Occupations for the subclass 494 visa: LIN 19/219

The Migration (LIN 19/219: Occupations for Subclass 494 Visas) Instrument 2019 was made on 29 October 2019 by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs under subregulation 2.72C(11) of the Migration Regulations 1994 (section 3). It commenced on 16 November 2019. This page describes the compilation in force from 14 December 2024, which includes amendments made by LIN 20/274 (16 December 2020), LIN 23/067 (16 September 2023) and LIN 24/083 (14 December 2024) (Endnote 3).

The explanatory statement says the instrument operates to specify the occupations that an applicant may nominate for a subclass 494 visa, and that it applies to applicants seeking to satisfy the primary criteria in the Employer Sponsored stream for applications lodged on or after 16 November 2019. It describes the instrument as part of the package that introduced the subclass 494 visa and, except for certain transitional cohorts, closed the subclass 187 visa.

The two lists

Occupation lists in the compilation of 14 December 2024

List	Section	Occupations
Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List	6	216
Regional Occupation List	7	434

Both tables have two columns: the occupation and its ANZSCO code. No ANZSCO code appears on both lists, so they hold 650 occupations between them. Under section 5(1), an occupation applies to a nominee if the tasks to be performed correspond to the tasks in its ANZSCO code. The Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List runs from chief executive or managing director (111111) to footballer (452411); the Regional Occupation List runs from aquaculture farmer (121111) to wool buyer (639212). The full lists are in the instrument.

Two occupations carry an exclusion. Section 6(2) excludes item 13 of the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, dancer or choreographer, where the position is an exotic dancer. Section 7(2) excludes item 79 of the Regional Occupation List, hospitality, retail and service managers (nec), where the position is a brothel keeper.

Health workforce certificates

The explanatory statement for the instrument as made describes a condition in section 5(2): for general practitioner, resident medical officer and medical practitioners (nec), the occupation did not apply unless a health workforce certificate was presented. Section 5 of the current compilation contains only subsection (1). LIN 23/067, titled the Migration (Removal of health workforce certificate requirements) Amendment Instrument, amended section 5 from 16 September 2023 (Endnote 4).

Which applications it applies to

• Explanatory statement: subclass 494 Employer Sponsored stream applications lodged on or after 16 November 2019.
• Section 8: the LIN 20/274 amendments apply to nominations made on or after Schedule 1 to that instrument commenced (16 December 2020).
• Section 9: the LIN 23/067 amendments apply to nominations made, but not yet finally determined, when Schedule 1 to that instrument commenced (16 September 2023).

The assessing authority for each of these occupations is specified in a separate instrument, LIN 19/260 (F2019L01405).