March 15, 2023•2 min read
Suman Dua MARN 1800859Mar 15, 20232 min read
In today's blog, we will be talking about the possibilities of employer-sponsored visas for aged care and disability care workers through the DAMA agreement.
What is DAMA? DAMA, a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA), is a type of Labour Agreement. Labour Agreements are work agreements that enable approved employers to sponsor skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers for positions they cannot fill with local workers and in response to identified market shortages.
These agreements are negotiated between the Department and employers or industrial associations.
Other types of labour agreements also include:
DAMAs are labour agreements between a Designated Area Representative (DAR) and the Australian Government and provide access to additional occupations and concessions to standard migration programs under the:
Once a DAMA is in place, local businesses can apply for endorsement and enter into individual labour agreements under the conditions of the relevant DAMA.
Do you know that as an employer of Aged Care and Disability Support workers, you can provide employer sponsorship under a DAMA or company-specific labour agreement?
You can retain that employee for at least three years in the subclass 494 visa.
Some DAMAs contain age concessions allowing your employees to be sponsored even when they pass 45 years. For example, for Far North Queensland DAMA, the age concession is up to 55. Some DAMAs provide English concessions, and you can sponsor applicants who still need to meet the minimum English requirement.
In addition to using DAMAs, your business can set up a company-specific labour agreement to sponsor employees and future employees, including those outside Australia whose occupations are not on the usual occupation lists. What this means is that if your business is struggling to retain employees across occupations that are not available for sponsorship via the usual pathways, you can seek permission via a labour agreement to bring these employees to Australia (or keep them if they are already working for you).
Suppose you are in Australia and already employed in Aged care or Disability support and are looking for a pathway to permanent residency. In that case, you may find this pathway via your employment.
Contact us today to discuss how a DAMA or company-specific labour agreement could result in your Australian Permanent Residency.
