DAMA Visa: Designated Area Migration Agreements and the 482

A DAMA visa is a Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), or a 494 or 186, granted under one of 13 Designated Area Migration Agreements, which let employers in a defined region sponsor occupations and concessions the standard 482 does not allow, once the region’s designated area representative endorses the business. The Western Australia DAMA covers the whole state from 1 July 2024, and Migration Services in the Department of Training and Workforce Development endorses positions. To use any DAMA, the employer first obtains endorsement from the region’s representative, then requests a labour agreement in ImmiAccount, then nominates the worker in the 482 Labour Agreement stream.

An Australian migration lawyer can check the DAMA business case, the endorsement and the nomination before they are lodged.

No visa subclass is called the “DAMA visa”. The phrase means a 482, 494 or 186 granted through a DAMA labour agreement, and the 482 step always runs through the Labour Agreement stream.

Western Australia DAMA

The Western Australia DAMA is a statewide agreement between the Australian Government and the Department of Training and Workforce Development, which acts as designated area representative (DAR) through Migration Services. Home Affairs announced it in news item 1218 as a new state-wide DAMA from 1 July 2024. It covers every WA postcode in two categories, set out on the Migration WA DAMA page:

• Category 2, Metropolitan Perth: postcodes 6000 to 6038, 6050 to 6083, 6090 to 6182, 6208 to 6211, 6214 and 6556 to 6558.
• Category 3, Regional WA: every other postcode in Western Australia.

Migration WA allocates 50% of places to Metropolitan Perth and 50% to Regional WA. The WA Government’s media statement of 30 June 2024 said the WA DAMA would provide 5,000 migration places, shared equally between metropolitan and regional employers.

Which occupations can a WA DAMA 482 use?

358 occupations are open to a 482 in Regional WA and 271 in Metropolitan Perth, according to the WA DAMA occupation filter on 24 September 2026. The Metropolitan Perth list focuses on skill levels 1 to 3 and adds some skill level 4 roles and a small number of non-ANZSCO occupations. The Regional WA list is broader: it adds more semi-skilled roles and occupations specific to regional industries.

What concessions does the WA DAMA give?

The permanent residence concession applies only where the worker’s original nomination came through a WA DAMA endorsement. Migration WA notes that English concessions may not be approved for client-facing occupations, occupations with workplace health and safety concerns, or where registration or licensing requires higher English.

How does the WA DAMA sit beside the four regional WA DAMAs?

The regional DAMA comes first. Under the WA DAMA eligibility criteria, where the occupation is on a regional DAMA’s list and the position is inside that region, endorsement must be sought from that region’s representative. Where the occupation is only on the WA DAMA list, the employer applies to Migration Services. The four regional agreements are:

• The Goldfields DAMA: the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and seven shires, in place until 31 December 2026.
• The South West DAMA: twelve council areas around Bunbury, closing to new applications on 30 October 2026.
• The Pilbara DAMA: the City of Karratha, the Town of Port Hedland and the Shire of East Pilbara.
• The Kimberley DAMA: the four Kimberley shires, from Kununurra to Broome.

An occupation that is also on an industry labour agreement is endorsed under the WA DAMA only if the worker will be employed in a different industry.

Which WA regional DAMAs are closing?

The Goldfields end date of April 2026, announced in May 2025, has been replaced twice: first by a 1 July 2026 transition date, then by 31 December 2026. The WA eligibility criteria PDF is still headed “updated 28 May 2025”, but the Migration WA DAMA page quotes the TSMIT or CSIT of $79,423 from 1 July 2026.

What does WA DAMA endorsement cost and how long does it last?

Migration Services charges no fee for a WA DAMA endorsement application. A positive endorsement is valid for 12 months from the date of issue, and the business must lodge it with its labour agreement request within that time.

Labour market testing is needed for a 482 or 494 endorsement, but not for the 186 pathway. The advertising must be in English, run within the 12 months before the nomination is lodged, and stay open for 4 weeks, in at least 2 separate advertisements; in Regional WA one must have national reach and the second may be placed locally.

Which DAMA covers your region?

Thirteen DAMAs are in place, according to the Home Affairs DAMA page updated on 24 September 2026. Status and concessions below are as published by Home Affairs, state and territory governments and council DARs, checked 24 September 2026. “Not published” means no government page states it; the DAR’s own list decides.

