Aged or Disabled Carer, Nursing Support Worker or Personal Care Assistant - three different Australian ANZSCO codes with different task lists and different assessing authorities

Work VisasAged CareANZSCO Codes

By Aussie Migration GuidePublished 26 October 202611 min read

Aged or Disabled Carer, Nursing Support Worker or Personal Care Assistant: Which One Are You?

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Your Job Title Tells You Almost Nothing About Which ANZSCO Code Applies to You.

If you work in aged care or disability support in Australia, you have probably been called a carer, a support worker, a PCA, a personal care worker, an AIN, or some combination of those depending on who was writing the roster.

None of those words is an occupation code, and the overlap between them is worse than you would expect. This page is about which of three ANZSCO codes actually applies to the work you do, and why getting it wrong costs you money, time, and in some cases the whole application.

The code decides which assessing authority you apply to, whether your nomination can even be lodged against your actual duties, and whether an assessment you obtain today will still be useful if you later want to move routes. The useful question is not what your badge says. It is what your week looks like, and which of two task lists it matches.

The Specific Collision to Know About

Personal Care Worker and Personal Care Assistant Are Not the Same Thing.

Those two names are nearly indistinguishable in conversation. They point at different occupations with different definitions, in different unit groups.

ANZSCO 423111 Aged or Disabled Carer

Personal Care Worker and Personal Carer are listed as alternative titles for this code.

ANZSCO 423313 Personal Care Assistant

A separate occupation in a different unit group, 4233.

If someone has told you that you are a personal care worker, that does not tell you which of the two they mean, and they may not know either.

The Three Codes, Side by Side

Code	Occupation	What the definition says
423111	Aged or Disabled Carer	Provides general household assistance, emotional support, care and companionship for aged and disabled people in their own homes
423312	Nursing Support Worker	Provides limited patient care under the direction of nursing staff. Listed specialisation: Paramedical Aide
423313	Personal Care Assistant	Provides routine personal care services to people in a range of health care facilities or in a person's home. Listed specialisation: Health Care Assistant

Note where they sit. 423111 belongs to unit group 4231, covering aged and disabled carers. 423312 and 423313 belong to unit group 4233, covering nursing support and personal care workers. That grouping is not administrative trivia, because the task list attached to each group is what a decision maker compares your actual job against.

Not Sure Which One You Are?

Send us your job title, a short description of what you actually do in a week, any qualification you hold, and the code your employer has mentioned if they have mentioned one. We will tell you which occupation your work fits and whether the code on the table matches it. That is usually a short conversation and it is far cheaper than finding out at the assessment stage.

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What Actually Separates Them: The Task Lists

This is the useful part. Read these two lists and work out which one describes your week.

Aged and disabled carer work (4231)	Nursing support and personal care work (4233)
Accompanying people during daily activities	Assisting patients with personal care needs such as showering, dressing and eating
Assisting clients with mobility	Assisting patients with mobility and communication needs
Preparing food	Participating in planning the care of individuals
Arranging social activities	Following therapy plans, such as interventions for dementia and behavioural problems
Housekeeping tasks such as vacuuming and cleaning	Observing and reporting changes in a patient's condition, and reporting complaints about care
Assisting with personal hygiene and dressing	Assisting with rehabilitation exercises, basic treatment and delivering medications
Providing companionship, friendship and emotional support	Providing direct support and assistance to therapists
May do shopping and run errands, and may live in

The shape of the difference is clear once you see it set out. One list is weighted toward the household and the person: cleaning, cooking, errands, companionship, living in. The other is weighted toward the clinical environment: care planning, therapy plans, observing and reporting changes in condition, rehabilitation, medications, supporting therapists.

A Rough Test That Gets Most People to the Right Group

If You Are Delivering Medications, Recording Observations and Reporting Changes to a Nurse, You Are Doing Nursing Support and Personal Care Work, Whatever Your Badge Says.

If your day is domestic assistance, meals, errands and companionship in someone's home, you are doing aged and disabled carer work.

Plenty of people genuinely do both, and that is exactly the situation to raise with an adviser rather than to guess at.

