DAMA Visa and Labour Agreements: How an Employer Sponsors a Worker the Standard Lists Do Not Cover

A DAMA visa is not a separate visa. It is a subclass 482, 494 or 186 visa granted under a labour agreement: a contract between your business and the Australian Government that lets you sponsor workers in occupations, at salaries or on terms the standard program does not allow.

There are 13 DAMA regions and 10 industry agreements. A business covered by neither can ask for its own company-specific agreement. Requesting an agreement costs nothing; you pay at the nomination and visa stages, and no nomination can be approved until the agreement is in effect.

What is a DAMA visa, and what is a labour agreement?

A labour agreement is a written deal between your business and the Minister. It authorises you to recruit overseas workers in named occupations, at named locations, on the terms the deal sets out.

The Migration Regulations (regulation 2.75C) let the agreement fix the number of nominations a year, the occupations, the salary rules and the maximum stay. It can also set concessions on English, age, skills and work experience.

A Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) is a labour agreement with a regional twist. The Australian Government first signs a five-year head agreement with a state, territory or regional body (the designated area representative). Businesses in that region then sign their own labour agreement under the head agreement’s occupation list and concessions.

So a “DAMA visa” is the 482, 494 or 186 visa a worker receives after your business has a DAMA labour agreement and has nominated them under it. Workers cannot apply for one on their own. The employer holds the agreement; the worker holds the visa.

Which agreement type fits your business?

Home Affairs runs three main types. The type decides who sets the terms, how much you can negotiate and where you start.

If an industry agreement covers your industry, that is the route you use. Home Affairs will not endorse a DAMA for a business an industry agreement already covers, and it will not consider a company-specific agreement where a DAMA or industry agreement is available.

An aged care provider, for example, uses the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement. A disability provider cannot use that agreement, and Home Affairs points it to a DAMA if one covers its location.

If the occupation you need is already on the Core Skills Occupation List and you can pay the standard salary, you do not need any of this. A standard 482 nomination is faster to set up. Our 482 visa requirements guide covers that route.

Which regions have a DAMA?

As at 26 October 2026, Home Affairs lists 13 DAMAs. The representative in brackets is the body that endorses employers for that region.

• Northern Territory (Northern Territory Government)
• Western Australia, state-wide (Department of Training and Workforce Development)
• South Australia Regional (Skilled and Business Migration, SA)
• Adelaide City Technology and Innovation Advancement (Skilled and Business Migration, SA)
• Far North Queensland (Cairns Chamber of Commerce)
• Townsville (Townsville Enterprise)
• Orana, NSW (Regional Development Australia Orana)
• Goulburn Valley, Victoria (Goulburn Valley regional body)
• Great South Coast, Victoria (Warrnambool City Council)
• East Kimberley, WA (East Kimberley Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
• Pilbara, WA (Regional Development Australia Pilbara)
• South West, WA (Shire of Dardanup)
• The Goldfields, WA (City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder)

Each region publishes its own occupation list, and the list tells you which concessions apply to each occupation. The position must be in the region: a DAMA agreement does not cover a worksite outside it.

Victoria outside the Goulburn Valley and Great South Coast, Tasmania, the ACT and most of New South Wales and Queensland have no DAMA. A business there looks to an industry or company-specific agreement instead.

What can a DAMA visa or labour agreement change?

The agreement can relax the worker-side rules and the occupation list. It cannot relax the rule that an overseas worker is employed on the same terms as an Australian in the same job.

• Occupations — the agreement can name occupations that are not on the Core Skills Occupation List, including semi-skilled roles. Each DAMA list sets its own range. A company-specific agreement is limited to ANZSCO (the official Australian job classification) skill levels 1 to 4, with level 5 only in exceptional cases in some regional areas.
• Salary floor — some agreements allow pay below the Core Skills Income Threshold of AUD 79,423. Under the South Australian DAMA, listed occupations can be paid 90 per cent of it, AUD 71,481 a year. The worker must still earn the annual market salary rate for the job.
• English — a lower test score for listed occupations. The SA DAMA accepts IELTS 5.0 overall with no part below 4.0 for the 482 and 494, where the standard 482 needs 5.0 in each part. No concession applies where a licence or registration demands higher English.
• Age for permanent residence — the 186 normally requires the worker to be under 45 when they apply. Many DAMA occupations lift that limit to under 55.
• Work experience — the standard 482 asks for 1 year in the last 5. An agreement can shorten this for named occupations.

Two limits hold whatever the agreement says. The Department will not grant a concession that leaves the overseas worker on worse pay or conditions than an Australian in the same role.

Under a company-specific agreement, overseas workers also cannot make up more than one-third of your workforce. You must show a plan to train and hire Australians so you do not need another agreement.