Both South Australian agreements, with their separate areas and English levels, are set out on the South Australia DAMA page. Tasmania has no DAMA: Migration Tasmania says it “is exploring a DAMA” (page updated 17 July 2026). New South Wales is consulting on a state-led DAMA until 16 October 2026, according to the NSW Government’s DAMA page.

How does a DAMA work?

A DAMA works in two tiers: a head agreement for the region, then a labour agreement for each endorsed employer. The Home Affairs DAMA page sets out the sequence:

Individual DAMA labour agreements are generally in effect for 5 years. Home Affairs states that “A DAMA will not be endorsed where the industry is covered by an Industry Labour Agreement”, because those agreements carry fixed terms; an employer in such an industry uses the industry labour agreement instead.

Each head agreement also caps nominations: up to 1,500 a year in the NT, 2,000 a year under the SA Regional agreement (raised from 750 in April 2024), and 1,000 over five years in the Pilbara. An employer adds places or occupations later through a deed of variation to its labour agreement, which the DAR endorses first.

How does endorsement work?

A designated area representative checks five things before it endorses a position, according to the WA, Goldfields and South West government pages:

1. The business has operated in the designated area for at least 12 months.
2. It has made a genuine attempt to recruit Australians, shown by labour market testing.
3. The worker’s terms and conditions are no less favourable than an Australian’s in the same job and place.
4. No adverse information is known about the business.
5. The worker will live and work in the designated area.

DAR fees run from nil in WA, the NT and the Goldfields (until 31 December 2026) to $290 per nomination in the South West and $850 to $1,000 per worker on the Great South Coast. Endorsement lasts 12 months in WA and the Goldfields.

A DAMA 482 has to pass three separate decisions, the DAR’s endorsement, the labour agreement request and the nomination, each with its own evidence of recruitment and pay, so an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to have the concession business case accepted first time and to lodge before a region’s agreement closes.

What concessions can a DAMA give?

A DAMA gives up to five kinds of concession, each set in the head agreement:

1. Occupations off the CSOL. Skill level 4 and 5 roles, and roles outside ANZSCO coded 070499.
2. A lower salary floor. 90% of the TSMIT or CSIT in most DAMAs that publish one, and 85% in the NT ($67,510), against the standard $79,423. Type 1 concessions are paid wholly in money; Type 2 lets non-monetary benefits such as board make up to 10%.
3. English. IELTS 5.0 overall with no minimum band in WA (skill levels 3 and 4), the South West and the Great South Coast; IELTS 4.5 overall with 4.0 in each band in the NT. The standard 482 needs 5.0 in each component.
4. Age at the 186 or 494 step. 55 for skill levels 1 to 4 and 50 for skill level 5 in the NT, the South West and the Great South Coast; 55 in WA and South Australia. The 482 itself has no age requirement: the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page states “There is no age requirement for this visa.”
5. Work experience. Mostly relevant to the 494 and 186, because the 482 already needs only 1 year.

Concessions apply occupation by occupation, and the DAR endorses only the concessions the business case supports.

Which 482 stream does a DAMA use?

A DAMA 482 is granted in the 482 Labour Agreement stream. The Home Affairs Labour Agreement stream page sets four rules, and a DAMA changes them only where its terms say so:

• Work experience: 1 year of relevant full-time work within the last 5 years, “unless otherwise specified in the Labour Agreement”.
• English: requirements equivalent to the standard 482 apply “unless the labour agreement provides an English language concession”.
• Stay: up to 4 years, depending on the labour agreement.
• Employer: under condition 8607 in Schedule 8 of the Migration Regulations 1994, the worker works only in the nominated occupation and only for the nominator that holds the labour agreement.

Does a DAMA lead to PR?

Yes, through the 186 Labour Agreement stream, but only where the labour agreement includes that option. The Home Affairs 186 Labour Agreement stream page says permanent residence is available only “if it has been included as an option” in the 482 labour agreement, and the applicant must be under 45 “unless the labour agreement provides otherwise”.

Regional DAMAs typically ask for 2 years’ work in the area before the 186 nomination: the NT, the South West, South Australia and the Great South Coast all publish a 2-year rule, and the WA DAMA asks for 2 years in Regional WA or 3 years in Metropolitan Perth. The 186 nomination fee is nil for a labour agreement position in regional Australia and $540 elsewhere. A 494 holder moves to the 191 after 3 years. The wider routes are compared in the guide to PR after 482 visa.

Which DAMAs change next?

Home Affairs says the department “is currently supporting the transition to state and territory-led DAMAs”.