The Australian Government has tweaked the eligibility criteria for several of its business-related visa classes in order to try to “increase the potential contribution of business migrants to the economy, create more jobs for Australians and improve visa integrity”.

The changes raise the required asset value level of both the federal and state-sponsored visa classes for business owners and senior executives. In addition, the percentage of controlling interest for business ownership has been increased, especially in the case of smaller businesses (with turnover less than AU$400,000) where the holding must be at least 51%.

There has also been a tightening in the potential candidates for one of the main provisional visas – Subclass 163 - with the exclusion now of senior managers. Only business owners are now eligible for this visa.
Source: DIAC, April 2010

All of these changes mean that potential business migrants to Australia should carefully consider the terms and direction of their application, as well as other factors, such as their business strategy and the time-scales involved. The use of a MARA-registered Migration Agent is highly recommended for a thorough pre-application assessment and professional visa processing.

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For more information on Business Skills visas please contact the Visa Centre.