The Far North Queensland Designated Area Migration Agreement (FNQ DAMA) is a signed agreement between the Cairns Chamber of Commerce and the Commonwealth Government and allows Far North Queensland employers the opportunity to sponsor overseas workers for positions they are unable to fill locally.
Tailored to address current and emerging labour market shortages, the FNQ DAMA utilises the labour agreement stream of the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482). And for potential employees a DAMA can be a great way to transition from a temporary visa (such as a student visa) all the way to Permanent residency.
The FNQ DAMA is very specific and covers the Far North Queensland region including the Cassowary Coast, the Tablelands, Mareeba, Cairns & the Douglas and can now be immediately accessed by businesses facing local skills shortages.
With a full occupation list due to be released shortly, the DAMA will cover a variety of skilled and semi-skilled jobs. Federal Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the DAMA will assist a range of industries including tourism, hospitality, agriculture, shipping and health and help to drive economic growth.
“This initiative will help fill the employment void across many sectors,” Mr Entsch said.
“The FNQ DAMA recognises that our businesses need people to help grow our local economy. It is about backing our small businesses and ensuring they have access to workers so they can continue to thrive in a competitive world.”
The Key Elements of FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND DAMA:
The critical elements of FNQ DAMA include:
All the employers must be first endorsed by the Designated Area Representative, or DAR before they submit a request for the DAMA Labour Agreement with the Department of Home Affairs
The pathways to the permanent residency for holders of the TSS Visas that are granted under the FNQ DAMA will be for selected occupations
The selected list of occupations should reflect the FNQ skilled and semi-skilled shortages
Additionally, this list of occupations that reflects the FNQ semi-skilled and skilled shortages should have no caveats for the application procedure
Certain occupations will have the English language concessions
Some selected occupations will also receive concessions relating to qualifications as well as experience of the applicants
Some occupations will also receive salary concessions, which in turn will reflect the market rates of FNQ. These concessions will ensure that the worker terms and conditions of employment are in no way overlooked
The DAMA will also list certain risk as well as integrity actions to ensure the rights of the employers, as well as those of the employees, remain protected
There will be a five-year agreement to reduce any red tape
Additionally, businesses can only access the FNQ DAMA if:
They are actively operating in the Far North Queensland regions
They are viable and have been in operation for a period of at least 12 months
They have no history of not being able to meet the obligations it promised to its employees
They are looking to employ workers from the overseas for full-time positions in the organisation with duties that are at par with at least one of the occupations that are listed on the FNQ DAMA list
They can prove that they cannot fill the said position with locally available workers, such as Australian citizens or permanent residents
They can provide the terms and conditions of employment to overseas workers while making sure that these terms are in accordance with those that are offered to Australian or native workers who are employed in the FNQ regions
In order to get a visa under the FNQ DAMA, employers are required to first apply to the Cairns Chamber of Commerce under the Designated Area Representative. Only those businesses that are fully endorsed are able to access the DAMA migration pathway not only to nominate but also sponsor employees.
It is important to note that the TSS 482 Visa does not have an age limit for applicants, however businesses and workers who wish to access the permanent residence pathway through the FNQ DAMA, need to be aware this permanent visa has a maximum age of limit of 44 years old during the time of nomination.
Individual workers cannot apply for the visa independently and need to seek employment in an organisation which is under the Designated Area and will be ready to sponsor them.
Businesses can choose to apply through a registered migration agent, with the application process available through the Chamber website, which also hosts a list of the occupations available.
“We are huge supporters of jobs for Australians and particularly locals first, but there are many businesses having difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled workers, and we encourage those businesses looking to fill the jobs they can’t currently fill to start putting their cases together now,” Chamber President Nick Loukas said.
“We have been given a cap of 200 applications for the first year, which we are anticipating will be easily reached.”
The Chamber is now accepting requests for endorsement from businesses under the agreement.
connect cairnschamber.com.au
