The points table in Schedule 6D is identical no matter what you do for work. What isn’t identical is how many people are competing for the same invitations in your occupation, which visa streams are realistically open to you, and what usually makes or breaks a competitive score in that field. This page maps that terrain across the biggest occupation groups — and is explicit, throughout, about which figures are official and which are community estimates.
- The Department publishes occupation ceilings and round results, not per-occupation cut-off scores — every specific number below that isn't from Schedule 6D is a labelled community estimate.
- Many occupations — most trades, most teaching specialisations, many nursing streams — are realistically 190/491-only, not 189-eligible, regardless of your points total.
- The Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) governs the 482 and 186 visas only; the 189/190/491 points test still runs on the MLTSSL, STSOL and ROL.
- Accountant (General) and External Auditor are different occupations with different pools — treating them as interchangeable is a common and costly mistake.
The short version
Your score against the Schedule 6D points table is the same regardless of occupation. What changes by occupation is everything downstream of that score: which visa subclasses are realistic, how many other people are chasing the same annual ceiling, and which points levers are actually available to someone doing that job. A software engineer and a registered nurse can both score 75 and face completely different outcomes.
Why this page hedges its numbers
The Department of Home Affairs publishes two things about occupations: an annual occupation ceiling (the maximum invitations available for that occupation in a program year) and periodic round results showing how many invitations went out and the lowest points score invited, in aggregate. It does not publish a running per-occupation cut-off score you can look up in advance. Every specific figure that circulates online — "nursing clears at 75", "accounting needs 95" — has been triangulated by migration agents and community trackers from EOI pool movements and reported rounds, not confirmed by the Department itself.
The occupation-by-occupation table
| Occupation group | Realistic visa routes | Pool competitiveness | What usually decides the score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered nursing (various specialisations) | 189, 190, 491 | Varies a lot by specialisation — some streams reportedly clear near the pool floor, others much higher | Which nursing specialisation, English test result, and 491 regional nomination for a much larger points buffer |
| Software / ICT | 189, 190, 491 | Community-tracked sources describe this as one of the most crowded pools overall | Superior English, ANZSCO code chosen carefully, and often a professional year or state nomination to clear the bar |
| Accountant (General) | 190, 491 far more realistic than 189 | Widely described as one of the most crowded occupations in the entire system | Superior English, partner points, and usually state or regional nomination — general accounting rarely clears on federal points alone |
| External Auditor | 189, 190, 491 | Reported to be a smaller, less crowded pool than general accounting, though not quantified officially | Genuine audit experience recognised by the assessing authority; still benefits from strong English |
| Civil / mechanical engineering | 189, 190, 491 | Solid ongoing invitation activity, particularly via state nomination and the 491 | Engineers Australia's Competency Demonstration Report outcome, and often a professional year for recent graduates |
| Chefs and cooks | 190, 491 — 189 much less common | Very large EOI pool by volume; regional and employer pathways carry much of the actual movement | TRA or VETASSESS trade assessment outcome, and regional/state nomination far more than raw points |
| Social work | 189, 190, 491 | Moderate — community-tracked 189 figures span a wide range depending on the round | AASW skills assessment outcome, English, and whether a state actively wants the occupation that year |
| Early childhood teaching | 190, 491 — state demand drives most invitations | Demand varies heavily by state and is often prioritised regionally | State-specific teacher registration and regional/state nomination more than the federal score alone |
| Secondary teaching | 190, 491 — similarly state-driven | Varies by subject specialisation and by state workforce need | Subject area, AITSL assessment outcome, and state nomination availability for that subject |
| Medical practitioners (GPs and specialists) | 189, 190; many specialists move via employer sponsorship instead | Strong ongoing state demand for regional and shortage specialties | AMC or specialist college assessment, which can take 12-18 months, and English test outcome |
| Electricians and other licensed trades | 190, 491 — 189 uncommon | Very large pool by EOI volume; movement concentrated in regional/state streams | TRA assessment outcome and, in most cases, a state or regional nomination rather than federal points alone |
Read the “pool competitiveness” column as a general shape, not a scoreboard — it reflects patterns described across multiple migration-agent and community-tracker sources at the time this page was written, and every one of those patterns can shift with the next program year's occupation ceilings.
Registered nursing
Nursing is genuinely unusual in how much it can vary specialisation to specialisation. Community trackers following recent invitation rounds have reported some registered nursing specialisations clearing 189 invitations at scores not far above the 65-point floor, while the 15-point 491 regional bonus has reportedly pulled in a much larger share of nursing EOIs than the 189 or 190 streams combined, because the points buffer it provides is large enough to absorb a lower base score comfortably. None of these are Department-published cut-offs — they are patterns reported by community trackers, and specialisation-by-specialisation results move every round.
