Truck Driver Visa Sponsorship on a 482: DAMA and Labour Agreement Routes

Truck Driver (General), ANZSCO 733111, is not on the Core Skills Occupation List and sits in ANZSCO Major Group 7, so a truck driver reaches the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) only through the Labour Agreement stream, under a DAMA, the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement or a company-specific labour agreement. Five government-run DAMA lists include Truck Driver (General): the Northern Territory, the statewide Western Australia DAMA, the Goldfields and South West DAMAs, and the South Australian DAMA. The employer acts first: it must be endorsed by the region’s Designated Area Representative and hold a DAMA labour agreement before it can nominate a driver, and the driver must hold the heavy vehicle licence the job needs within 90 days of arrival or grant.

Is truck driver on the CSOL?

No. None of the 456 occupations on the CSOL comes from ANZSCO Major Group 7 (Machinery Operators and Drivers) or Major Group 8 (Labourers), and the Specialist Skills stream excludes Major Group 7 at any salary. The standard 482 streams are therefore closed to Truck Driver (General).

The Core Skills Occupation List uses “truck driving” as its own example of a low-skilled task. Applicable circumstance 5 in section 7 of LIN 24/089 on the Federal Register of Legislation removes the occupations it attaches to, mostly farm occupations, where the position mainly involves low-skilled tasks, and it names truck driving alongside fruit picking and feeding livestock.

Which DAMAs include truck drivers?

Five government-run DAMA lists include Truck Driver (General), as the table above sets out. Each head agreement sets its own concessions, and a DAMA is not endorsed where an industry labour agreement covers the industry, according to the Home Affairs DAMA page.

The NT DAMA lists the occupation in category H, with an English concession of IELTS 4.5 overall with at least 4.0 in each band and a salary floor of $67,510, on the NT Government’s NT DAMA occupations list. The third NT DAMA runs from 19 March 2025 to 30 June 2030 and allows up to 1,500 nominations a year (Home Affairs news item 1305).

In Western Australia, an employer checks the regional DAMA for its area first (Goldfields, South West, Pilbara or Kimberley) and uses the statewide WA DAMA if the occupation is not available regionally, according to Migration WA. The Goldfields DAMA added Truck Driver (General) in April 2024 and continues until 31 December 2026. South Australia’s two DAMAs have been extended to 31 January 2027 while a new statewide agreement is negotiated.

A DAMA nomination follows three steps:

The other DAMAs (Orana, Goulburn Valley, Great South Coast, Far North Queensland, Townsville, Pilbara and East Kimberley) were not checked for this occupation. The current list is on each Designated Area Representative’s website.

Can a labour agreement cover truck drivers?

Yes. A horticulture employer can use the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement, which lists Truck Driver (ANZSCO 733111) among its 31 occupations, and an employer whose need no industry agreement or DAMA covers can seek a company-specific labour agreement. The Home Affairs company-specific labour agreements page sets six conditions:

1. an exceptional need that Australian workers cannot meet, shown by many and diverse recruitment efforts;
2. a business that has operated lawfully and actively in Australia for at least 12 months;
3. consultation with the industry body and the relevant union, which have 10 working days to respond;
4. overseas workers making up no more than one-third of the total workforce;
5. a plan to train and employ Australians so that a future agreement is not needed;
6. positions at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 4, which includes Truck Driver (General) at skill level 4.

Under the Horticulture Industry Labour Agreement, the skill and qualification requirements for truck drivers are set in each labour agreement rather than taken from ANZSCO, and the standard labour market testing requirements apply (Home Affairs industry labour agreements page). Because a DAMA is not endorsed where an industry labour agreement covers the industry, a horticulture business uses that agreement rather than a DAMA. The On-hire agreement is limited to occupations on the list of eligible skilled occupations for the 482, which does not include the occupation.

Which licence and experience are needed?

Each state and territory issues heavy vehicle licences, and the class needed depends on the vehicle the job uses.

Condition 8607(6) in Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires the driver to hold the licence within 90 days of arriving in Australia, or of the grant if the visa is granted in Australia, to keep it while driving, and to notify Home Affairs in writing if it is refused or cancelled.

For experience, the Labour Agreement stream default is 1 year of full-time experience in the last 5 years, unless the agreement says otherwise. The DAMA-specific qualification and experience rules are those in the table above.

Can a truck driver on a DAMA 482 reach PR?

Yes, where the DAMA labour agreement includes the permanent pathway. The employer then nominates the driver for the 186 visa in its Labour Agreement stream:

• Northern Territory: under 55, and full-time work in the Northern Territory for 2 years in the 3 years before nomination.
• South Australia: under 55, with the work experience the SA DAMA list sets for the 186.
• Western Australia: the WA DAMA’s permanent pathway concession, available only where the original nomination came from WA DAMA endorsement, after a set period of living and working in regional WA or Perth.

The 186 Agreement pathway was published at 58 days for 50% of applications and 12 months for 90%, as at 24 September 2026. The other pathways from a 482 are compared in the guide to the 482 visa pathway to permanent residency.

An immigration lawyer makes a truck driver’s 482 more likely to succeed by working through the DAR endorsement and the labour agreement request before any nomination. That matters because no truck-driver nomination can be lodged until Home Affairs approves the labour agreement, and a DAMA will not be endorsed where an industry labour agreement covers the industry.