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, worker nominated for skill level 1 to 4 occupations have a higher age limit of under 55 years.

This means that SESR and ENS visa applicants may be nominated if they have not turned 55 years of age at the time of nomination.

Age concessions only apply to skill level 1 to 4 occupations.

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)
• waiter (supervisor)
• cook (specialist ethnic cuisine)
• high access maintenance and cleaning technician
• skilled horticultural worker
• aquaculture 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 following sample position descriptions:

Aquaculture supervisor PDF (77.0 KB)
Aquaculture supervisor DOCX (17.8 KB)

Bar attendant (supervisor) PDF (78.1 KB)
Bar attendant (supervisor) DOCX (26.6 KB)

Cook (specialist ethnic cuisine) PDF (68.4 KB)
Cook (specialist ethnic cuisine) DOCX (25.6 KB)

High access maintenance and cleaning technician PDF (78.1 KB)
High access maintenance and cleaning technician DOCX (18.1 KB)

Skilled horticultural worker PDF (75.9 KB)
Skilled horticultural worker DOCX (17.8 KB)

Waiter (supervisor) PDF (78.6 KB)
Waiter (supervisor) DOCX (27.7 KB)

English language concessions are available to overseas workers applying for a temporary TSS visa, and those transitioning to Australian permanent residency through the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) labour agreement pathway.

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, worker must meet the following:

English requirements for occupations other than engineers

• TSS/ SESR concession: overall score of IELTS 4.5 (or equivalent), with a minimum IELTS score of 4.0 (or equivalent) in each band.
• ENS concession: overall score of IELTS 5.0 (or equivalent), with a minimum IELTS score of 4.0 (or equivalent) in each band.

English requirements for Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (Avionics and Mechanical) and Ship’s Engineer

• TSS/ SESR concession: overall score of IELTS 5.0 (or equivalent), with no minimum for reading and writing and no less than IELTS score 4.0 (or equivalent) in speaking and listening bands.
• ENS concession: overall score of IELTS 5.0 (or equivalent), with a minimum IELTS score of 4.5 (or equivalent) in each band.

Applicants holding passports from UK, US, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand do not need to undertake an English test.

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 visa programs such as the NT DAMA, the identified market salary must be at least the temporary skilled migration income threshold (TSMIT). This is currently $73,150.

The NT DAMA provides a reduced TSMIT of $55,000 (made up of monetary salary only) for some occupations. Where a TSMIT concession applies, sponsored workers must be paid at least the reduced TSMIT of $55,000 or the market salary whichever is higher.

Check occupations included in the agreement to find out eligible occupations for TSMIT concession.

For occupations that do not have a TSMIT concession, the sponsored worker must be paid at least the market salary, and that market salary must be at least $73,150.