DAMA Townsville
Overview of DAMA Townsville – Designated Area Migration Agreement
Townsville will benefit from access to more skilled workers and skilled work visas following the signing of the Townsville Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA).
Local businesses can apply individually to access the DAMA from 1 July 2022 so they can start the nominations for australian skilled work sponsorship visas.
This DAMA agreement for the Townsville region will allow local businessess to sponsor workers for skilled work visas.
One of the key aspects that are negotiated between the Government and the Designated Area representative is in the nominated occupations that will be accessed by the overseas workers.
DAMA nominated occupations may differ on region and depend on the skill shortage that needs to be fulfilled or even other occupations that are key industries within certain areas of Australia.
Townsville DAMA – Townsville Designated Area Migration Agreement covers 195 occupations across a broad range of sectors including:
- manufacturing,
- health care and social assistance,
- transport, and
- professional, scientific and technical services.
DAMA Townsville – Local Government Areas
The Designated Area Representative for the DAMA Townsville is Townsville Enterprise who will administer the process of accessing the DAMA Townsville 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 and
- Shire of Flinders.
DAMA Townsville Step-By-Step Process
The DAMA process is extremely complex and can take some time to complete.
It requires the employer to lodge multiple applications, including a labour agreement, prior to the lodgement of the skilled sponsored work visa application for the overseas worker.
In summary the DAMA Application process is:
- application to receive endorsement from the regional area representative to access Labour agreement under DAMA
- receive endorsement and forward the endorsement letter to the Department of Home Affairs
- employer’s application for Labour Agreement
- identification of overseas worker by employer
- overseas worker to apply for skills assessment (if required by the nominated occupation)
- lodgement of applicants’ nomination
- lodgement of visa application
The whole process can take anywhere from 4 to 6 months to complete.
The Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) is a skilled migration program that is tailored to the occupational needs of a specific region in Australia. It differs in many ways from standard skilled migration pathways, providing more flexibility and certainty for both Australian employers and foreign workers.
The Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) is one of the most popular skilled migration programs used by Australian regional employers. The program allows the employers to access a greater pool of overseas workers and offer visa sponsorship which gives the foreign workers the right to remain in Australia for an extended period.
DAMA Townsville will be a popular program as the region requires a high number of skilled workers to fill in the skills shortage in the local labour market.
It is expected that the program will bring economic benefit to the region and to the Australian economy overall.
The TNQ DAMA is a formal agreement between the Australian Government and Townsville Enterprise.
It provides business owners who have exhausted local recruitment options access to overseas workers, providing a flexibility and responsiveness not available through the standard skilled migration programs.
The registered migration agents at Visa Lounge are skilled work visa and business sponsorship experts, we offer end-to-end management of your application for DAMA agreement and sponsorship 482 and 494 skilled work visa.
You can contact us by phone or the contact form on our website, we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
For a detailed assessment of the employer and overseas worker’ s eligibility to apply under a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA), contact our team of experienced migration agents in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia by completing our visa questionnaire here.
