godisaclog

Hi there,

The company I work for here in the UK does business world-wide including in Australia. I'm looking into the opportunities for starting an office over in Australia to be able to continue the work we do but over there. I've had a look over some of the visa options and there doesn't seem to be a direct equivalent to the US's inter-company transfer type of visa.

I wonder what your opinions are on the best options? The visa requirements I've seen for Business People starting a new business over there are likely to be far too restrictive for me as I don't have significant net personal assets nor am I likely to pass the senior executive test (we are quite a small company!).

My other options would presumeably be for GSM visas, although I feel this doesn't take into account the positive aspect that I'm assured permanent employment and am likely over the medium term to employ people across there.

The only other thing I could think of is to establish a partner relationship with another company and have them sponsor me to come out and work for them.

Are there other options I could consider? Me and my partner are both under 30, well educated and at least one of us is likely to meet the requirements of the SOL list.

vober

Hi,

If you are unable to meet the requirements for a business visa you could take a look at the independent visa option. IMO start by having a look at the SOL schedule 1 and see whether you or your partner are in an occupation which is listed on it.

Cheers!!

stiwi

It seems you are in similar position to mine. I found out that expats on this forum don't have much experience in the particular example we are asking about. I asked about this few days back:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=730175

After checking with migration agents and specialists in business migration, there seems to be 2 options:

1. Setup a company in Australia, show that company has some assets (e.g. A$100k) that will at least match your annual salary. Then the company has to get a sponsorship status before it can employ foreigners. To get it, newly startup company has to show intention of meeting training benchmarks of PR and citizens. Once the sponsor status is obtained, company can sponsor you for 457 visa.

2. An overseas company can obtain a sponsor status as well and sponsor foreigner for 457 if it can show intention of setting up a subsidiary in Australia.

I am told that 2nd option would have higher chances and there would be less financial risk associated. 1st option would require you to setup everything from overseas and use nominee director services (I was quoted price range from A$4.5k to A$15k per annum) as you can't be the only director before 457 is granted. I was told also that this option could work out better if I would employ PR or citizen first, run a company for few months before getting 457 sponsorship.

To sum up, 1st option would cost you approximately A$15-18k (company setup; opening bank account; business address; nominee director; sponsorship and visa application fees) vs A$4-5k for the 2nd option.

Pollyana

Its not a topic that comes up very often, so many thanks for posting your findings, could be very useful for others in the future

godisaclog

Hi Stiwi,

I have to be honest, I wasn't aware of option B. I'll do some investigating of my own. Thank you for the very helpful advice. I wonder at what point using option B would require you to formally move to the scenario of option A (at some point they must surely have requirements of training, australian employment etc.). Or would that only apply to subsequent visa requests. So if I'm the first I can get sponsored by an overseas company, whereas any subsequent employees would fall under option A..

Again, thanks for your advice.

stiwi

You are welcome. If you find out something interesting or perhaps someone who did it I would appreciate if you could share. I found 3 topics regarding that on other British expat forum, though I am not sure if the policy of this forum allow to share them publicly. I can send you a PM with the links if you are interested. The point is that despite such topics were covered and that they come up from time to time, there is literally no one who can either confirm such route being a success or fail.

The training benchmark requirement doesn't have to be met at startup, however there has to be an intention in doing so later on. So you are correct, an overseas company can sponsor you for 457, while your next employee would be sponsored by the subsidiary company.

Let me quote something from 457 booklet which can be found here:

"Establishment of business or fulfilment of contractual obligations
If you are a business which is operating outside Australia, with no operations in Australia, you must be able to demonstrate that your application for approval as a standard business sponsor will enable you to:
• employ a subclass 457 holder who will establish, or assist in establishing, a business operation on your behalf in Australia with overseas connections, or
• fulfil, or assist in fulfilling, one of your contractual obligations.

Examples of types of evidence which may be considered include, but are not limited to:
• a company or business expansion plan
• an agreement to enter into a joint venture between you and a party in Australia
• a contract between you and a party in Australia"

Questions that remain open to me are:
1. If overseas company is sponsoring you for 457, then this 457 is tied to the overseas company obviously and not the subsidiary which is not setup yet. Would the 457 together with employment need to be transferred to subsidiary upon incorporation?

2. It will eventually come to the point where subsidiary that you are a director of would sponsor you for PR. Question is if that would work out? Normally, as all conditions would be met and there would be some benefits such as employment of either PR of citizen, I can't see anything against. But there isn't even one either negative or positive experience of someone who would actually did it.