DAMA Migration Agent for WA Employers
Can’t fill a role locally? A Designated Area Migration Agreement lets endorsed WA businesses sponsor overseas workers in occupations, and at concessions, the standard programme doesn’t allow.
- Endorsement applications to Migration Services or your regional DAR
- DAMA labour agreement negotiation with Home Affairs
- Nomination and visa lodgement for subclass 482, 494 and 186
Check your DAMA options
Tell us your occupation, your postcode and how many roles you need. We come back with which DAMA applies and whether your occupation is on the list.
Registered migration agent
Visa applications lodged
Australian migration practice
WA based, WA focused
Are you an employer or a worker?
This page is written for businesses. A DAMA can only be accessed by an employer — a worker cannot apply on their own behalf, and there is no such thing as a self-sponsored DAMA visa.
You're in the right place
You run a WA business, you’ve tried to recruit locally, and the role is still open. We’ll confirm which DAMA covers your postcode and occupation, prepare the endorsement application, and take you through to a granted visa.
You'll need a sponsoring employer first
You can’t lodge a DAMA application yourself. You need an endorsed WA business willing to sponsor you in an occupation on that DAMA’s list. If you already have a job offer, we can advise you on the worker side — or look at skilled and state nomination pathways instead.
What is a Designated Area Migration Agreement?
A DAMA is a formal arrangement between the Commonwealth and a Designated Area Representative that lets eligible businesses in that area sponsor overseas workers when local recruitment hasn’t succeeded. It sits on top of the standard employer sponsored programme and opens up two things you can’t get otherwise: a wider occupation list and concessions to the usual age, English and work experience requirements.
Wider occupation list
Each DAMA has its own list, built around what that area actually needs. It includes semi-skilled roles and, in some cases, occupations that are not in ANZSCO at all.
Concessions on the rules
Age limits, English requirements and work experience minimums can be relaxed. Which concessions you can access depends on the DAMA, the occupation’s skill level and the visa subclass.
A permanent residence pathway
Workers sponsored under a DAMA can transition to permanent residence through the ENS (186) stream once they have met the required period of employment in the region.
Three visa programmes sit under a DAMA
- Skills in Demand (subclass 482) — the temporary skilled pathway, formerly the TSS visa.
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (subclass 494) — the regional provisional pathway.
- Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) — the permanent pathway.
Each is used through its labour agreement stream, not the standard stream. That distinction matters, because it’s the labour agreement that carries your concessions.
Important: no Direct Entry to subclass 186 under the WA DAMA
The Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) Direct Entry stream is not available under the WA DAMA. Permanent residence is reached through the subclass 482 pathway first — the worker is sponsored on a 482 under your labour agreement, then nominated for the 186 once the required period of employment in the region has been completed. Plan for a two-stage timeline, not a single permanent application.
DAMAs available in Western Australia
WA has a state-wide DAMA plus four regional DAMAs. The rule of precedence is simple: if your business sits inside an active regional DAMA area and your occupation is on that regional list, you apply to the local Designated Area Representative. If your occupation isn’t available regionally but is on the WA DAMA list, you apply to Migration Services instead.
South West DAMA
Covers the South West region. Agriculture, food processing, aged care, trades and construction.
Goldfields DAMA
Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the wider Goldfields. Mining and mining services, heavy trades, hospitality and health.
Pilbara & Kimberley DAMAs
Two separate agreements covering the north. Resources, construction, logistics, tourism and community services.
WA DAMA (state-wide)
Established in July 2024, the WA DAMA covers the whole state — metropolitan Perth and regional WA. It is administered by Migration Services within the Department of Training and Workforce Development, and places are split evenly between two categories:
- Category 2 — Metropolitan Perth: postcodes 6000–6038, 6050–6083, 6090–6182, 6208–6211, 6214 and 6556–6558.
- Category 3 — Regional WA: all other WA postcodes. Broader occupation list, shorter permanent residence pathway and lower work experience requirements than Metropolitan Perth.
Is your business eligible?
The onus sits with the business to evidence every claim it makes. Broadly, a Designated Area Representative needs to be satisfied of three things: that you are a genuine operating WA business, that you have a genuine workforce need, and that the position you are filling is a real, properly paid job.
