Chef & Hospitality to Australia

Chef (351311) or Cook (351411)? One word on your skills assessment changes your entire visa pathway.

Hospitality moves more people to Australia than most realise, and it contains one of the sharpest classification traps in the system. This guide covers the Chef vs Cook decision in detail, the regional 494 to 191 pathway hospitality actually uses, and the award rates that pay more than the ad says. Written by a senior HR professional with fifteen years on the hiring side of Australian migration. Opens in any browser, works offline.

What's inside

• The Chef vs Cook ANZSCO decision: duties, evidence, and why it changes everything
• The regional 494 to 191 pathway, honestly appraised: the venues, the towns, the endpoint
• Hospitality awards: casual loading, penalty rates, and the wage theft red flags
• Skills assessment for chefs, including the trade-recognition route
• Where the work is: city fine dining vs regional venues vs mining-town money
• Every figure verified 1 July 2026, plus 6 working templates and checklists that save your progress

Pays for itself before you land: knowing your award rate with penalty loadings, in an industry built on underpaying people who do not, protects every single shift.

General settlement information, not migration or legal advice. For your visa specifics, speak to an OMARA-registered agent before you arrive.