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This visa is not for the faint hearted or budget-minded migrant.

Bear in mind that the apparent target for this visa is a substantially wealthy person who intends a significant business activity and who needs to be resident to execute the business plan. State Governments expect that they will use their resources and money to develop a strong business case.

When assessing a candidate, try not to get distracted by the person’s interest in this being the only business migrant visa to carry Permanent Residence.

Many will want it, but few clients will actually be committed enough to be able to get it. Resist clients who want the cheapest price for this work, as the development process is often quite long winded.

We suggest you discuss with your client the words “substantially wealthy” and “significant business” and “needs to be resident” before agreeing to take their case.

If you can ignore people who just have plenty of money and want to do business and don’t intend to apply hands-on control, then you will probably be standing closer to the objective.

This is the only direct residency visa, so you can expect DIAC to be careful about who receives it and State Governments to be cautious about issuing sponsorship, as in many cases it may need to be decided by the State Premier, Finance Minister or Economic Development Minister.

Politicians are cautious about taking political risk by backing a relatively unknown foreign business person who might never deliver what was promised, so it is suggested that only the higher profile and substantially wealthy applicants are offered this visa.

High level support generally involves political considerations, so one should expect that unless there are good grounds for obtaining political support it would not be forthcoming. For example, setting up a new restaurant would probably not be a compelling argument, but setting up a new food processing factory with ten new jobs might succeed.

Information here is taken from DIAC’s web site. It is a general guide only, and should be read in conjunction with the detailed information in Booklet 7, Business Skills Entry and DIAC’s information on the Business Talent visa.

It is also strongly suggested that an application is discussed with the relevant State Government prior to lodgement, as State and Territory governments have their own criteria for deciding whom they will sponsor. What we end up with is up to eight different sets of requirements, plus DIAC’s own expectations.

As each State has only handled a few of these cases, and some have been rejected at DIAC stage, there is really no firm advice that can be given, so all information that follows here is only opinion and is not firm guidance.

Other than:

• age (preferably under 55),
• minimum net business equity in the home country business of Aus$400,000,
• annual turnover in the home country business of Aus$3 million (2 of last 4 years),
• minimum net personal assets of Aus$1.5 million, able to be transferred to Australia
• obtaining State Government sponsorship

....then there are no specific requirements or minimums to meet the policy!

But don’t be mistaken, these are only the requirements for being able to apply. The hardest part is obtaining the State’s sponsorship. merely meeting DIAC’s requirements will generally not be enough.

So this is still a highly subjective class of application for anything less than a new multimillion dollar business activity, as other than the scale of the proposed business, the decision to issue the visa largely rests on the justification for requiring Permanent Residence.

It becomes clear that an application would need high level Government support to be able to succeed and give weight if DIAC also need to be convinced.

We have been informed that early Business Talent cases had received the necessary State Sponsorship but that DIAC subsequently refused the visas. We think that the nominating State Government had not fully understood DIAC’s requirements, perhaps sponsoring a proposed business was not substantial enough; or sponsoring an applicant who was “just a little wealthy” and not really talented enough. Those applicants may have done better to apply for Business Owner or Investor category.

The way forward here is still unclear in many States other than Victoria. We know that some States have publicised low investment thresholds for this visa, but we still advise caution. Clients might like the low investment levels in some States but it is not known if all of the States are fully aligned with DIAC’s ultimate bottom line - or if DIAC accept the State’s definition of “Talent”.

At least one State has taken a clear position on these visas. We suggest agents give strong consideration towards guiding their clients towards Victoria. 

Victoria has developed a clear framework that is driven by the business case. Here is a pdf flowchart that can be used to help assess a client for this visa.

Wherever your clients decide to go, research and preparation are the key.

Our discussions with some State Governments indicate that the likely proposal will include substantial research - much of it conducted by the applicant, with total investment (applicant funds plus commercial loans) at well over $1 million dollars, expectation of many new jobs to be created, supported by a thorough business plan with conditional agreements between suppliers or partners etc, in effect this will read as an “all set business just waiting to go”.

