Skills demand for Metal Machinist (First Class)
Before anything else, it is worth knowing where this occupation sits in the labour market. Demand drives which visa pathways are realistic and how a state is likely to view a nomination.
Jobs and Skills Australia records this occupation as in shortage. A shortage rating does not guarantee an invitation or a nomination; it tells you the labour-market conditions are working in your favour rather than against you.
Visa pathways for Metal Machinist (First Class)
The occupation lists decide the pathway. Each list maps to a different group of visa subclasses, so the first question is always which list — or lists — this occupation appears on.
This occupation appears on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List, which is the list that opens the independent and state-nominated skilled visas as well as the regional pathway.
This occupation appears on the Core Skills Occupation List, which is the list used for the Skills in Demand visa's Core Skills stream.
Skills assessment for Metal Machinist (First Class)
Every skilled application turns on the skills assessment. An independent authority — not the Department — decides whether your qualifications and experience genuinely correspond to the occupation you are nominating, and there is no way around it.
We do not publish a fee for this authority. Its fee schedule is not available in a form we can source reliably and keep current, and a stale figure on a page like this is worse than no figure at all — it looks authoritative and it is wrong. Use the link to the authority's own page.
The points test and Metal Machinist (First Class)
More applicants misread the points test than any other part of the skilled program, and it is nearly always the same misreading.
The minimum score is what allows you to lodge an Expression of Interest. It is not the score that gets you invited. Invitations are issued in rank order, highest first, until the round is exhausted — so the score that actually secures an invitation is set by your competition, not by the minimum.
The Department publishes a minimum for this occupation, shown above. It is specific to this occupation and to that round; it is not a general cut-off and it will move.
State and territory nomination
State and territory nomination is a separate process with its own rules. Each state publishes its own list and its own criteria, they change without much notice, and being nominated by one state does not help you with another. Check the nominating body directly.
How to apply, step by step
- Confirm the correct ANZSCO code for your occupation. Everything downstream depends on it, and an assessment obtained for the wrong code does not transfer.
- Obtain a positive skills assessment from the assessing authority for that occupation.
- Meet the English language requirement for the visa you are applying for.
- Lodge an Expression of Interest through SkillSelect, claiming only points you can evidence.
- If you are seeking state nomination, apply to the nominating body separately and on its terms.
- Wait to be invited. You cannot apply for the visa until an invitation is issued.
- Lodge the visa application within the period allowed by the invitation, with the evidence for every claim you made.