A designated area migration agreement (DAMA) is a formal agreement between the Australian Goverment and a regional, state or territory authority. It provides access to more overseas workers than the standard skilled migration program. DAMAs operate under an angreement-based framework, allowing regions to respond to their unique economic and labour market conditions. 

A DAMA is a two-tier framework covering a defined regional area.

The first tier is an overarching five-year agreement (head agreement) with the region’s representative.

 The second tier comprises individual labour agreements with employers under the settings of the head agreement for that region.

DAMA head agreements are between the Australian Government and a Designated Area Representative (usually regional bodies such as Chambers of Commerce, Regional Development Australia offices, or Shire Councils). ​As negotiated between parties, they contained a range of occupations and agreed on terms and concessions to skilled visa eligibility criteria. Once a DAMA head agreement is established, businesses in the region may seek individual DAMA labour agreements under the head agreement terms and concessions.

Individual DAMA labour agreements are between the Australian Government and endorsed employers/businesses operating within the designated region. They:

• are generally in effect for five years, and
• use the subclass 482 Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS), subclass 494 Skilled Employer-Sponsored Regional (Provisional), and subclass 186 Employer Nominated Scheme (ENS) visa programs.

Employers must seek endorsement from the Designated Area Representative before lodging a labour agreement request.

Where a DAMA labour agreement is approved, the business will be able to nominate and sponsor​ skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers for specific occupations (each DAMA Head Agreement covers a specified range of occupations).

DAMAs ensure employers recruit Australian citizens and permanent residents as a first priority. Employers must demonstrate a genuine attempt to recruit Australians before accessing a DAMA labour agreement.

There are currently nine DAMAs in place. Below is a list of those DAMAs with links to the respective Designated Area Representative* websites that contain information on how to access each DAMA as well as which regions/locations/shires are covered:

• Adelaide City Technology and Innovation Advancement, SA: Skilled & Business Migration
• Far North Queensland, QLD: Cairns Chamber of Commerce,
• Goulburn Valley, VIC: website being developed
• Great South Coast, VIC: Warrnambool City Council Great South Coast DAMA | gscdama.warrnambool.vic.gov.au
• Northern Territory, NT: Northern Territory Designated Area Migration Agreement
• Orana, NSW: Regional Development Australia – Orana, NSW
• South Australia Regional, SA: Skilled & Business Migration
• South West, WA: Shire of Dardanup
• The Goldfields, WA: City of Kalgoorlie Boulder

DAMAs are in effect for five years, with annual reports enabling variations to the agreement to be made. Three DAMAs have had deeds of variations executed recently, with changes to available occupations and concessions:

• The Great South Coast (Victoria.) The Deed of Variation was executed in December 2021.
• The South Australia Regional DAMA and the Adelaide City DAMA Deeds of Variation were executed in February 2022.

Designated Area Representatives work closely with employers and stakeholders in their region to understand their unique labour needs and the broader community views. They undertake annual reviews of DAMA terms/operations and endorse individual requests from businesses seeking access to DAMA arrangements before lodging a DAMA labour agreement request with the Department of Home Affairs.

Townsville DAMA announced

Minister Hawke has announced the signing of a DAMA for the Townsville region. This covers 195 occupations across various sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, social assistance, transport, and professional, scientific, and technical services.

The Designated Area Representative for the DAMA is Townsville Enterprise, who will administer the process of accessing the Townsville DAMA, which will open to businesses operating in any of the 9 Local Government Areas covered by the agreement:

• City of Townsville, Hinchinbrook Shire
• Charters Towers Regional Council
• Burdekin Shire
• City of Mount Isa
• Shire of Cloncurry
• Shire of McKinlay
• Shire of Richmond
• Shire of Flinders

Local businesses can apply individually to access the DAMA from 1 July 2022.

Further information can be found on the Minister’s media page.

Why DAMA?

The key elements and benefits of DAMA are:

• It will provide pathways to permanent residency for DAMA visa holders (including transitional arrangements for existing visa holders when their occupation would not usually allow this through traditional visa pathways).
• It caters to a broad range of occupations that reflect skilled and semi-skilled shortages in the designated regional area.
• It offers English language concessions for some occupations.
• It offers age concessions for some occupations
• It offers salary concessions that reflect market rates of the designated area
• Waiver of skill assessment for certain occupations for 482 and 494 visa applications

Want to know more about DAMA?  We’re happy to answer your questions and enquiries. Contact us.