SKILLED TRADES | WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND NORTHERN TERRITORY

Still struggling to fill skilled trade vacancies?

Think Visa's Regional Trades DAMA Workforce Review looks at your business, worksite, role, salary, recruitment efforts and worker together. You'll know whether a Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA) pathway looks viable, what evidence is missing and what to do next.

Book an Employer DAMA Review

I am skilled worker

Employer-led and case-specific. No pathway, concession or outcome is guaranteed.

EMPLOYER FIRST

Genuine vacancy and local recruitment evidence

TRADE SPECIFIC

Occupation, duties, skills and licensing checked

REGION SPECIFIC

Correct WA or NT agreement and DAR confirmed

WHO THIS REVIEW IS FOR

For trade employers with a real workforce need

This review suits established WA and NT businesses with a full-time trade role they can't fill, a skilled worker they want to keep, or several positions planned over the next 12 months.

Heavy vehicle and automotive

Regional workshops, fleet operators, transport groups, equipment dealers and mining-service businesses.

Diesel motor mechanic
Motor mechanic
Automotive electric

Fabrication and engineering

Fabricators, engineering workshops, mining maintenance contractors and manufacturing businesses.

Metal fabricator
Welder
Fitter

Construction and civil

Regional builders, civil contractors, plant operators and specialist subcontractors with ongoing work.

Carpenter
Carpenter and joiner
Civil trades

Occupation lists differ between agreements and are updated regularly. We check the current list for your worksite and visa type. Different trade? Tell us about the role and we'll let you know whether we can review it.

THE REVIEW

A clear written outcome, not general chat about visas

After the review you’ll have three things in writing

A pathway recommendation

Which sponsored pathway, if any, looks worth pursuing for your business and role, and why.

An evidence gap list

What you already have, what’s missing, and who needs to provide it.

A next-step scope

What the work would involve if you go ahead, what it includes, who does what and what it would cost.

If a DAMA isn't the right fit, we'll say so. We'll tell you whether another sponsored pathway is worth considering or what needs to change first.

One campaign, two carefully separated pathways

CHOOSE YOUR REVIEW

FOR EMPLOYERS

Use the Regional Trades DAMA Workforce Review to test:

business and worksite location;
⁠the genuine vacancy and occupation match;
⁠salary, employment terms and local recruitment evidence;
candidate readiness and trade evidence;
the correct DAMA, DAR and visa pathway; and
single-worker versus multi-worker strategy.

REQUEST EMPLOYER REVIEW

FOR SKILLED WORKERS

Use the Skilled Trades DAMA Pathway Review if you have, or are actively speaking with, a genuine regional employer.

Confirm your exact trade occupation and duties;
review qualifications, experience and assessment needs;
confirm current location and employer relationship;
identify licensing or registration barriers; and
compare available employer-sponsored pathways.

CHECK MY PAYROLL RISK

HOW IT WORKS

Four steps to a clear recommendation

Your business and region

We confirm the employing business, the worksite, its postcode and your trading history, then identify which agreement applies.

The worker

We review skills, qualifications, recent experience, English and licensing. If you haven't found someone yet, we'll say what we can and can't assess.

The role and your recruitment

We check the duties, whether it is a full-time position, the salary and conditions, and your efforts to recruit Australians first.

Your plan and next steps

You receive a written recommendation, a list of missing evidence and a scope for any further work.

THE WIDER PROCESS | HOW DAMA PATHWAY WORKS

What happens if you decide to go ahead

A DAMA is an agreement between the Australian Government and a state, territory or regional authority. Eligible employers in that region can sponsor overseas workers when they can't fill the job locally. There are several stages, and different bodies decide each one.

Endorsement

Your business applies to the Designated Area Representative for your region (the government or regional body that manages the agreement). In the NT, that is MigrationNT. In WA, it is Migration Services or a regional representative, depending on your postcode and occupation.

Decided by: Designated Area Representative

Labour agreement

With endorsement, your business asks the Department of Home Affairs for an individual labour agreement. These generally run for five years.

Decided by: Department of Home Affairs

Nomination and visa

You nominate the position and the worker applies for a visa: Skills in Demand (subclass 482), Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (subclass 494) or permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186), depending on the agreement and the worker.

Decided by: Department of Home Affairs

    After approval:
    Sponsorship obligations continue, including pay, duties and record-keeping. We can help you plan for these.
  

Timing varies, so we don't quote processing times. The review shows what to prepare first so you're not waiting on gaps you could have closed earlier.

RETENTION

Already employ the tradesperson you want to keep?

If a skilled worker is critical to your business, plan before time pressure sets in. Endorsement, a labour agreement, a nomination and a visa application each need evidence and preparation.

A joint review looks at your business and the worker together. Whether a permanent visa could suit the worker is a separate assessment, which we can discuss once the facts are clear.

If this worker is important to your business, review the pathway while there is time to prepare the evidence.

WORKFORCE PLANNING

Need more than one tradesperson over the next year?

Several vacancies. Different worker readiness. One coordinated workforce plan

If you expect to sponsor several people, plan them together. We map the occupations, worksites, timing, evidence and worker readiness across the next 12 months so you're not rebuilding the same case every time.

This matters because agreements and endorsements are built around numbers. In the NT, the labour agreement sets how many workers a business can nominate over five years. In WA, an endorsement request lists the total positions with a breakdown by year.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

What helps us give you a useful review

You don't need everything on day one. These facts make the review more useful.

✔ Your business has operated in WA or the NT for at least 12 months and is financially viable.

✔ A full-time, ongoing position with duties that match a listed occupation.

✔ Pay and conditions no less favourable than those for Australians in the same role and location, and at or above the current income threshold unless an approved concession applies.

✔ Evidence that you've tried to recruit Australians first: advertising, applicants and why they weren't suitable.

✔ A worker identified or a recruitment process under way. If you don't have a candidate yet, you can still book.

✔ A decision-maker who can provide business, payroll and recruitment records and approve fees.

✔ WA worksites: the role is based at one worksite. Under the WA DAMA terms, fly-in fly-out positions between regions can't be considered, and work away from the main location should not exceed 30% of the time.

WA employers:

registering on the Skilled Migrant Employment Register is part of WA DAMA endorsement. We'll guide you through it.

    A DAMA is not a visa a worker can obtain alone. The employer must be endorsed and sponsor the worker. If you're a tradesperson without an employer, we can send you information about how sponsored pathways work, but we can't start a review without one.
  