Why the Code Matters More Than People Think

Three reasons, and the first surprises everyone.

1Different code, different body

Different Codes Can Mean Different Assessing Authorities

A skills assessment is done by the authority appointed for that occupation. Nursing Support Worker is assessed by ANMAC, with a reported fee of $545. Disability support and general household assistance work is directed instead to the Australian Community Workers Association.

So if the code is wrong, you may be applying to the wrong body entirely. That is not a paperwork correction. It is a fee, a waiting period and a document set, spent in the wrong place. Our general page on assessment is at skills assessment for skilled visas.

2The refusal risk

A Mismatch Between the Code and Your Duties Is a Refusal Risk

The nominated occupation has to match the work. A decision maker comparing the position description against the ANZSCO task list for the nominated code is looking for the work to fit. An employer who picks a code because it is familiar, or because the last nomination used it, can create a mismatch that nobody notices until the assessment stage.

This is worth raising early and in writing. The employer chooses the nominated occupation, but you are the one who carries the consequence.

3The code is an asset that locks in

The Code Travels With You

A skills assessment is for one occupation. If you later want a different route, an assessment in the wrong occupation does not convert.

For an overseas-qualified nurse in particular this matters a great deal, because an assessment pointing at a support role does not open the registered nursing route. We cover that situation at overseas nurse working in aged care.

For sponsorship purposes all three aged care ANZSCO codes are covered by the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement template with nomination ceilings set for each — For sponsorship purposes, all three codes are covered by the aged care industry labour agreement template with nomination ceilings set for each. So the choice between them is not a question of whether sponsorship is available, it is a question of accuracy.

For Sponsorship, All Three Are Covered

Good news, and it narrows the question.

The Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement Template Covers All Three

The template covers 423111, 423312 and 423313, with nomination ceilings set for each. So the choice between them is not a question of whether sponsorship is available, it is a question of accuracy.

What the code does not change is the fundamental constraint in this sector, which is that these occupations are not on the employer sponsorship list in the ordinary way and the route runs through a labour agreement your employer has to hold. That is explained at the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement explained, and how to check whether a particular employer holds one is at the aged care sponsor list.

A Note on OSCA, Because You Will Run Into It

The Staleness Signal

For Visa Purposes, OSCA Has Not Replaced ANZSCO.

You may come across OSCA, a newer occupation classification published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and pages suggesting it has replaced ANZSCO.

For visa purposes it has not. As at June 2026 the Department of Home Affairs had not adopted OSCA, and ANZSCO remains the classification that governs migration. Occupation lists, eligibility and task matching all still run on ANZSCO codes and their task descriptions.

If a page is telling you to work out your OSCA code for a visa application, that is a sign it has got ahead of the rules. Check anything else on it carefully.

What to Do

Ask your employer, in writing, which ANZSCO code they intend to nominate. Not the job title, the six digit code.
Pull up the task list for that code and compare it honestly against what you actually do in a week.
If your work spans both groups, write down the proportion. A decision maker will want to know which work is the substance of the role.
Check which assessing authority covers the code before you pay anything to anyone.
If there is a mismatch, raise it before lodgement. Afterwards it is an inconsistency on the file rather than a question.
If you hold a qualification above the role, such as a nursing degree, get advice before accepting an assessment in a support occupation.

For the broader question of whether you need an employer at all, and which occupations can reach permanent residence without one, our hub is at can you immigrate to Australia without a job offer. For the Cert III carer route specifically, see the aged care worker Cert III 482 route.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Personal Care Worker and Personal Care Assistant? v

They are two different things, and the names are a problem rather than a solution. Personal Care Worker and Personal Carer are listed as alternative titles for ANZSCO 423111, Aged or Disabled Carer, which sits in unit group 4231. Personal Care Assistant is ANZSCO 423313, which sits in unit group 4233 alongside Nursing Support Worker. Different unit groups mean different task lists, potentially different assessing authorities, and different consequences if an employer picks the wrong one. If someone has told you that you are a personal care worker, ask them which code they mean, because they may not have thought about it.