What must your business show to get an agreement?

The law stops the Government from signing a labour agreement unless the Minister is satisfied your business has made recent and genuine efforts to recruit Australian citizens or permanent residents for those roles (regulation 2.76A of the Migration Regulations). Ministers of religion and religious assistants are the only exception.

The rest of the test is set out in Home Affairs’ published guidelines and the agreement templates.

For a company-specific agreement, Home Affairs asks you to show:

• A genuine skills need — the niche skills you need, a detailed job description with tasks, and evidence of wide recruitment efforts that did not find Australians.
• A business of good standing — registered in Australia and lawfully operating for at least 12 months, financially able to support the number of workers you propose (confirmed by a chartered or certified practising accountant), not insolvent, and with no adverse information such as legal findings or investigations.
• Stakeholder consultation — you write to the industry body, the relevant union and affected community groups with yearly worker numbers, occupations, location, salary, the concessions you want and your training plan for Australians. Give them 10 working days to reply, and 5 more if they do not. Requests lodged without consultation are returned unassessed.
• A workforce plan — showing overseas workers stay below one-third of staff and how you will reduce reliance on them.

For a DAMA, the regional representative runs the first test. It checks that your business operates in the region, that the occupation is on the regional list, that you tried to recruit locally and that pay and conditions match what Australians get. Only after endorsement do you lodge the request with Home Affairs.

Industry agreements have fixed terms, so the request is mostly about proving the business is genuine. Aged care providers also need a memorandum of understanding with the relevant union.

Business evidence Home Affairs lists for every type includes business activity statements, financial reports prepared by an accountant (not in-house software printouts), tax returns, leases, contracts and work orders, staff and apprentice records, and any adverse information with your explanation of why it should be disregarded.

How do you sponsor a worker under a DAMA or labour agreement?

1. Check the route — confirm the occupation is not on the standard list at a salary you can pay, then confirm whether an industry agreement or a DAMA covers you. That decides which type you request.
2. Get endorsed (DAMA only) — apply to the regional representative with your recruitment evidence, position details and salary. Each representative publishes its own checklist and timing.
3. Prepare the business case and consult (company-specific only) — write to the industry body, union and affected community groups, wait the 10 plus 5 working days, and record every response.
4. Lodge the labour agreement request — in ImmiAccount (the Department’s online lodgement portal), using the Labour Agreement Request form, with the business documents, recruitment evidence and consultation records attached. There is no charge.
5. Sign the agreement — if approved, Home Affairs sends the agreement for signature. It takes effect when the Minister’s delegate countersigns it, and the Department confirms the date. Agreements generally run for five years.
6. Nominate the worker — lodge a nomination in the Labour Agreement stream of the 482, 494 or 186. No separate standard business sponsorship is needed: the agreement makes you an approved sponsor. The occupation must be one the agreement names, and the nomination must fit the yearly ceiling (regulation 2.72 of the Migration Regulations).
7. The worker applies — you give the worker the nomination’s transaction reference number, and they lodge the visa application under the Labour Agreement stream. The worker still needs the skills, any licence or registration, health and character, and the English and experience levels the agreement sets.

You may lodge a nomination while the agreement is still being negotiated, but it is not decided until the agreement is in effect. If you withdraw it before the agreement is signed, the nomination charge and levy can be refunded on request (regulation 2.73AA).

Once the agreement is in force, plan changes carefully. From 2026, Home Affairs accepts only one variation request in each year of an agreement, and none in the first six months after signing.

If you expect to add occupations or raise your nomination numbers, ask for them in the original request rather than relying on a variation. DAMA variations go through the regional representative, not directly to the Department.

Your obligations under the agreement are a contract, and the legislated sponsor obligations (paying the agreed salary, keeping records, telling the Department about changes, not recovering sponsorship costs from the worker) apply as well. Breaches can end the agreement and attract sanctions, and the Australian Border Force can audit or visit the site.

The Department’s instructions to visa officers add one duty many employers miss: agreements signed since 2022 generally require the business to report adverse information about itself (a court finding, an investigation, insolvency) to the Labour Agreement Section without waiting to be asked.

What does a DAMA visa cost the employer?

The levy and the nomination charge are the same as for a standard 482 nomination. The 186 and 494 Labour Agreement streams carry their own nomination and visa charges, listed on our Australian visa fees and thresholds page.

Preparing the business case, the consultation and the request is professional work. Our fixed professional fees for each stage are on the fees page.

How long does a DAMA or labour agreement take?

Home Affairs does not publish a processing time for the agreement itself. It assesses each request case by case, and the two things it says slow a request are an incomplete lodgement and slow replies to its questions. Regional representatives publish their own endorsement timing, which varies.