Software and ICT
ICT occupations are consistently described, across migration-agent commentary, as one of the most heavily subscribed pools in the entire skilled migration system — a large annual EOI volume competing for a comparatively modest ceiling. Superior English, a carefully chosen ANZSCO code (different ICT codes have materially different pool sizes), and — for recent graduates without Australian experience yet — a professional year are the levers that come up most often in practice.
Accounting — general vs auditor
This is the clearest case in the whole list of two occupations that look interchangeable in conversation and behave completely differently in the points system. Accountant (General), ANZSCO 221111, is the broadest and most heavily subscribed accounting code, covering financial reporting, management accounting and general tax work. External Auditor, ANZSCO 221213, is a narrower, separately assessed occupation covering external audit opinion work specifically.
For general accounting specifically, community-tracked commentary consistently describes it as one of the most crowded occupations in the system, with reported cut-offs sitting well above the pool floor — high enough that superior English, partner points and a state or regional nomination are typically necessary rather than optional for a competitive score.
Civil and mechanical engineering
Engineering assessed through Engineers Australia's Competency Demonstration Report continues to see solid invitation activity across civil and mechanical disciplines, with state nomination and the 491 doing a lot of the practical work of getting people invited. A professional year is common among recent graduates specifically because it supplies the structured local experience many new engineering graduates otherwise lack.
Chefs and cooks
Chefs and cooks (ANZSCO 351311 and 351411) sit on the trade side of the system, assessed by TRA or VETASSESS rather than a professional body, and the EOI pool for the occupation is large by volume. In practice, very little of the actual movement for chefs happens through the 189 — regional nomination, state nomination and employer sponsorship carry most of the real pathway, and a positive trade skills assessment matters more to the outcome than the raw points score.
Social work
Social workers are assessed by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) against ANZSCO 272511, and the occupation sits across all three visa streams. Community-tracked figures for 189 cut-offs span a genuinely wide range depending on the round and the state demand that year, which makes a single confident number for this occupation unusually unreliable — check current rounds directly rather than anchoring on any figure you read, including here.
Early childhood and secondary teaching
Both teaching occupations behave more like state-driven professions than nationally competitive ones. Federal points matter, but whether you are invited often comes down to whether a specific state or territory currently wants your subject specialisation (for secondary teaching) or simply wants more early childhood teachers at all — which makes state nomination criteria the more decisive document to read than any national average.
Medical practitioners
General practitioners and many specialists remain in strong demand, particularly for regional and shortage specialties, and most sit on occupation lists eligible for 189, 190 and employer sponsorship. The practical bottleneck for doctors is rarely the points test itself — it's the Australian Medical Council or specialist college assessment process, which can run 12 to 18 months before a points-tested application is even realistic to plan around.
Electricians and other trades
Electricians and most other licensed trades are assessed by Trades Recognition Australia, often requiring a hands-on practical assessment rather than a documents-only review. The EOI pool for trade occupations is large, but — as with chefs — very little of it moves through the 189. State and regional nomination, plus a licence pathway once in Australia, tend to matter far more to a trade applicant's actual outcome than chasing extra federal points.
Where a community language genuinely helps
It is worth saying plainly, because it is easy to be cynical about: nursing, teaching and social work are exactly the occupations where a community language is routinely used at work — with patients, students, families and clients who are more comfortable in a language other than English. That is a genuine operational reason the 5-point NAATI CCL shows up so often in these particular occupation pools, not a marketing angle. If you already work in one of these fields and speak a second language fluently, the CCL is one of the few points levers that fits alongside the job itself rather than competing with it for time — how it compares to every other way of adding points is covered separately. Readers working specifically in nursing or IT may also want the nursing-specific CCL guide or the one for IT professionals.
Quick check
Frequently asked questions
Sources
Point values are the Commonwealth's, from Schedule 6D, verified on the date noted below. Every occupation-competitiveness claim above that is not a points-table figure is a pattern reported by migration-agent commentary and community EOI trackers, not an official Department figure — we have labelled each one as such rather than presenting it as fact, and you should re-check current occupation lists and round results directly before relying on anything here.
- Points table — SkillSelect — Department of Home Affairs
- Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 6D — General points test — Federal Register of Legislation
- ICT skills assessment — Australian Computer Society (ACS)
- Accounting skills assessment — CPA Australia
- Social work skills assessment — Australian Association of Social Workers