How do I work out which of the three aged care ANZSCO codes applies to me? v

Compare your week against the two task lists. Aged and disabled carer work (4231) is weighted toward the household and the person: cleaning, cooking, errands, companionship, living in. Nursing support and personal care work (4233) is weighted toward the clinical environment: care planning, therapy plans, observing and reporting changes in condition, rehabilitation, medications, supporting therapists. A rough test that gets most people to the right group: if you are delivering medications, recording observations and reporting changes to a nurse, you are doing nursing support and personal care work. If your day is domestic assistance, meals, errands and companionship in someone's home, you are doing aged and disabled carer work.

Does the ANZSCO code change which assessing authority I apply to? v

Yes, which is the single most consequential practical reason to get the code right. Nursing Support Worker is assessed by ANMAC, with a reported fee of $545. Disability support and general household assistance work is directed instead to the Australian Community Workers Association. If the code is wrong, you may be applying to the wrong body entirely. That is not a paperwork correction, it is a fee, a waiting period and a document set spent in the wrong place. Confirm which authority covers the code before you pay anything.

My employer picked the code. What if it does not match what I actually do? v

Raise it before lodgement, in writing. The employer chooses the nominated occupation but you are the one who carries the consequence. A decision maker comparing the position description against the ANZSCO task list for the nominated code is looking for the work to fit. An employer who picked a code because it was familiar, or because the last nomination used it, can create a mismatch that nobody notices until assessment. After lodgement a mismatch is an inconsistency on the file rather than a question. Do not describe your duties in a way that fits a preferred code, because that is a credibility problem of its own with PIC 4020 consequences for you.

Are all three codes covered by the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement? v

Yes. The template covers 423111, 423312 and 423313, with nomination ceilings set for each. So the choice between them is not a question of whether sponsorship is available, it is a question of accuracy. What the code does not change is the fundamental constraint in this sector, which is that these occupations are not on the employer sponsorship list in the ordinary way and the route runs through a labour agreement the employer has to hold. The agreement is what makes any of this possible, which is why checking whether a particular employer actually holds one is a first step rather than a last one.

I keep seeing OSCA codes. Do I need one of those for a visa? v

Not for visa purposes. OSCA is a newer occupation classification published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As at June 2026 the Department of Home Affairs had not adopted it, and ANZSCO remains the classification that governs migration. Occupation lists, eligibility and task matching all still run on ANZSCO codes and their task descriptions. If a page is telling you to work out your OSCA code for a visa application, that is a sign it has got ahead of the rules, and the rest of its advice deserves the same caution.

I am a qualified nurse working in aged care. Should I accept an assessment in a support occupation? v

Get advice before you do. A skills assessment is for one occupation and does not convert if you later want a different route. An assessment pointing at a support role does not open the registered nursing route, which runs through registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board. If your qualification is above the job you are currently doing, taking an assessment at the role level can lock in the support occupation and close the stronger route. The two routes are not mutually exclusive over time, but the sequence matters.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about ANZSCO occupation codes 423111, 423312 and 423313 in the Australian aged care and disability support sectors, and is current as at 26 October 2026. It is not immigration assistance or legal advice. Occupation definitions, task lists, assessing authority allocations, assessment fees and classification standards all move over time, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has published a successor classification (OSCA) which could at some point be adopted for visa purposes. Confirm current ANZSCO definitions on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website, confirm the assessing authority for each occupation on the Department of Home Affairs list of assessing authorities, and confirm current fees with the assessing authority directly. Get advice from a registered migration agent or lawyer before accepting a nomination against an occupation that may not match your work. Aussie Migration Guide is an independent information platform and is not a registered migration agent. Official information is published by the Department of Home Affairs at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au and by the Australian Bureau of Statistics at abs.gov.au.

Send Us Your Job Title and What You Actually Do in a Week.

We will tell you which occupation your work fits, whether the code your employer has mentioned matches it, and which assessing authority covers that code. Short conversation, far cheaper than finding out at the assessment stage.

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