ANZSCO 212211 · Skill level 1

Author

Produces literary or other written work for publication or performance. This occupation requires high levels of creative talent or personal commitment and interest as well as, or in place of, formal qualifications and experience.

ANZSCO 2013, the edition the department applies to the points tested visas (189, 190 and 491).

Specialisations within it

  • Novelist
  • Playwright
  • Poet
  • Screenwriter
  • Script Writer

Duties

Published for unit group 2122 Authors, and Book and Script Editors

  • creating and developing ideas and themes for written works, such as novels, plays, musicals, screen productions, educational texts, information texts and multimedia products
  • researching subject matter through original and secondary materials, interviews and other media
  • planning, organising and writing material
  • reviewing and evaluating manuscripts of novels, biographies, short stories, poems, educational texts and other books, and ensuring coherence of style and development of theme, plot and characterisation
  • advising publishers about potential of works for publication and conditions of publication contract
  • negotiating publication details such as royalties, publication dates and numbers of copies to be printed
  • reviewing and assessing stories and other material for film, television, radio and stage productions
  • directing the preparation of scripts to be read by announcers to introduce and connect parts of musicals, news, sports and special events programs

This is what the occupation is, not what a skills assessment requires. The assessing body applies its own criteria on top of this, and those criteria are not published here. Check them with the body itself.

Who assesses this occupation

VETASSESS
Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services
www.vetassess.com.au

Last confirmed against the department's list on 30 July 2026.

Where Author stands right now

There is no expression of interest queue for this occupation: it is not on the points tested lists, so the route runs through an employer instead. Vizard maps that route step by step.

See where you stand

Where this comes from

Definition and duties: Australian Bureau of Statistics, ANZSCO
Assessing authorities and skilled lists: Department of Home Affairs skilled occupation list

Vizard is not a registered migration agent and nothing here is migration advice. It is published government information, organised. For advice on your own situation, speak to a registered migration agent.