Plastics Technician (ANZSCO 399916)

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 Plastics Technician 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).

Processing priority

Plastics Technician isn't in any of the ANZSCO groups that Directions 121 and 122 list for the priority sectors. Some of the first group is defined by the job rather than the code: a nominated position directly involved in agriculture, aquaculture or fishing, one that directly supports mining, oil and gas or coal production, or one related to defence. Otherwise the application is processed after the priority sectors. For the permanent and provisional skilled visas, applicants who were in Australia when they applied come next, then those who applied from outside Australia. For the 482, Specialist Skills stream applications come before both.

Priority changes the order in which lodged applications are looked at, not whether they are granted. Who is invited to apply through SkillSelect is decided separately. See all 202 occupations in the priority sectors.

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Plastics Technician comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Plastics Technician sits on the Regional Occupation List plus the Core Skills Occupation List, reaching 186, 482 and 494 — the same three-visa spread as Chemical Plant Operator and the two optical trades, though a distinct occupation from all of them. TRA runs the same program selection here as across this entire family: a documentary Migration Skills Assessment by default, the Offshore Skills Assessment Program only where a specific occupation-and-country pairing requires it, with no per-occupation evidence page published for this code.

Where these applications come unstuck

Plastics Technician does not appear on TRA's approved construction occupations list in either the Prioritised or Streamlined columns, unlike the nec code in this same family — there is no processing-speed concession to plan around here. As with every code assessed through MSA, work experience cannot substitute for a formal qualification, and an occupational licence cannot substitute one either, so an applicant relying on years in a plastics-manufacturing role without a matching certificate should not expect that history alone to carry the assessment.

An honest read on this pathway

Plastics Technician's 186/482/494 reach places it in the middle of this family's visa spread — real employer-sponsorship access, no independent or points-tested route. Nothing in the reachable TRA material singles this occupation out for either extra scrutiny or any concession, so the standard documentary evidence discipline that applies across TRA's programs is the whole story here. Whether a state or territory licence attaches to plastics manufacturing or fabrication work was not checked in this research and should not be assumed either way before relying on a TRA outcome alone.

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 Plastics Technician 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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