Your business
- Legally established and currently operating in Western Australia
- Actively trading for more than 12 months and financially viable, evidenced by an accountant’s letter and financial statements
- ABN or ACN registration, plus any licences your industry requires
- A registered WA business address, with lease or ownership documents and photographs of the premises
- No adverse findings in the last five years on migration, workplace relations or work health and safety
Your workforce need
- Registration on the Skilled Migrant Employment Register (SMER)
- A current organisation chart, less than six months old, showing reporting lines, employment status and visa status for every position
- A business case for each role: ANZSCO code, job description, salary, location, concessions sought and the impact if the role stays vacant
- Salary no less than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, and terms no less favourable than an Australian doing the same job
- Labour market testing where you are seeking endorsement under the 482 or 494 pathways
Labour market testing, in short
Two separate advertisements, in English, run for four consecutive weeks with applications accepted for the whole period, within the 12 months before nomination. Metropolitan Perth businesses need two ads; regional businesses need two ads with at least one having national reach. Each must state the position title, required skills, location, salary and your business name. General classifieds and social media posts do not count.
The DAMA process, step by step
There are three separate approvals between you and a worker starting: endorsement by the DAR, a labour agreement with Home Affairs, then nomination and visa. Each depends on the one before it.
Confirm your DAMA and occupation
We check your primary work location against the regional and state-wide designated areas, then confirm your occupation is available for the visa subclass and category you need. This determines whether you apply to a regional DAR or to Migration Services.
Register on SMER and build the evidence pack
Migration WA Portal profile, SMER registration, organisation chart, financials, premises evidence, employment contracts and the business case for each position. This is where most of the work sits, and where a weak file gets found out later.
Run labour market testing
Where the 482 or 494 pathway applies, we draft compliant advertisements and manage the four-week advertising window so the timing lines up with your nomination lodgement.
Lodge the endorsement application
Submitted through the Migration WA Portal, with Indeedvisa nominated as your Authorised Migration Representative. Migration Services aims to process decision-ready WA DAMA applications in around 20 working days. Applications that trigger requests for further information take longer.
Apply for your DAMA labour agreement
A positive endorsement is valid for 12 months and must reach Home Affairs within that window. We prepare and lodge the labour agreement request, including the specific occupations, ceilings and concessions your endorsement covers. Labour agreements generally run for five years.
Nominate and lodge the visa
Once the agreement is executed you nominate the position under the labour agreement stream and the worker lodges their 482, 494 or 186 application. We manage both sides, including skills assessments, English evidence and health and character requirements.
Meet your ongoing obligations
Endorsement carries conditions: annual reporting on migrants employed under the agreement, providing settlement information before employment starts, releasing workers to attend employment law information sessions, and notifying Migration Services of visa outcomes. We diarise these so nothing lapses.
DAMA compared with standard employer sponsorship
A DAMA is more work up front than a standard nomination. It is worth it when your occupation is not on the standard lists, or when a concession is the only thing making your candidate viable. If neither applies, the standard 482 or 186 route is usually faster.
| Standard employer sponsored (482 / 494 / 186) | Under a DAMA labour agreement | |
|---|---|---|
| Occupations available | Limited to the relevant Commonwealth occupation lists | The DAMA’s own list — includes semi-skilled roles and some occupations outside ANZSCO |
| Age limit | Standard limits apply to the permanent pathways | Concession available — the WA DAMA lifts the visa applicant age limit from 45 to 55 |
| English requirement | 482: Vocational English (IELTS 5.0 or equivalent). 494/186: Competent English (IELTS 6.0 or equivalent) | No concession for Skill Level 1–2 occupations. For Skill Level 3–4: IELTS 5.0 or equivalent, with no minimum score under the 482/494 pathways, and no band score below 4.0 on the 186 pathway |
| Work experience | Standard programme requirements | WA DAMA: 1 year for Skills in Demand; 2 years for 494/186 in regional WA; 3 years for 494/186 in metropolitan Perth |
| Approvals required | Sponsorship, nomination, visa | DAR endorsement, labour agreement, nomination, visa |
| Endorsement fee | Not applicable | Migration Services does not currently charge a fee for a WA DAMA endorsement application. Regional DARs set their own fees independently |
| Permanent residence | Available through the standard 186 Direct Entry stream | Direct Entry is not available. PR is reached via the 482 pathway first, then nomination for the 186 once the required period of employment in the region is complete |
What is included when you engage us
DAMA and occupation assessment
We map your postcode, occupation, skill level and target subclass against the regional and state-wide lists, and tell you plainly whether a DAMA is the right instrument or whether a standard nomination would be quicker.
Endorsement application
Full preparation and lodgement of the endorsement application, acting as your Authorised Migration Representative — organisation chart, business case, financial evidence and concession requests.
Labour market testing
Advertisement drafting, platform selection and timing so your evidence holds up at nomination stage rather than failing on a technicality.
Labour agreement request
Preparation and lodgement of your individual DAMA labour agreement with Home Affairs, including occupations, ceilings and the concessions you have been endorsed for.
Nomination and visa lodgement
Nominations under the labour agreement stream and the corresponding 482, 494 or 186 applications, including family members, skills assessments and health and character evidence.
