Support for NT businesses interested in employing overseas workers

Overview

The Northern Territory (NT) DAMA is an employer-sponsored visa program.

NT employers can use the program to sponsor overseas workers for positions they are unable to fill with local workers.

The program enables NT employers to sponsor workers for the:

• 4-year Temporary Skill Shortage subclass 482 visa, or
• 5-year Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) subclass 494 visa.

Both programs have a permanent residency pathway.

Through the NT DAMA, employers can sponsor workers in occupations that are not available in standard national visa programs and access concessions to some criteria.

Check if you can apply

To be eligible, businesses must be actively operating in the NT and:

• are viable and have been operating for at least 12 months
• have no history of not meeting its obligations to employees
• are looking to employ overseas workers to fill full-time positions with duties that align with one of the occupations on the NT DAMA list
• can demonstrate they cannot fill the position locally with Australian citizens or permanent residents
• can provide terms and conditions of employment to overseas workers that are in accordance with those offered to Australian workers employed in the region.

To use the program, businesses must first be endorsed by MigrationNT and enter into a 5-year labour agreement with the Department of Home Affairs.