Child Care Worker (group leaders only) (ANZSCO 421111)

On the Regional 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 (group leaders only) 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.

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 (group leaders only) comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

This entry shares its ANZSCO code with the general Child Care Worker occupation but sits on a different list (ROL, reaching the 494 regional visa) and needs a materially higher qualification: an ACECQA-recognised Diploma-level (or higher) education and care qualification, plus at least one year of documented full-time Group Leader employment completed after the qualification, with at least six months of that experience current in the last three years. The employment has to have actually happened in a group-leader capacity, not simply in a childcare setting — the qualification alone, without the year of role-specific experience, isn't sufficient for this entry.

Where these applications come unstuck

The trap runs in both directions. A Certificate III holder, however experienced, doesn't meet the Diploma-level bar this entry requires and stays on the general 421111 CSOL entry instead. A Diploma holder who has the qualification but not the year of documented group-leader employment — or whose experience isn't recent enough to satisfy the six-months-in-three-years test — also can't use this pathway, and has no shortcut to backfill the missing employment period after the fact. Because this is a regional-list (ROL) entry rather than CSOL, it opens the 494 regional visa rather than the broader visa range the general Cert III entry reaches.

An honest read on this pathway

This pathway is narrower than it looks — it exists specifically for the 494 regional visa, not as an upgrade of the general Child Care Worker entry, and the qualification plus experience bar sits closer to the Child Care Centre Manager code than to Certificate III-level work. A positive assessment supports the visa only; working still needs a state-issued Working With Children Check (or Queensland's Blue Card) for the state of actual employment, which is a separate, non-transferable requirement layered on top.

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 (group leaders only) 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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