Skills in Demand (SID) visa: Drafted Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) open for feedback, ANZSCO updated to the current decade?

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With the new Skills in Demand (SID) visa set to commence at the end of the year, replacing the subclass 482 – Temporary Skill Shortage visa, one key aspect of the Core Skills Pathway will be the composition of the Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL).

There will be three different “pathways” for the SID visa:

  1. Specialist Skills Pathway – for high-salary positions but which is expected to exclude lower-skilled occupations such as trades, machinery operators, drivers and labourers.

  2. Core Skills Pathway – the closest equivalent to the current requirements for 482 visas.

  3. Essential Skills Pathway – for relatively lower-paid but critical occupations, such as in the care sector.

With the limited information available for this visa, it seems that the Core Skills Pathway is the only visa that will have an occupation list that may be subject to regular change and be broad in the industries that can utilise this visa to supplement their workforce where needed. Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA), a government department, is responsible for labour market analysis and stakeholder engagement. They will help inform the composition of the CSOL, but the final decision will be with the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.

The stakeholder engagement aspect has begun with a drafted CSOL. The CSOL considers the Skills Priority List which classifies occupations according to their shortage in the Australian labour market, both current and future demand for the occupation, and also other factors including: how well migrants do in the labour market on arrival, reliance on sponsored skilled visa holders relative to employment size, vacancy data, and domestic labour market supply. There is a scoring system to inform what occupations should and should not be considered.

JSA splits occupations into three lists:

Confident on-list: Occupations they are confident should be on the CSOL.

Many occupations are on the current Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL), but include some dental assistant occupations, enrolled nurses, and surprisingly, Wushu martial arts and yoga instructors.

Confident off-list: Occupations they are confident should not be on the CSOL.

Some agriculture, lower-skilled management, many highly talented arts occupations, and some occupations that are currently on the Regional Occupation List.

Targeted for consultation: Occupations JSA would like feedback from stakeholders before making a recommendation.

Mostly agriculture, accounting, hospitality and trade occupations.

JSA will also accept feedback for off-list occupations. All submissions will be accepted until 31 May 2024.

Some of the occupations that fail to make the list may feature elsewhere, such as on the occupation list for the subclass 494 – Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa.

What is just as important, however, is the dictionary of occupations they are using…

ANZSCO receiving a refresh?

Many of the occupations on the CSOL are not found on any occupation list for Australian visas. This is because the occupations for Australian visas are taken from Version 1.2 of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), released on 26 June 2013, more than 10 years ago.

The ANZSCO in the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) is defined in paragraph 5 of the occupation list for General Skilled Migration visas (subclass 189 - Skilled - Independent visa, subclass 190 - Skilled - Nominated visa, and subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa). It is the ANZSCO version that was “published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as in force on the day this instrument commences.” That instrument commenced on 11 March 2019 and Version 1.3 of the ANZSCO was published after it commenced on 5 November 2019.

The CSOL has new occupations that were not foreseen by the old ANZSCO, but which now seem ridiculous to not be represented. An easy example is 224115 Data Scientist, which JSA would have many employed, but which does not have an occupation code in Version 1.2 of the ANZSCO. Even the Australian Computer Society (ACS), the skill assessing authority for information technology occupations, concedes that it will assess data scientists under the catchall occupation of 224999 Information and Organisation Professionals not else classified (nec). Under the ANZSCO, indicative occupations include electoral officers, knowledge managers, lobbyists, museum registrars, and procurement specialists. It is hard to find any common ground with these occupations and data scientists other than handling information.

Given the JSA is using the latest ANZSCO, released in November 2022, it is hoped and expected that when the Skills in Demand visa does commence, the occupation list will step into the current decade. This will make it easier for employers, advisors, and delegates to identify the correct occupation…with more confidence.