ANZSCO 399914)

On the Regional 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 Optical Mechanic on?

ROL — Regional Occupation List. Occupations on the ROL are limited to the regional provisional visas — mainly the Skilled Work Regional 491 and Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional 494.

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 Optical Mechanic comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Optical Mechanic shares its exact list position and visa reach with Optical Dispenser — Regional Occupation List plus Core Skills Occupation List, reaching 186, 482 and 494 — and sits in the same TRA program structure as the rest of this family, defaulting to the documentary Migration Skills Assessment for most offshore applicants. TRA does not publish separate criteria distinguishing Optical Mechanic's manufacturing and grinding work from Optical Dispenser's customer-facing fitting work; both are named ANZSCO occupations assessed on the evidence the applicant's own history supports.

Where these applications come unstuck

The same confusable-code risk that applies to Optical Dispenser applies here: an optical-trade job title sitting inside a retail or clinical eyewear setting can plausibly describe work that actually belongs to Optometrist, a completely different, board-registered clinical profession assessed by an entirely different body. Nominating Optical Mechanic for what is really optometry work — or the reverse — sends the applicant through a process that cannot test or credit the right competencies. As elsewhere in this family, MSA will not accept work experience as a substitute for a formal qualification.

An honest read on this pathway

Optical Mechanic's visa position matches Optical Dispenser's exactly — 186, 482, 494, no independent or points-tested route — so the choice between the two optical trade codes should rest on which duties your evidence actually supports, not on any difference in visa outcome, because there is none. No TRA source reachable in this research named a specific qualification level for optical trade work.

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 Optical Mechanic 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.

Compare registered agents — free

Related occupations

All skilled occupations · Points calculator · Skilled visa agents