General Requirements

Meeting the criteria for a visa category is the first step towards obtaining a visa. Meeting the health and character requirements is equally important. The Australian Immigration Authorities require you and the family members in your application to undergo a medical examination by a designated medical practitioner. Furthermore, all applicants over the age of 18 must obtain a police clearance report for every country in which they have lived for more than twelve months during the last ten years Each applicant needs to meet the visa criteria under Australian immigration law.

The Australian immigration programme places a strong emphasis on attracting skills. Immigrants must be of use to the Australian economy, either as skilled workers or as a businesspeople. The immigration programme also provides visas for reuniting individuals with close family members.

Skilled Worker Visa

In order to qualify as a skilled worker you must fulfill four basic requirements. First, you must be younger than 45. Second, you must possess a qualification or sufficient working experience that is officially recognized in Australia. Generally speaking, you need to have successfully completed a vocational or post-secondary education. For tradespersons without a qualification a minimum of 6 years’ working experience is necessary. Third, you need to speak, understand, read and write English at least at a functional level. Finally, your job must be on the list of skilled occupations and you must have at least 12 months of recent experience in that job. If you fulfill all the basic requirements, you then need to score sufficient points in the points test.

If you have close family members in Australia this will contribute to your score the points test. In some cases the points test will not even apply.

• You must satisfy the following basic criteria:
  A permanent visa for people with skills in demand in the Australian labour market. Applicants are not sponsored and must pass a points test.
• Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) visa (subclass 176)
  A permanent visa for people unable to meet the Skilled – Independent pass mark. Applicants must be either sponsored by an eligible relative living in Australia or nominated by a participating State or Territory government.Applicants must pass a points test lower than that for the Skilled – Independent visa.
• Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass 475)
  A three (3) year provisional visa for people who can meet the lower pass mark for this visa. Applicants must be either sponsored by an eligible relative living in a designated area of Australia or nominated by a participating state/territory government. After living for two (2) years and working for at least one (1) year in a Specified Regional Area, applicants can apply for a permanent visa.
• Skilled – Recognised Graduate (Temporary) visa (subclass 476)
  An 18 month temporary visa for graduates of recognised overseas educational institutions who have skills in demand in Australia. There is no points test for this visa.

Work Permit

In order to work temporarily in Australia, you must be sponsored by an Australian or overseas business. An Australian business must demonstrate that they are lawful and actively operating, are unable to meet their skill needs from within Australia and that Australia benefits from the employment of temporary overseas personnel. A business with no formal operating base in Australia may bring employees to Australia to establish a branch, or to fulfill obligations for a contract or other business activity in Australia.

Business Visa

You can obtain an Australian Business Class Visa if you have recent business or management experience that enables you to set up an enterprise which will benefit the Australian economy.

There are four types of business visa:

• Business Owners and Managers: persons who run their own company or are in a management position.
• Senior Executives: persons working at senior management level.
• Investors: persons with high net assets.
• Business Talent Visa: minimum turnover of AU$ 3,000,000.

The applicant needs to meet several basic requirements, for example, you need to be younger than 45. If you are over 45 and younger than 55 you may still qualify but you need to be sponsored by an Australian State or Territory. To obtain state sponsorship you need a sound business plan which is approved by the state. For all business visa categories you need to meet specific financial criteria for two of the past four years. Almost all business visas are four-year provisional visas which may lead to permanent residential status once you have established a successful business in Australia.

Business migrants with high net assets can obtain permanent residential status immediately.

Student Visa

Select your main course of study from the list below.

• English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS)
  Applies to stand-alone English language courses that lead to a certificate I, II, III or IV, or that result in no formal Australian award.

• Primary or secondary school course
  Applies to primary, junior secondary or senior secondary school courses, and approved secondary school exchange programs.
• Vocational education and training
  Applies to Certificates I, II, III or IV (except ELICOS), diploma, advanced diploma, vocational graduate certificate or vocational graduate diploma courses.
• Higher education
  Applies to a Bachelor degree, associate degree, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, or Masters by coursework.
• Postgraduate research
  Applies to Masters by research or a doctoral degree.
• Student Guardians
  Parents or relatives can apply for a visa to stay in Australia as the guardian of a student who is studying in Australia.

Retirement Visa

To be eligible for an Investor Retirement Visa for Australia, you must be 55 years of age or older. You and/or your spouse must have no dependent children or other dependent family members. You must take out adequate private health insurance and be in good health and of good character. The visa allows you to work for a maximum of twenty hours a week. This visa is valid for four years and can be renewed for 4-year periods.

Applicants for a retirement visa must be sponsored by and make a minimum designated investment in the State or Territory where they intend to live.

If you intend to live in a non-regional area of Australia, such as Central Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, or Melbourne, you must have minimum assets of AU$ 750,000 and must make a designated investment of the same amount. In addition, you need a minimum net annual income of AU$ 65,000.

If you wish to resettle in another part of Australia (regional - low growth Australia) than the regions mentioned above you must have minimum assets of at least AU$ 500,000 and make a designated investment of the same amount. You then need a minimum net annual income of AU$ 50,000.

Contributory Parent Visa

Persons with children living in Australia, may be sponsored to obtain permanent visas. On a yearly basis, only a small number of visas are available for parents and processing times are really long. Therefore, for those who have the funds to do so, the contributory parent visa class has been introduced. For an additional visa application fee of AU$ 27,850 per adult, processing times for contributory parent visas are much shorter than those for the normal parent visas.

In order to qualify for a (contributory) parent visa, half or more of your children must be living in Australia. This is known as the Balance of Family test. One of your children must be willing to sponsor you; you will also need an assurer, who must sign a commitment to provide financial support to you, ensuring you will not have to rely on any government forms of support. Last but not least, you must be in good health and of good character .

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