Australia welcomes business people

If you are a business person or are interested in migrating to Australia and do business in Australia, there are a number of options available. The New Business visas system for Australia provides two pathways to entry into Australia for prospective migrants. These pathways are:

Pathway one

[1] Direct permanent residence for high calibre business applicants sponsored by a State
or territory Government This visa is called the Business Skills – Business Talent
(Migrant visa) (Class EA) S/Class 132. The purpose of the visa is to attract high
calibre business people to Australia. For those persons who feel they do not fit the
criteria for this visa there are a number of other options available in the two stage
application process. Details of these options are below:

Pathway two

[2] Two stage application procedure where the

Stage one – Provisional visas

This visa is a 4 year visa during which time the visa holder must meet a number of criteria detailed below. The visa holder can then apply for a residency visa which will be a permanent visa. Key points about this visa include:

State/Territory governments can sponsor people in line with economic development objectives
Age - all applicants must be under 45 years of age or if they obtain state sponsorship, under 55 years of age. It is also possible for people over 55 to obtain a visa if they are sponsored by a State/territory government and a case for special or exceptional circumstances can be made.

Provisional visas available are:

Business Skills (Provisional) (Class UR)

Stage two – Residency visas

Processing at this stage is speedier as most of the information and processing is carried out at the provisional stage of the process.
The visas available are:

Business Skills (Residence) Class DF)

Role of State/Territory Governments
A key objective of the Business Migration programme is to attract business migrants to specific areas of Australia targeted for economic development and population growth. State sponsorship is available for all the visa categories and the advantage of state sponsorship is that there are significant concessions available for people who apply for State/territory sponsored visas. If you compare the criteria to be met for each business visa category with the criteria for the equivalent State/territory sponsored category you can see the criteria for the sponsored visas are much more achievable. Some criteria such as the age requirements or English requirements can be waived altogether in exceptional circumstances for the sponsored categories. The State/Territory governments can determine what these circumstances are.

If you are currently in Australia operating a business on a temporary business visa then there are two options available to you

Note: these visas are subject to a points test to check if you are eligible, look at the criteria and points test for these visas: 845, 846

If you are interested in applying for a visa or want to know more please fill in the enquiry form and send it to us!