creativerios

I'm a freelance designer, 34yrs old, based in the UK (my own company), and I have good friends in Melbourne who are kind enough to get me in touch with their clients in Aus. I was hoping to visit Aus for a couple of months, see if I can get a contract or two (not necessarily working within their team) and come back to the UK.

How can I safely go about doing this as I've been looking around and can't seem to find many options, considering I've already done a working holiday 8 years ago.

Any help would be amazing, thank you.

Bermudashorts

Not quite sure I understand what you are trying to do. But you cannot undertake any work whilst you are in Australia unless you obtain a visa that permits work, a relatively lengthy and expensive process which is unlikely to make sense for a couple of months.

You can go over to conduct business meetings with a view to securing clients whom you would then work for once you are back in the UK. I believe the 456 visa would enable this.

BritInParis

If you wish to visit Australia with the intention of meeting potential clients and signing contracts, but not to do any work for them until you return to the UK, then you can do so on a subclass 651 eVisitor visa as a business visitor.

If you wish to work in Australia for your new clients then you should check to see whether you are eligible for a subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Activity) visa.

The subclass 456 Business (Short Stay) visa has been closed to new applicants since March 2013.

creativerios

How it works on paper is that I am an employee of my own company which is based in the UK. So by signing the contract, I was thinking of getting a contract on a eVisitor (subclass 651) then doing the work remotely which would work nicely as you just mentioned.

But the visa (subclass 400), never heard of that one. Will look into it for sure. Thank you!

Bermudashorts

Has it? Well it is whatever one replaced it then, they do change the numbers from time to time but I am sure there is something that does same thing.

BritInParis

No worries I think it was just an consolidation - the work rights got rolled into the 400 and the business visitor aspects were taken up the 600/651.

Bermudashorts

It doesn't matter where your company is based. It matters where you physically intend to be when you are performing the work. So when you say work remotely, what do you mean? Work remotely for the new Australian clients when you are back in UK? In which case, the 651 is probably the one you need whilst you are client hunting.

BritInParis

If you wanted just to sign the contract in Australia but then actually do the work remotely from the UK then a subclass 651 would be fine for that.

This would be good if you wanted to actually work for up to three months in Australia. In theory they can be issued for six or even twelve months but only in very limited circumstances.

creativerios

After some days of applying and providing extra details. I've GOT IT, the temp (subclass 400) visa. So thanks guys :-)
One question though, I was told by my accountant that since I'm business management of my company and since I will be based in Australia for a few months, I could be liable to tax over there. Is this true?
If so, what tax am I liable to?

Bermudashorts

So as you went for the 400 visa, this implies you are going to be working not just meeting people? Accordingly if you are carrying out work whilst you are in Australia then there is no "might" about it, you will definitely be liable to Australian tax. That would be Australian income tax.

creativerios

Hi all, thanks for the incredible valuable feedback which I have been blogging about to share the wealth.
I've been having meetings and they've been asking if I have an ABN number. This seems very strange considering I'm registered in England, setup for international payments and that Australia has granted me permission with a visa.
Am I missing something? It's getting quite tedious now. :-s

Bermudashorts

Who is "they"?

As per my previous post, if you are carrying out work whilst you are in Australia then you need to pay tax in Australia - you cannot avoid tax just by channelling payments to overseas bank accounts.

creativerios

My apologies, this is not a tax question. I'm curious as to why a having an ABN number was requested from a creative recruitment agent. Considering I'm registered company in England, setup for international payments and that Australia has granted me permission with a visa.
Hope this makes more sense now.

zultan

An ABN number givss assurance that you are a properly registered company in Australia - and therefore likely to pay your taxes. If you don't have an ABN then the creative recruitment agent is expected to withold taxes on your behalf:

When a business doesn't quote its ABN

If a business supplies you with goods or services it should quote its ABN. If it does not you must generally withhold 49% from the payment you make to them and send the withheld amount to us.

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/PAYG...quote-its-ABN/

creativerios

Thanks for the link, hmmm very interesting info on there which may apply to me, i.e. The last bullet point "You don't have to withhold from payments if any of the following apply: the supplier is not entitled to an ABN as they are not carrying on an enterprise in Australia."
I'm not an enterprise in Australia, I'm an enterprise in England with permission to work in Australia. Quite a grey area.