Concessions available

The 5-year Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) (subclass 494) (SESR) visa and the permanent Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186) (ENS) visa normally require workers to be under 45 years of age.

Under the NT DAMA, workers nominated for skill level 1 to 4 occupations have a higher age limit of under 55 years and skill level 5 occupations have an age limit of under 50 years.

The NT DAMA is unique in that it provides access to some occupations not in the Australia and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupation (ANZSCO).

These are:

• bar attendant (supervisor)
• civil construction site supervisor
• cook (specialist ethnic cuisine)
• electrical motor repairer or winder
• high access maintenance and cleaning technician
• hospitality worker
• skilled horticultural worker
• waiter (supervisor).

For the purposes of the NT DAMA these occupations have been given the code 070499.

For these occupations, applicants need to demonstrate that their tasks, skills, qualifications and experience align with the occupation descriptions.

NT DAMA non-ANZSCO occupation descriptions PDF (170.0 KB)
NT DAMA non-ANZSCO occupation descriptions DOCX (67.9 KB)

Check the NT DAMA list of occupations to see if your occupation has an English concession.

If English concessions are available for your nominated occupation, the worker must meet the following:

• Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa/SESR visa: overall score of IELTS (International English Language Testing System) 4.5 (or equivalent), with a minimum band score of IELTS 4.0 (or equivalent) in each band.
• ENS visa: overall score of IELTS 5.0 (or equivalent) with a minimum band score of IELTS 4.0 (or equivalent) in each band.

All workers employed under the NT DAMA must be employed under Australian employment conditions and be paid no less than the salary provided to an equivalent skilled and experienced Australian worker performing the same job (market salary).

In addition to the above, in order to sponsor workers under employer sponsored visa programs such as the NT DAMA, the identified market salary must be at least the Core Skills Income Threshold (CSIT). This is currently set at $73,150 and is indexed annually on 1 July by the Australian Government.

The NT DAMA provides a concession to the CSIT for all available occupations where the NT market rate is below the CSIT. If a concession is sought, employers must demonstrate that sponsored overseas workers under the NT DAMA will be paid at least 85% of the CSIT (currently $62,177) or the market salary rate (whichever is higher).

The reduced CSIT must be made up of guaranteed annual earnings (i.e. monetary earnings excluding superannuation), and non-monetary benefits may be included to the value of 10% of the concessional CSIT (i.e. up to $6,217) where all of the following applies:

• the benefits support the living costs of the overseas worker
• the overseas worker would have incurred that cost has it not been provided by the approved sponsor
• the benefits are quantifiable
• the benefits are consistent with terms and conditions provided to existing Australians employed in a similar position; and the benefits are guaranteed in the employment contract.