Once a visa application is lodged, it joins the same queue as every other 482 application, sorted by Ministerial Direction 121. As at 26 October 2026, the Home Affairs 482 visa page showed applications lodged in February 2026 being processed for jobs in construction, healthcare, teaching, agriculture, aquaculture, fishing and resources.

Other applicants in Australia were being processed from January 2026 lodgements, and applicants outside Australia from October 2025. A labour agreement job in one of the priority sectors sits in the first group whichever stream it was lodged in. Our 482 processing time page tracks the queue.

Is there a path to permanent residence under a DAMA?

Yes, if the agreement provides one. Every current DAMA uses the 186 as well as the 482 and 494, with the pathway set per occupation on the regional list. Most industry agreements also allow permanent residence.

The usual shape is a 186 nomination in the Labour Agreement stream after the worker has held the 482 for the period the agreement sets. The other route is a 494 that leads to the permanent subclass 191 after three years in the region, subject to the 191 income and residence rules.

The age concession to under 55 that many DAMA occupations carry matters at the 186 stage, where the standard under-45 rule would otherwise block older workers. Our 186 visa guide explains the permanent stage.

The Department’s instructions to visa officers say the concession only works if the agreement itself states that people over 45 may be employed and names the new limit. Check the signed agreement, not just the regional list.

A company-specific agreement can also include a 186 pathway, but you must ask for it in the request. An agreement that is silent on permanent residence does not provide one.

Does labour market testing apply under a labour agreement?

In two places, and they are different. To get the agreement at all, the law requires the Minister to be satisfied you made recent and genuine efforts to recruit Australians (regulation 2.76A). For each nomination afterwards, the advertising rule is the one written into your agreement, not the standard one.

The standard rule (two ads, four weeks, within the four months before you nominate) is written for standard business sponsors (regulation 2.72AA). A labour agreement nomination is tested against the agreement’s own conditions, and its schedule sets the advertising terms. Some DAMA agreements accept ads from the past 12 months.

So read the signed agreement, which runs to about 20 pages, before the first nomination. The approval letter alone does not tell you the advertising period, the salary terms, the skills assessment or English settings, or the yearly ceiling. Our labour market testing guide covers the standard rule for comparison.

Where do labour agreement requests go wrong?

In our experience, the request that fails is the one that says “we could not find anyone” without the paper trail. The Minister cannot sign an agreement unless satisfied you made recent and genuine efforts to recruit Australians. The ads, the applicant counts and the reasons each applicant was unsuitable are the business case itself.

Keep the ads running until the agreement is approved, not just until you lodge the request. Continued advertising is the simplest evidence that the need is current, and the regional representative may ask for more than the standard rule: some want the salary shown in the ad even above AUD 96,400.

The second failure is asking for more than the template allows. Home Affairs publishes the company-specific template and says concessions beyond it are unlikely to be approved. A request built around a 20 per cent salary discount puts the whole request at risk rather than earning a smaller concession.

The third is choosing the wrong door. A regional business that lodges a company-specific request when its location has a DAMA is told to use the DAMA. A disability provider that tries the Aged Care Industry Labour Agreement is told it cannot. Spend the first hour on the routing question in the table above.

The fourth is treating the agreement as the finish line. The agreement caps how many workers you can nominate each year and names the occupations; a nomination outside either is refused under regulation 2.72. With one variation a year from 2026, a business that under-estimates its ceiling waits up to twelve months to fix it.

Frequently asked questions

Is a DAMA a visa?

No. A DAMA is an agreement between the Australian Government and a region. The worker receives a 482, 494 or 186 visa in the Labour Agreement stream after an employer in that region signs a DAMA labour agreement and nominates them.

Can a worker apply for a DAMA visa without an employer?

No. Only a business that holds a DAMA labour agreement can nominate, and the worker’s visa application must be linked to that nomination. There is no self-nominated DAMA pathway.

Does my business need standard business sponsorship as well as a labour agreement?

No. A labour agreement makes your business an approved sponsor for the visas it covers. You lodge nominations in the Labour Agreement stream without a separate sponsorship application.

Can a DAMA worker move to another employer or a city office?

Not on the same nomination. The agreement covers positions in the designated region, so a move outside it needs a new nomination under a route that covers the new location, if one exists. A new employer needs its own labour agreement if the occupation is only available under one, and the Department’s instructions say a worker moving from a labour agreement sponsor to a standard sponsor needs a new nomination and a new visa application, because the first visa may have relied on concessions.

Does the Skilling Australians Fund levy apply to labour agreement nominations?

Yes. A 482 nomination under a labour agreement attracts the levy of AUD 1,200 or AUD 1,800 for each year of the nomination, paid when you lodge, and the business cannot recover it from the worker.