Panelbeater, painter, mechanic: same panel shop, three different visa outcomes

Motor Mechanic, Panelbeater, Vehicle Body Builder, Vehicle Trimmer and Vehicle Painter are all assessed by the same authority — but the visa list each one sits on decides whether subclass 189 stays open. What ANZSCO's own task descriptions say about the overlap, and why the code you nominate matters more than the job title. Figures as at September 2026.

Read the full guide, with official sources →

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Chapters

  1. 0:00 Same panel shop.
  2. 0:14 The reach spread
  3. 0:46 "May spray-paint vehicles.
  4. 1:00 TRA clears the visa.
  5. 1:13 NSW's own licence list
  6. 1:29 57 businesses tagged
  7. 1:46 The assessing body
  8. 2:01 Confirm your code.
  9. 2:14 Where to read more

Transcript

Put a mechanic, a panelbeater, a body builder, a trimmer and a painter in the same panel shop. Only two of them can reach every skilled visa on this list.

Motor Mechanic and Panelbeater reach every visa this family can — subclass 186, 189, 190, 407, 482, 485, 491 and 494. Vehicle Body Builder and Vehicle Trimmer reach six of those, with no 189 and no 485. Vehicle Painter reaches only five — no 189, no 190, no 485 — so no points-tested skilled visa reaches it at all.

ANZSCO's own task list says a panelbeater may spray-paint vehicles, and may assist vehicle body builders. In a real panel shop, one person can genuinely do all three jobs — but each sits on a different visa list.

None of these five codes go through TRA's own licensing pathway — that covers only Electrician, Plumber and the air-conditioning trade. Licensing for this family is a state responsibility instead.

New South Wales requires its own motor vehicle tradesperson certificate for work affecting a vehicle's mechanical operation or structure. Its class list names motor mechanic, panel beater, body maker and vehicle painter outright — but not vehicle trimming.

There's no dedicated national labour agreement for automotive trades. A scan of currently listed regional agreements tags 57 businesses under an automotive-mechanical heuristic — real sponsoring employers, but no proof any of these five codes sit on a specific agreement's occupation list.

The body that assesses your trade isn't fixed forever. A 2008 account shows Motor Mechanic once being assessed by a different body entirely. Today, Trades Recognition Australia is the current authority for this exact code.

Five trades, one panel shop, three completely different sets of visa doors. Confirm the code that matches your actual work, and confirm it's still the current assessing authority before you lodge anything.

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

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