Three pathways.
If you’ve decided you want to migrate to Australia, there are three mechanisms, which are seen as of economic benefit to Australia. You could find an employer and be sponsored for migration, you could simply apply under general skilled migration if you meet the points test, or you could apply for business migration, if you meet the business migration requirements. It’s important to note the key differences between each scheme, and if you’re just starting out, here’s a primer:
Employer Nomination Scheme – you need to be skilled (Skilled Occupations List) and you may need a pre-application skills assessment (PASA). Only rarely can an applicant be over 45. Your employer needs to meet some criteria before you apply, so it’s a good idea to get the employer to apply for a nomination first.
General Skilled Migration – you need to be skilled (Skilled Occupations List) and you will certainly need a pre-application skills assessment (PASA). You must also be under 45 and speak good English.
Business Migration Program – you need to be a successful business owner or business manager, or able to make a substantial investment in treasury bonds here.
Have a look at the information provided below on the different types of Business People and take our online Assessment to find out where you stand (a fee of AU$50 applies).
Employer-Sponsored Migration
The Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) has been developed for Australian employers to recruit permanent, highly-skilled staff from overseas or from people temporarily in Australia, when the employers have been unable to fill a vacancy from within the Australian labour market or through their own training programs.
The Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) is designed to help employers in regional or low population growth areas of Australia, who are unable to fill skilled vacancies from the Australian labour market.
Labour Agreements (LA) enable Australian employers to recruit (either permanently or temporarily) a specified number of workers from overseas in response to identified or emerging labour market (or skill) shortages in the Australian labour market.
Invest Australia Support Skills (IASS) program is designed to encourage international firms to choose Australia as a location for foreign direct investment. It allows companies that make a significant investment in Australia to bring out essential key expatriate managerial and specialist employees from within the company group (this program replaced Regional Headquarters agreements from 1 July 2002).
General Skilled Migration
All these visas require a skills assessment prior to application (see form 1121i for details). Either the SOL or SSASSL columns will apply to you. Skills assessment is never a minor exercise, and you need to consider this carefully before getting started. If English is not your native language you should also be prepared to test your English at the beginning, see www.ielts.org for details of how to do the IELTS test.
The 12 visas available in the General Skilled Migration program are organized into three categories:
1. offshore general skilled - for applicants generally outside Australia;
2. onshore general skilled - for overseas students currently studying in Australia;
3. onshore New Zealand citizen - for NZ citizens currently in Australia.
Within these three categories, there are the following types of visas:
1. independent - for those who meet the basic requirements and can meet the points test without sponsorship by a family member, or are nominated by a State or Territory government for either a direct permanent visa (STNI) or a provisional permanent visa (SIR).
To qualify for STNI you need to work in a skilled occupation that is on the occupations for state nomination list. The lists for various states can be accessed below:
Western Australia: www.migration.wa.gov.au
Victoria: www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au
South Australia: www.immigration.sa.gov.au
Tasmania: www.development.tas.gov.au
New South Wales: www.business.nsw.gov.au
To qualify for SIR for WA, QLD, NSW, ACR and VIC you need to work in a skilled occupation that is on the occupations for state nomination list:
Western Australia: www.migration.wa.gov.au
Queensland: www.sdi.qld.gov.au
NSW Regional: www.business.nsw.gov.au
Australian Capital Region (South East Region of NSW that surrounds ACT): www.capitalregion.org.au
Victoria: www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au
For South Australia and Tasmania you need to nominate a skilled occupation on the DIMA Skills Occupation List (SOL).
2. skill matching - for those wanting to be involved in the skill matching process and who are seeking to be nominated by a State or Territory government or an employer;
3. designated area sponsored - for those who have a family member to sponsor them. The sponsor must live in a designated area. From 1 July 2006 this visa category has been designed to tie applicants to the area where their sponsor lives;
4. Australian sponsored - for those who have a family member to sponsor them, but the sponsor lives outside a designated area. People living in the Sydney basin may find it more difficult to sponsor relatives than people living outside that area, as a result of government policies to control growth in the Sydney region. You must be related to your sponsor.
For Independent and Australian sponsored visa types you are required to pass the points test as well as satisfy the basic requirements. For more information about points test please click here to download the file. You can complete the points table and email it to us for review.
In July 2005 the Department reorganised its general skilled migration internet pages. These are still the best place to assess eligibility, however unlike the pages devoted to family migration or student visas, they’re difficult to understand at first but you should start here:
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/index.htm
For a detailed list of skilled occupations and the relevant assessing bodies:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1121i.pdf
Business Migration Program
From 1 March 2003, Australian immigration law was amended to introduce a two-stage visa processing for business skills migrants. Under these arrangements, almost all business migrants are granted a provisional visa for four years.
After establishing a business with the requisite level of business activity, or maintaining the requisite level of investment in Australia, provisional visa holders are eligible to apply for permanent residence.
A direct permanent residence category is available for high calibre business migrants sponsored by state/territory governments. This is known as the Business Talent visa.
Business Owner - must be the owner or part-owner of a business or businesses with a turnover of at least A$300,00 per annum and have assets of at least A$250,000 and be sponsored by an Australian state or territory; where the turnover is A$500,000 and assets held are at least A$500,000 no state or territory sponsorship is required.
Senior Executives – must be an executive in one of the top three levels of a major business (ie with a turnover of more than A$10 million if sponsored, A$50 million if unsponsored).
Investors – must be able to make an investment of A$750,000 for four years in a participating Australian State or Territory treasury bond and is sponsored by that State or Territory; unsponsored requires a bond of A$1.5 million.
Business Talent – must be able to show an asset base of at least A$1.5 million and ownership or part-ownership of a business with a turnover of A$3million annually. Business Owner in Australia – must be able to show that a business has been operating in Australia and meet certain turnover, asset and employee thresholds.
Requirements common to all business visas are that you should have an overall successful business career, have significant business and personal assets, sufficient net assets to settle in Australia, and a commitment to obtain or maintain an ownership interest in a business in Australia, or, in the case of investors, make a significant statutory deposit. In all cases you also have to have no history of unacceptable business activities.
Click here to view a 'Guide to Business skills categories - Pathways to permanent residence'