Is it possible to work for a non-australian company while in Australia?
Oct 29th 2002, 4:56 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 98
Is it possible to work for a non-australian company while in Australia?
I work as a consultant. I can work anywhere in the world, as long as I have my computer and an internet connection. I want to go to Australia. How can I go there legally, while still doing work?
I would not be working for an Australian company.
I would not be working for an Australian company.
Oct 29th 2002, 11:59 am
#2
Wannabe Ausie
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 50
This was posted a while ago.
Mike.
Don't make the same mistakes as I did : it's easy to get barred from Australia
This warning is intented for all home business owners out there planning to visit Australia. For ten years, I have been visiting Australia each year and Brisbane had become a home away from home for me. But about two years ago, I started my own translation business here in Canada. My activity involves receiving texts from my customers via e-mail and e-mailing them back the translation (we occasionally also use fax). So, when I went back to Australia, late in 2000, I said to myself " No need to close the shop : thanks to technology, I can do my work from anywhere in the world. " and so when my customer e-mailed me or called me on the cell phone to ask if I could translate a text, I said " No problem! " I thought it was a great way to have more money to spend and to be able to afford to stay longer over there. I assumed, very reasonably, that the " employment prohibited " mention on the visitor
visa meant just that : no taking employment in Australia (and no setting up a business operating in Australia itself). I would never have thought it applied to the activities of my business IN MY OWN COUNTRY while I was physically in Australia.
It does.
So, in 2000-2001, I went twice to Australia, for a total stay of about five months, never exceeding the allowed length of stay on each entry, all that time running my business in Canada through " telecommuting ", not knowing I was breaking the rules. The next year, I was stupid enough to apply for a long stay visitor visa and candidly explained that I could support myself easily because I could take my work along with me. Long story short : it was rejected because the visa officer decided I wasn't a "genuine visitor ". The incredible thing is, I had inquired to this same person before applying about whether my " telecommuting " was allowed and she said it was up to me (as a matter of fact, I had mentionned it to immigration and custom officers upon entering Australia at least twice; I never tried to hide what I was doing). So I
thought at first the application had been rejected because I didn't have enough money in the bank to show them and I applied later (in another consulate, thinking naively that I might be judged more favourably) for a short term visa. At the interview for this application, I learned the truth from another (very hostile) visa officer : my freelance work for my customers in Canada during my stay in Australia was considered a violation of the visa conditions. And so, this application too was rejected and I am now barred indefinitely from entering Australia.
Let's get the facts straight : I have spent tens of thousands of dollars in Australia over the past ten years; I have never broken the law (the above interpretation of the " no work " condition excluded); I have never overstayed; I haven't taken the jobs of the locals or lived off taxpayers money. Bottom line : I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't hurt anybody. My presence benefited the local economy. BUT THOSE SUBMORONS CONSIDER ME A PERSON WHO SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN AUSTRALIA!!!
I was very emotionally attached to all the places I knew in Brisbane and had by best friends there. So this really ripped my heart and guts out.
So the point is, if you have your own business and want to do some work for your customers while visiting Australia, make sure the retarded of the Australian Immigration don't know anything about it. They have no way of knowing if you keep it shut anyway. Not that I am encouraging anybody to break the law ; )
More seriously, from my experience, I can say that, of all western democracies, Australia is the least welcoming to visitors. It's the only country where we are considered not as a source of currency, but as potential parasites and as a menace (we should all boycott it for a few years and see if they like it better without us!) I shall tell more about my experience in my next postings.
Cheers,
Luc
Mike.
Don't make the same mistakes as I did : it's easy to get barred from Australia
This warning is intented for all home business owners out there planning to visit Australia. For ten years, I have been visiting Australia each year and Brisbane had become a home away from home for me. But about two years ago, I started my own translation business here in Canada. My activity involves receiving texts from my customers via e-mail and e-mailing them back the translation (we occasionally also use fax). So, when I went back to Australia, late in 2000, I said to myself " No need to close the shop : thanks to technology, I can do my work from anywhere in the world. " and so when my customer e-mailed me or called me on the cell phone to ask if I could translate a text, I said " No problem! " I thought it was a great way to have more money to spend and to be able to afford to stay longer over there. I assumed, very reasonably, that the " employment prohibited " mention on the visitor
visa meant just that : no taking employment in Australia (and no setting up a business operating in Australia itself). I would never have thought it applied to the activities of my business IN MY OWN COUNTRY while I was physically in Australia.
It does.
So, in 2000-2001, I went twice to Australia, for a total stay of about five months, never exceeding the allowed length of stay on each entry, all that time running my business in Canada through " telecommuting ", not knowing I was breaking the rules. The next year, I was stupid enough to apply for a long stay visitor visa and candidly explained that I could support myself easily because I could take my work along with me. Long story short : it was rejected because the visa officer decided I wasn't a "genuine visitor ". The incredible thing is, I had inquired to this same person before applying about whether my " telecommuting " was allowed and she said it was up to me (as a matter of fact, I had mentionned it to immigration and custom officers upon entering Australia at least twice; I never tried to hide what I was doing). So I
thought at first the application had been rejected because I didn't have enough money in the bank to show them and I applied later (in another consulate, thinking naively that I might be judged more favourably) for a short term visa. At the interview for this application, I learned the truth from another (very hostile) visa officer : my freelance work for my customers in Canada during my stay in Australia was considered a violation of the visa conditions. And so, this application too was rejected and I am now barred indefinitely from entering Australia.
Let's get the facts straight : I have spent tens of thousands of dollars in Australia over the past ten years; I have never broken the law (the above interpretation of the " no work " condition excluded); I have never overstayed; I haven't taken the jobs of the locals or lived off taxpayers money. Bottom line : I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't hurt anybody. My presence benefited the local economy. BUT THOSE SUBMORONS CONSIDER ME A PERSON WHO SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN AUSTRALIA!!!
I was very emotionally attached to all the places I knew in Brisbane and had by best friends there. So this really ripped my heart and guts out.
So the point is, if you have your own business and want to do some work for your customers while visiting Australia, make sure the retarded of the Australian Immigration don't know anything about it. They have no way of knowing if you keep it shut anyway. Not that I am encouraging anybody to break the law ; )
More seriously, from my experience, I can say that, of all western democracies, Australia is the least welcoming to visitors. It's the only country where we are considered not as a source of currency, but as potential parasites and as a menace (we should all boycott it for a few years and see if they like it better without us!) I shall tell more about my experience in my next postings.
Cheers,
Luc
