Family Support Worker (ANZSCO 411713)

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 Family Support Worker 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).

Processing priority

Family Support Worker is a healthcare occupation under Directions 121 and 122 (ANZSCO Minor Group 411, Health and Welfare Support Workers). Since 19 September 2026, skilled visa applications by a primary applicant in this occupation are in the first group processed: for the 482 under Direction 121, and for the permanent and provisional skilled visas, including the 186, 189, 190, 491 and 494, under Direction 122.

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 Family Support Worker comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Family Support Worker follows the same specialised/non-specialised structure as Disabilities Services Officer: a diploma specialised in family services or children and families needs roughly 1 year of paid employment in a family support service setting, while a generalist community-services diploma needs 2 years in the same setting. The AQF Level 5 diploma floor, the qualification-comparability test (accredited diploma, recognised bachelor's, or non-accredited relevant diploma), English at IELTS 7 across every band, and the currency check apply as they do across the rest of the 4117 codes. As with its siblings, an accredited qualification's field placement substitutes for the paid-employment test entirely.

Where these applications come unstuck

The specialisation split is the trap: the same two years of employment can qualify an applicant on the non-specialised route or fall a year short of the specialised route's threshold, depending only on whether the underlying qualification named family services as its field. Employment evidence has to be a statement of service or an employer letter on letterhead naming the signing manager or HR officer with dates and hours — Community Work Australia explicitly refuses contracts, contract variations, offers of employment or job ads as substitutes, which catches applicants whose former employer has closed or gone unresponsive and left only a contract on file.

An honest read on this pathway

Family Support Worker sits on STSOL and CSOL and reaches 186 and 482 alongside the points-tested and DAMA routes, so employer sponsorship is genuinely available here, unlike Disabilities Services Officer or Welfare Worker in the same family. The specialised route roughly halves the required employment, which rewards applicants whose qualification was explicitly family-services-focused rather than a generalist community-services diploma — worth checking before assuming the standard 2-year figure applies. Evidence quality, not just duration, decides outcomes: a shorter employment history backed by a clean, correctly signed employer letter is a stronger file than a longer history evidenced only by contracts.

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 Family Support Worker 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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