Child Care Worker (ANZSCO 421111)

On the 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 Child Care Worker on?

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 Child Care Worker comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

ACECQA assesses this occupation against a Certificate III (or higher) level early childhood education and care qualification that it recognises as nationally approved. It's a lower qualification tier than the Early Childhood Teacher code (241111), which needs a bachelor-equivalent early childhood teaching qualification, and the two are not interchangeable — ACECQA's equivalence determination sorts an overseas qualification into one of three outcomes (Early Childhood Teacher, Diploma level educator, or Certificate III level educator), and the code you can nominate follows the outcome the qualification actually receives, not your job title or seniority. English proficiency is required for this occupation, assessed at a considerably lower band than the teacher code.

Where these applications come unstuck

This code shares its four ANZSCO digits with a separate, differently-listed entry — "Child Care Worker (group leaders only)" — which requires Diploma-level qualification plus a year of documented group-leader employment and sits on the ROL rather than the CSOL. A Certificate III holder without that further qualification and experience cannot use the group-leader pathway; they're assessed under this general entry instead. Applicants with mainstream Certificate III training sometimes assume it also covers Out of School Hours Care Worker (421114) — it doesn't, since that code requires one of four specifically named qualification codes rather than any early-childhood Certificate III.

An honest read on this pathway

This is the general CSOL entry for the code, reaching visas including 186 and 482. English proficiency for this occupation is required at a materially lower band than the Early Childhood Teacher code — a gap the sector's own peak body has argued is disproportionate for the teacher tier, not this one. A positive skills assessment supports the visa; it doesn't itself authorise paid child-related work, which separately needs a state Working With Children Check (called a Blue Card in Queensland) issued in whichever state the person actually works, and not transferable between states.

Whichever authority assesses you, the paperwork is the part applicants underestimate. The Document Vault keeps a single register of every document, what it was needed for, and what is still missing.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Child Care 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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