Are you looking for a way to stay in Australia?
This month, the Australian government announced two new special visa agreements that can help skilled and semi-skilled overseas workers with lower english fluency to attain permanent residency… provided they are willing to live and work in designated regional Australian towns.
These special work visas are sponsored by employers through labour agreements officially known as the Designation Area Migration Agreements (DAMA)s under one or both of the existing visa programs [(Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) and Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186)].
They will allow migrants who have hospitality or farming skills to get jobs in areas that have severe labour and population shortages. Currently these areas include south-west Victoria’s Warrnambool region and certain parts of the Northern Territory (where the DAMA is not new, but the offer of permanent residency is).
Those who take the government up their offer will need to commit to spending three to four years in the same isolated region before they can access a pathway to permanent residency – a promise that may prove challenging to keep in the Northern Territory’s intense tropical weather!
The announcement of the new visa agreements comes as welcome news to many migrants who are facing an uphill battle to stay in the country.
In recent years, the requirements for other work visas have become much stricter than they have been in the past. In particular, changes to jobs on the skilled occupation lists have left many migrants no longer eligible to apply for or extend their work visas.
A full list of the 117 jobs on the Northern Territory DAMA occupation list can be found here. The list includes lesser-skilled roles such as baristas, delivery drivers, and landscapers – all of which are also eligible for low-english concessions.
The Warrnambool DAMA is designed to attract workers to the area’s meat-processing, dairy and agricultural industries – making it a good fit for those who can’t stand the Northern Territory heat, but not ideal for vegans or office workers. The detailed requirements for this region’s new visa will be finalised next year.
To chat to a migration solicitor about how you can stay in Australia, get in touch with us! We specialise in helping people who don’t speak English as their first language apply for visas.
Our team includes:
- Mandarin speaking lawyers
- Cantonese speaking lawyers
- Japanese speaking lawyers
- Farsi speaking lawyers
- Dari speaking lawyers
- Hindi speaking lawyers
- Urdu speaking lawyers
- Kurdish speaking lawyers
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- Croatian speaking lawyers
- Serbian speaking lawyers
- Slovenian speaking lawyers
- Macedonian speaking lawyers
- Montenegrian speaking lawyers
Call (07) 3180 0908 or email info@phoenix-law.com.au for an friendly, obligation-free consultation. We’re here to help YOU!
