Can a Perth employer sponsor overseas workers through the WA DAMA?

What it is

A Designated Area Migration Agreement, or DAMA, is an agreement between the Commonwealth and a body that represents a particular area, called the Designated Area Representative. It lets employers in that area sponsor overseas workers for occupations and on terms that the standard programs do not offer, after they have tried to recruit Australians first.

The Western Australian DAMA started in July 2024. Its Designated Area Representative is the Department of Training and Workforce Development, acting through Migration Services. It covers the whole state, including metropolitan Perth. Businesses in the Perth metropolitan postcodes sit in one category and the rest of Western Australia in another, and up to half the places go to each.

Four regional DAMAs continue alongside it, in the Goldfields, Kimberley, Pilbara and South West. An employer in one of those regions applies to the local representative when its occupation is on that region’s list, and turns to the WA DAMA only when it is not. In July 2026, Migration WA said Goldfields employers can keep using the Goldfields DAMA until 31 December 2026.

A DAMA is not a visa. It opens the Labour Agreement stream of three employer sponsored visas: the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482), the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional visa (subclass 494) and the Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186).

How it works in practice

There are three stages, and each needs its own approval.

First, the business applies to Migration Services for endorsement through the Migration WA Portal. It has to be a verified employer on the state’s Skilled Migrant Employment Register, and it supplies evidence that it is established, has been trading for over 12 months and is financially viable in Western Australia, and discloses any compliance investigation or audit in the last five years. It also shows a genuine need for the role: an organisation chart under six months old, a job description, a business case and a workforce plan. For metropolitan businesses, Migration Services checks that the share of skilled migrants in the workforce stays within the ratio Home Affairs has set.

The role has to be full time under the relevant award or agreement, on terms no less favourable than an Australian in the same job and location would receive, and paid at least the Core Skills Income Threshold set by the Commonwealth. For the 482 and 494 pathways, the endorsement application includes labour market testing: at least two advertisements in approved channels, open for 28 consecutive days, within the 12 months before the nomination is lodged. General classifieds and social media posts do not count; an open LinkedIn job listing can.

Migration Services does not currently charge for endorsement. Its current processing time for a decision-ready application is 20 working days, and an endorsement is valid for 12 months. A business that is refused can ask for a review within 28 days, but the review looks only at what was in the original application.

Second, with the endorsement, the business asks the Department of Home Affairs for its own labour agreement. Migration Services is not a party to that agreement and cannot require Home Affairs to make one.

Third, the business nominates the worker, and the worker applies for the visa. Home Affairs approves the nomination only under a labour agreement in effect. For a 482, the occupation must be covered by that agreement, and the worker must meet its skills and English settings.

The concessions, occupation by occupation

The WA DAMA keeps its own occupation list, and each entry shows which visas and which part of the state it is available for. Its published concessions vary by occupation, visa and area:

• English. For Skill Level 3 and 4 occupations only: IELTS 5.0 or equivalent, with no minimum band for the 482 and 494 and none below 4.0 for the 186. Skill Level 1 and 2 occupations, such as Disabilities Services Officer, get no English concession. Migration WA notes the concession may not be approved for a client-facing role, for safety reasons, or where registration or licensing needs a higher level.
• Age. The 482 has no age limit. For the 494 and the 186, the WA DAMA can raise the age limit from 45 to 55.
• Work experience. At least one year of relevant full-time experience, or the part-time equivalent, for the 482. For the 494 and the 186, three years in metropolitan Perth or two years in regional Western Australia.
• Permanent residence. For a 482 or 494 worker first nominated under the WA DAMA, a WA DAMA 186 requires, among other criteria, three years living and working in metropolitan Perth or two years in regional Western Australia, and labour market testing is not required at that stage.

For a WA DAMA 482, Migration WA requires a skills assessment for occupations off the national Core Skills Occupation List unless the worker is exempt, and for some on it. Migration WA’s occupation filter names each role’s assessing authority.

Where care-sector employers fit

Disability and aged care providers often find the carer roles they need to fill are not on the Core Skills Occupation List. Aged or Disabled Carer, for example, is not on it.

The WA DAMA occupation list is different. It includes Aged or Disabled Carer, Personal Care Assistant and Disabilities Services Officer, among others, for both metropolitan Perth and regional Western Australia.

Where an occupation is already covered by an industry labour agreement approved by Home Affairs, the WA DAMA can only endorse it if the worker will be employed in a different industry from the one that agreement covers. The aged care sector has its own industry labour agreement, covering Aged or Disabled Carer, Nursing Support Worker and Personal Care Assistant. Home Affairs states that employers of those occupations in the disability sector cannot use the aged care agreement and should consider whether a DAMA is available in their location. For those occupations, aged care providers look to the aged care agreement, and disability providers can consider the DAMA for workers employed in disability services.

Healthcare occupations currently share the highest processing priority for 482 visa applications under Direction 121, and its healthcare definition includes Aged or Disabled Carer and the Health and Welfare Support Workers group. Priority changes the order 482 visa applications are processed in, not the endorsement, labour agreement or nomination steps, and does not change any criterion.

How an agent approaches it

The first question is whether the DAMA is needed at all. If the role is on the Core Skills Occupation List and the worker meets the standard requirements, an ordinary Skills in Demand nomination needs sponsor approval, not an endorsement or a labour agreement.

When the DAMA is the right tool, an agent works backwards from the advertising. The advertisements must finish before the endorsement application, which precedes the labour agreement, yet still fall within 12 months of the nomination. So their timing comes first.

The agent also checks the worker side early: the occupation’s entry on the WA DAMA list, the worker’s experience against the one-, two- or three-year setting, the skills assessment, the English concession and whether the role is client-facing.

What typically goes wrong

One mistake is treating endorsement as the finish line. It is the first of three stages, and the labour agreement with Home Affairs is a separate application.

Another is advertising in the wrong place or for the wrong length of time: a social media post, a classifieds listing, or an advertisement that closed before 28 days.

Another is missing the industry labour agreement rule for an occupation such as Aged or Disabled Carer, and building a plan on an occupation the DAMA cannot endorse for that industry.

A last one is assuming the concessions are automatic. Each one depends on the occupation, visa or area, can be refused for a particular role, as English can for a client-facing carer, and turns on the business’s evidence.

This article sets out general information about the law and Migration WA’s published criteria as they stood in October 2026, not any business’s circumstances. Migration Services and Home Affairs make every decision. An employer weighing the WA DAMA can book a consultation to have its own position assessed.

Common questions