Same TRA Assessment, Different Visas: Aircraft Engineers to Locksmiths

Trades Recognition Australia assesses eleven very different trades — aircraft maintenance, locksmith, gunsmith, toolmaker and more — the same way, but their visa reach is nowhere near equal. And for the three aircraft trades, a positive TRA result is only half the job: a separate aviation regulator decides who can actually hold the licence. Figures as at September 2026.

Read the full guide, with official sources →

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Chapters

  1. 0:00 One assessor.
  2. 0:15 Locksmith: the only one on the MLTSSL
  3. 0:30 Four trades. One visa: subclass 494.
  4. 0:47 Same reach for all three aircraft trades
  5. 1:04 TRA clears the visa.
  6. 1:20 CASA recognises foreign AME licences
  7. 1:44 Gunsmith and Locksmith:
  8. 1:55 Same family. Different visa doors.
  9. 2:15 Seven trades: 482 or 186 sponsorship.
  10. 2:30 MSA processing: up to 120 days
  11. 2:41 Check your own trade's list.
  12. 2:51 Where to read more

Transcript

One government assessor checks eleven completely different trades for an Australian visa — aircraft mechanics, locksmiths, gunsmiths, toolmakers. Their visa reach is nowhere near equal.

Locksmith is the strongest of the eleven. It's the only one on the MLTSSL, which is what opens the points-tested subclass 189 and the post-study subclass 485 — visas none of the other ten can reach.

At the other end: Engraver, Gunsmith, Saw Doctor, and Watch and Clock Maker and Repairer. They sit on the Regional Occupation List alone — no CSOL, no MLTSSL. Their only visa is the regional subclass 494.

The three Aircraft Maintenance Engineer trades — Avionics, Mechanical, Structures — all sit on the same two lists, reaching subclass 186, 190, 407, 482, 491 and 494 each.

But for those three trades, a positive TRA result is only half the job. TRA doesn't award a licence. A separate regulator — the Civil Aviation Safety Authority — decides who can actually hold an aircraft maintenance engineer licence in Australia.

CASA recognises a foreign aircraft maintenance engineer licence directly from only two countries: the United Kingdom and the United States.

Everyone else — including someone with a clean TRA pass — goes through a longer Part 147 assessment instead. Even a New Zealand licence alone isn't enough: CASA states you cannot work in Australia using it by itself.

Two of these codes get firmer wording from ANZSCO than the rest. Gunsmith and Locksmith both carry the same line: registration or licensing is required.

Engineering Patternmaker and Toolmaker share an ANZSCO unit group but aren't interchangeable. Patternmaker reaches only subclass 186, 482 and 494. Toolmaker reaches six visas, including 190 and 407, that Patternmaker can't use.

Seven of these eleven codes are on the Core Skills Occupation List, so standard sponsorship on subclass 482 or 186 is open. The other four aren't — a regional subclass 494 sponsor is their only sponsored route.

Filing into the wrong TRA program wastes real time. TRA quotes processing of up to 120 days for the Migration Skills Assessment alone.

The one thing to get right before you apply: check which of these eleven trades you actually hold, and check that trade's own visa list — not a neighbour's.

The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description.

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