Louiseharris

My partner and myself are in the process of applying for a temporary 457IE visa...After consulting with Four Corners, everything seemed quite simple and we were told that they had 100% success rate - for this we have to pay £8K !!!

I have today spoken with another company and am now told that we may not be successful - the reason being that neither of us have experience in the business we are wanting to start.

Without boring everyone too much, I am a Lettings Manager and my Partner a Production Manager. Neither of us have hospitality experience.

We would like a new start for ourselves by doing something completely different - we would like to open a juice bar/coffee shop on the Sunshine Coast (my sister lives in Brisbane) - its not exactly rocket science and we had thought about a franchise.

I would appreciate anyones views on this. Is there anyone out there who is going through the same process. Are you intending on opening a business in the same field as you are in now?

Any info would be much appreciated..i feel as though i am losing direction and dont know what to do next !!!!!

Thanks

Louise

tinaj

8 k sounds like a complete rip-off!! I have heard some bad comments on this site about 4 corners, do a search and you will find lots of unhappy customers.
We are applying for a permant skilled independent visa and are only paying £500 - try Go Matilda, they don't charge the Earth and they know what they are doing.

Best of luck
Tina

kismet

Hi Tina,
We got our 457IE in September and did the work ourselves, it is an easier visa to get i think than many i have seen on here. It only cost us £70 + extra for medicals, chest xrays etc but far far less than paying out 8k!!!!!!.
We are going to the Brisbane area and its been a dream of ours for a while to buy a restaurant/ cofee shop.
Good luck, but look into the possibility of doing the work yourselves- if we can do it anyone can!!!!!
keep us posted
kismet

Louiseharris

Hi Kismet...

Had you had any previous experience in running your own business.

Louise

kismet

Hi Louise,
Yes we do have 9 years running a business in Catering over here , my husbands a chef but i had no training in cooking i was more accounts orientated.
Do you have any experience in running a business?
I think as long as you have the mimimum amount to take with you (i think its £86000 ) its in their interests for the economy to let people in.
It seems to be much easier to get this visa than any other.
cheers
kismet

Louiseharris

Thanks kismet,

I was hoping that you would say that you had no catering experience!!

We were told by Four Corners that we didi not need any previous experience..we are both managers but not in catering and not in our own business. We had hoped to start afresh and buy a franchise...perhaps subway.
We have taken further advise and have now been told by another agent that we would probably not be successful. It dosnt really matter apparently how much money you have, but what experience you can bring to the country.
It looks likely that our dream is slipping away!!

Louise

kismet

Hi Louise,
Sorry to hear that.
Yes i would definitely say you would need some business experience, i thought that maybe you had experience in running a business, just maybe it wasnt catering.
Is there not any other visa you could go on??
Maybe for the cost of £70 it might be worth just trying for the 457ie visa anyway considering the short amount of time it takes to come through.
They usually dont request medicals etc unless they have approved you up until that point so you might not have that expense.
Good luck!!!!
kismet

Alan Collett

kismet and Louise,

There is no requirement to have previous experience of running a business (I say this with positive 457-IE visa outcomes for those who have not run their own business before).

But you do have to be aware of what the visa case officer is looking for - and therefore to flesh out the key aspects of your previous business career to show that you have the skill set to ensure the proposed business is viable, likely to suceed, and employ Australians - and to ensure the application is credible. The problem in your case might be that you are "looking to do something completely different." And therein lies the difficulty - it's not impossible, but would need to be worked on to link what you are doing now at work with what you plan to do in your planned Aussie business venture.

Best regards.

Louiseharris

Alan,

You have given us food for thought.. we should be able to present a good case for a lettings and property management company for people coming to Brisbane.
Thanks again
Will speak to John about your company helping us
Louise

aliceJ

Hello Louise,

We recently got our 457ies with managerial experience only and with no previous experience in our chosen new field (hospitality). We didn't use an agent, it took us a bit of time with research, but looking back it wasn't that hard.

Good luck!

Louiseharris

Thanks Alice,

We have decided to apply for our temporary visa based upon what i know - ie setting up a residential lettings and property management business. Once we got started on the business plan it flowed quite easily, because of my experience.

We are using an agent and hopefully we will be successful.

We would still like to opena cafe bar on the sunshine coast and hope still to be able to do this when we get there.

Where and when are you re-locating.

Louise

aliceJ

We're not sure where we'll end up. We're going to search around for a few months in different areas. If all goes well with the house sale we should be out there in mid Jan.