Flagged Occupations – what are they?!

In simple terms Flagged Occupations are ones which immigration are considering removing from the Skilled Occupation List (or SOL for short).

Every year the Department of Education and Training review the occupations, specifically looking at the demand, and whether there’s still a need for the occupation to be on SOL.

If you are considering skilled migration it’s a good idea to be aware of the lists, and whether you should be worried about your occupation being removed. If your occupation is on the list, then you need to think about getting on with your skilled migration before anything changes.

In other words, it confirms our general advice, if you qualify and you have a pathway, you need to grab it before your chance disappears.

To put this into some perspective, in 2015-2016 there were 60 occupations flagged, and of those 9 were removed from SOL.

For 2016-2017 there are 52 occupations flagged, and many of these are occupations that were flagged in the previous year (such as Engineering occupations).

For more information see our article on this years flagged occupation lists, whats been added, what’s been removed, and which ones remain on the list.

“The Department of Education and Training is responsible for providing advice to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on the composition of the SOL. The SOL identifies occupations that would benefit from skilled migration for the purpose of meeting the medium to long-term skill needs of the Australian economy.

Following each review, there are a number of occupations which are ‘flagged’ for possible removal in the future. Generally, occupations are flagged when there is emerging evidence of excess supply in the labour market.”