Choosing an ANZSCO Code for Your EOI: Impact on Points
Why the ANZSCO code matters in your EOI
When lodging an EOI in SkillSelect, one of the most important decisions is choosing the right ANZSCO (Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations) code. This decision affects many important aspects of your migration profile: the validity of your EOI, your competitiveness, the occupation ceiling, and even the visa types you can apply for.
The core principle: ANZSCO must match your skills assessment
This is a non-negotiable rule: the ANZSCO code you declare in your EOI must match the ANZSCO code in your skills assessment result.
The Department of Home Affairs will verify the consistency between these two documents. If they do not match, your EOI may be rejected or your visa application may later be refused. There are no exceptions to this principle.
ANZSCO determines which occupation list you belong to
Each ANZSCO code is classified onto one or more occupation lists:
- MLTSSL (Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List): eligible for subclasses 189, 190, and 491.
- STSOL (Short-term Skilled Occupation List): eligible for certain visas but not the subclass 189.
- ROL (Regional Occupation List): eligible for the subclass 491 in regional areas.
If your occupation is only on the STSOL and not on the MLTSSL, you cannot lodge an EOI for the subclass 189 under that ANZSCO code. Some applicants may be eligible under two different ANZSCO codes — for example, an accountant who works as an “Accountant” (221111) might also be assessable as a “Financial Investment Adviser” (222312). Each code belongs to a different list and carries different competitive chances.
ANZSCO affects the occupation ceiling
Each ANZSCO code has its own occupation ceiling — the maximum number of invitations that can be issued for that occupation in a financial year. Some occupations such as accounting, information technology, and nursing have very large applicant pools, so their ceilings are often filled quickly.
Before choosing an ANZSCO code, review the occupation ceiling history for that occupation in previous financial years. If the ceiling is usually reached in the first half of the financial year, your chances of receiving an invitation are significantly limited.
Can you hold multiple skills assessments for multiple ANZSCO codes?
Technically, you can hold multiple skills assessments for different ANZSCO codes if you are eligible. For example, a software engineer might obtain a skills assessment for both “Software Engineer” (261313) and “ICT Business Analyst” (261111). You can lodge several EOIs in parallel, each with a different ANZSCO code.
However, this costs money and time. Weigh it up carefully based on the real situation of the occupation list and the cut-off scores.
Changing the ANZSCO code after lodging an EOI
This is an important point: you cannot change the ANZSCO code within an existing EOI. If you want to lodge an EOI with a new ANZSCO code (for example because you have just completed a skills assessment for a different occupation), you must:
- Withdraw the current EOI (if it is no longer relevant).
- Lodge a new EOI with the new ANZSCO code.
This means losing your original date of effect and starting again from the back of the queue. For this reason, choosing the right ANZSCO code from the outset is extremely important.
How to choose the right ANZSCO code
The process should be:
- Identify which ANZSCO code best fits your experience and qualifications.
- Contact the assessing authority (for example, ACS for IT, Engineers Australia for engineers) to ask about your prospects of being assessed.
- Check whether that ANZSCO code is on the MLTSSL/STSOL/ROL and review its occupation ceiling history.
- Complete the skills assessment and only lodge the EOI once you have a valid result.
Do not choose an ANZSCO code based on what you think has a higher chance if your actual experience does not match — the risk of refusal at the visa assessment stage is very high.