Regional Migration
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce is the Designated Area Representative (DAR) for the Far North Queensland Designated Area Migration Agreement (FNQ DAMA).
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce is also a Regional Certifying Body (RCB) for the Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (subclass 494) visa program.
FNQ DAMA and RCB news updates are posted below. To be notified of updates automatically, consider signing up to our subscriber list for the service.
Considering moving to Cairns? Explore Cairns Regional Council’s handy Choose Cairns guide to get to know our region.
Regional Certifying Body (RCB) Services
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce is an authorised Regional Certifying Body (RCB) for northern Queensland.
Far North Queensland Designated Area Migration Agreement
The Cairns Chamber of Commerce is the Designated Area Representative (DAR) for the FNQ DAMA.
FNQ DAMA - Endorsements for multiple and future years (posted 30 July 2026)
Department of Home Affairs has just provided the following policy change advice (quote/unquote):
“We encourage all DARs to consider all current and future workforce requirements of business, and as such, to endorse them for any visa streams across all five years of the agreement as appropriate. This includes considering ENS pathways for SID visa holders. This will avoid multiple variation requests and subsequent processing delays. To confirm, any previous advice to solely endorse the first year of an initial application is no longer valid.”
In summary, we will be able to endorse occupations and positions across all future years of a labour agreement, including initial and variation requests.
Important update regarding Child Care Worker and Out of School hours care Worker (posted 27 March 2026)
Child Care and also Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) sector employers already holding an FNQ DAMA labour agreement or intending to access an agreement should note that, as a result of government adding the occupations of Child Care Worker (not group leader) and Out of School Hours Care Worker to the Combined Skilled Occupation List (CSOL) in standard skilled migration programs, the Department of Home Affairs has changed the skills, qualifications and experience requirements in the FNQ DAMA (and other DAMAs) for these occupations to align with other occupations that also appear in both the FNQ DAMA Occupation List and any of the four standard occupation lists.
This means that any new or recently executed (signed) FNQ DAMA labour agreements with these occupations will now have different skills, qualifications and experience requirements than earlier labour agreements.
The FNQ DAMA Occupation and Concession List and the associated FNQ DAMA Information Guide have been updated to reflect this change. You will note that these occupations now fall within Group 1 of the Guide, with the former Group 7A now being obsolete.
The upside is that, now these occupations are in Group 1, a skills assessment with ACECQA is not mandatory (but remains discretionary).
Important update regarding Labour Market Testing (LMT) and ENS (12 December 2025)
Although LMT is not a legislative requirement for occupations/positions seeking the ENS option, note that it is policy that both the DAR and the Department of Home Affairs may still request evidence of testing the labour market to determine whether:
- The employer has made genuine efforts to recruit Australians.
- The position is genuinely needed and aligns with DAMA objectives to address regional skill shortages.
- The request aligns with program integrity and compliance with Labour Agreement conditions.
FNQ DAMA Head Agreement extended to 3 April 2027
On 20 January 2025, Assistant Minister Matthew Thistlethwaite confirmed in writing that the FNQ DAMA Head Agreement will be extended by a further two years, to 3 April 2027, while consultations take place about the format of DAMAs moving forward.
The Minister also confirmed that the Deed of Variation submitted by the Cairns Chamber of Commerce early in 2024 will be determined in time to be included in the signing of the extended head agreement (i.e. before 3 April 2025). This Deed of Variation included Chamber requests to add numerous new occupations to the FNQ DAMA, and to allow more flexibility with the TSMIT concessions (now CSIT). While the head agreement extension is confirmed, the outcome of the additional occupations and CSIT concession changes is not yet known. The outcome will be posted as a new update when known.