NEW DAMA Changes for South Australia – New occupations added – PR pathway

What changes have been made?

On 29 October 2020, Move to SA has announced that the Australian government has agreed to significant changes to SA’s DAMAs. In summary, there are three major changes on SA DAMAs:

• Concessions and PR Pathways

• Skills Assessing Authority

• DAMA Occupation List

• Concessions and PR Pathways

Before this change, South Australia DAMA only offered English language and age concessions to temporary visa holders, and DAMA candidates who intended to apply for PR were still required to meet permanent residence eligibility requirements without the above concessions.

Now the amended SA DAMA has secured both English and age concessions to PR visa applicants.  In other words, SA DAMA candidates are eligible to apply for PR with the following concessions:

• English concession: IELTS score 5.0 overall (or equivalent), and minimum of IELTS score 4.5 (or equivalent) for individual bands, where specified in the DAMA occupation list.
• Age concession: Under Age 50 for regional occupations and Under Age 55 for Metro occupations

The changes to work experience requirements for a number of occupations will make it easier for qualified international graduates to be eligible to apply.

All DAMA occupations in the DAMA occupation lists will be eligible for a permanent residency pathway by Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional Visa (Subclass 494) or Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482).

• Skills Assessing Authority

From now on, the South Australia government is able to undertake the skill assessments for your DAMA occupations. If your occupation is listed as “skills verification required from South Australia” in the DAMA occupation list, then you can submit an online enquiry requesting further information on the skills assessment process from Move to SA website.

• DAMA Occupation List

SA has brought some new occupations into the DAMA occupation lists and the focus is on the following sectors:

• Health care
• Manufacturing
• High-tech sectors
• Agribusiness
• Food productions

In total, 92 new occupations added to the DAMA occupation lists. While 26 new occupations added to the list for the Adelaide Metro Occupation list 66 new occupations added to the regional DAMA occupation list.

Please refer to the end of the blog for new added and removed occupations.

Our View

It is great news for many visa applicants that 92 occupations are added into DAMA occupation lists. It opens up another pathway for them to obtain for Permanent Residence.  New changes have also provided some flexibility to DAMA candidates. Those occupations with ANZSCO 070499 in the following DAMA occupation tables are newly made occupations.  The DAR (Government of South Australia) will be undertaking the skills assessment for those specific occupations.

However, some occupations used to be popular for DAMA have been removed from DAMA occupation lists, such as Cook; Chef; Bar Attendant & Restaurant Manager & Diesel Motor Mechanic. This reflects the scale of COVID-19 has heavily hit many previous market demanding industries.

With the lower English and Age requirements, DAMA program visa could potentially lead many visa applicants to PR.

South Australia government now becomes the skills assessing authority, this will allow previously ineligible occupations to now be available for skilled migration; ensuring workers filling those positions are appropriately skilled.

Sources

https://www.migration.sa.gov.au/news-events/dama-program-changes

Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA)

 https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/temporary-skill-shortage-482/labour-agreement-stream

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/employer-nomination-scheme-186/labour-agreement-stream

What is DAMA?

The Australian Designated Area Migration Agreement also referred to as the “DAMA” is intended to assist employers operating in a specific are through sponsoring skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers for positions they are unable to fill with local Australian workers.

The DAMA is a labour agreement for a designated area that can provide access to a larger amount of occupations and may have lower requirements. The DAMA labour agreement allows employers to be approved to sponsor migrant workers through the Temporary Skills Shortage TSS 482 and the employer nomination scheme subclass 186 visa streams. Skilled and semi-skilled workers in occupations which are not on the Short-Term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) and Medium and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) may be able to access skilled Australian migration through the DAMA program.

If you want to know more about DAMA, please visit our following website:

Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA)

Do you need help?

Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.

Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

If you require further information regarding your Australia visa options you can contact us through:

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or [email protected]

NEW Adelaide Metro Occupations

NEW Regional DAMA Occupations

Removed occupations