Compliance and reporting
Annual reporting, settlement information packs, data release forms and variation requests when your occupations, ceilings or concessions need to change.
Professional fees
DAMA work is quoted per engagement, because the effort varies with how many positions you are seeking, how clean your documentation is and whether you are going through a regional DAR or the state-wide programme. What follows is how we structure it.
Endorsement and labour agreement
Covers the endorsement application through to an executed DAMA labour agreement with Home Affairs, including responses to any request for further information.
Nomination
Charged per position, covering the nomination lodged under the labour agreement stream for each role you have been endorsed for.
Visa application
Covers the visa application for the sponsored worker. Family members included on the same application are charged as below.
- Spouse or partner — A$550
- Child under 18 — A$550
- Child 18 or over — A$990
Reviews from businesses and applicants we've acted for
Employer case studies
Two examples of how a DAMA solved a problem the standard programme could not. Details are used with the clients’ permission and some particulars have been changed.
[ CASE STUDY 1 — headline outcome ]
[ CASE STUDY 2 — headline outcome ]
Chandan Mehndiratta
Chandan is the founder of Indeedvisa and a registered migration agent based in South Perth. He works with Western Australian businesses across construction, resources, hospitality, aged care and trades on employer sponsored and DAMA pathways, and with individual applicants on skilled, partner and student visas.
His approach with employers is to test the DAMA option honestly before recommending it — if a standard nomination will get you there faster, he will say so.
DAMA questions from WA employers
No, but the endorsement application is evidence-heavy and the labour agreement request has to line up exactly with what you were endorsed for. Most refusals we see are document and timing problems, not eligibility problems. A registered agent can also act as your Authorised Migration Representative in the Migration WA Portal.
Migration Services aims to process decision-ready WA DAMA endorsement applications in around 20 working days. Applications that trigger a request for further information take longer. Realistically, allow four to eight weeks from starting the evidence pack to holding an endorsement, and longer if labour market testing still has to run.
Migration Services does not currently charge a fee for a WA DAMA endorsement application. Regional Designated Area Representatives set their own endorsement fees independently. Our professional fee for the endorsement and labour agreement stage is A$1,650.
Only if your occupation is not available on the regional list. If your business sits inside an active regional DAMA area and the occupation is on that regional list, you apply to the local DAR. The state-wide WA DAMA is the fallback, not a free choice.
A positive endorsement is valid for 12 months and your labour agreement request must reach Home Affairs within that window. Labour agreements themselves generally run for five years.
It depends on your roster model and which DAMA you are applying under. Work location and time split are assessed as part of the endorsement, so raise your roster arrangement with us early rather than after lodgement — it is a common reason applications come unstuck.
Where you are seeking endorsement under the 482 or 494 pathways, yes. Two separate advertisements in English, run for four consecutive weeks with applications accepted throughout, within the 12 months before nomination. The ads must state the position title, required skills, location, salary and your business name.
No less than the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold, and terms no less favourable than an Australian doing the same job. Salary concessions are regional, not state-wide: the WA DAMA itself carries no salary concession, while the Goldfields, Pilbara and South West regional DAMAs offer up to 10% below threshold for listed concessional occupations.
Yes, but not directly. Under the WA DAMA the subclass 186 Direct Entry stream is not available. The worker is sponsored on a subclass 482 under your labour agreement first, then nominated for the 186 once the required period of employment in the region has been completed.
You will usually be told what was missing. In most cases the practical route is to fix the evidence and re-apply rather than pursue review. This is why we would rather spend an extra week on the file than lodge something thin.
We cannot find you a sponsor, and you cannot lodge a DAMA application on your own behalf. If you already have a job offer from a WA business, we can advise both sides. Otherwise we would look at skilled and state nomination pathways with you instead.
Annual reporting on migrants employed under the agreement, providing settlement information before employment starts, releasing workers to attend employment law information sessions, and notifying Migration Services of visa outcomes. These run for the life of the agreement.
Related employer services
Skills in Demand (subclass 482)
The temporary skilled pathway, inside and outside a labour agreement.
SESR (subclass 494)
Regional employer sponsored provisional visa with a pathway to permanent residence.
ENS (subclass 186)
Permanent employer nomination, including the DAMA transition pathway.
Training visa (subclass 407)
Workplace-based occupational training for overseas workers.
Temporary Work visa (subclass 400)
Short-term, highly specialised work that cannot be done locally.
Talk to us about your workforce
Not sure which pathway fits? Start with a conversation.
Let's work out whether a DAMA is right for your business
Bring us your postcode, the occupation you are trying to fill and how many positions you need. We will tell you which DAMA applies, whether your occupation is on the list, what concessions you could seek and what it realistically costs — before you commit to anything.