Recent advice given to us by one State was that tying the future preparation of the research report, business plan and partnership agreements to the grant of the sponsorship or visa was not acceptable. We suggest you avoid putting forward applications that appear as “if I get sponsorship I will provide agreements and get contracts and then do the business”.

Remembering that the 163/164 visas also require the operator to be in regular control of the business, then it can be hard to justify the need for Permanent Residency under the Business Talent Visa. We suggest that the best way to decide if the case for issue of the visa can be decided is to check to see if a substantially well developed business concept is being held back because the main applicant cannot attend the business personally.

It has been said to us that all necessary things should already be in place BEFORE sponsorship is requested. It is apparently not a matter of “give me the visa and I will do this business” it appears to be more the case of “look, I have spent all this time and money and now the State Government must help me to get this visa before I can do any more”.

Getting the balance of the business proposition sorted out is very important. If the intention is passive but fair sized investment in property, then the applicant might not get a visa as they do not need to be in full time attendance of the business. If the proposed business is a small cafe, then the investment might not be at a level that requires close personal control by the applicant. It is clear that few business cases will meet the criteria.

Remember that there is no Unsponsored category for this visa - there is just the one set of requirements that must be met by all applicants, and obtaining State sponsorship is one of the requirements.

Other regular requirements include that the historic and proposed business activity are both of acceptable types, that you can show the need to have direct and continuous daily control of the business.

• Here is the link to DIAC Fact Sheets
• Application forms, guidelines and document checklists
• DIAC costs

These proposals are best dealt with on a case-by-case basis, as in many circumstances we will probably refer you back to the Business Owner visa for your client. Each business plan is quoted for separately, and price will reflect the amount of research already undertaken by the applicant or still waiting to be organised by us.

It is likely that applicants seeking to move up from the Business Owner category will have to conduct further personal visits to establish (and prove) that they have genuine business links that are strong enough to satisfy the sponsoring agencies.

High-calibre business persons may apply for direct permanent residence in the first instance. The business activity gets reviewed after two years and the Business Talent visa may be cancelled if the proposed activity is not well evidenced by the third year.

For this reason it is our opinion that this visa could be considered to be a Provisional Visa with higher requirements and performance expectations, with the few benefits of accessing lower school fees and health care. The paradox is that people who are wealthy enough to meet this visa would not be concerned about the cost of schooling and health.

The only people who might benefit from this visa are the ones who are borderline in terms of wealth and investment potential, and who would gain some advantage from subsidised Government services. Of course the State Governments are not going to hand out these visas to people who are more suited to Business owner/Executive categories.

We have heard from State Government people that DIAC have refused the grant of several Talent visas even after the State had agreed to sponsor. This would appear to be about the only occasion where DIAC override State Government in the area of definition of “High-calibre”, “significant net assets”, “significant annual turnover” and “entitlement to be sponsored” - mainly in terms of scale of the business proposed and justification for the applicant to immediately access PR.

The Talent Visa holds no significant business operational advantages over the other business visas in terms of ability to invest and operate a business, employ staff and raise capital. Thus it would appear to be quite difficult to be able to prove the business case for immediate PR.

We therefore suggest to all immigration agents that they try to divert most business people into the provisional business visas unless the State has already signalled their enthusiasm for this applicant and their business.

Each State may also have unique criteria that are additional to the basic DIAC requirements. We strongly suggest that any request for sponsorship is tested against that State’s current sponsorship criteria before the file is lodged.

State Sponsorship Services is kept informed about these differing requirements.

This 4 year provisional visa leads into Permanent Residence after a minimum of 2 years. Applicants will need to manage their business and pursue the original proposal if they want to retain PR.

Applications are lodged at one of the three Business Skills processing centres in either Hong Kong, Taipei or Perth, depending on where the applicant lives.

Email info-AT-statesponsorship.com.au to request a quote for a business plan.

TIP: Ensure that there is a separate and substantial research report, third party support and a fully detailed business plan that has comprehensive financial forecasts over several years. The plan should clearly show that the business is ready to begin, it covers all legal obligations, marketing initiatives, operational requirements, financial forecasts and employment management issues.

(C) State Sponsorship Services Pty Ltd 2007. This web site does not contain Australian immigration advice. Viewers who need this advice should consult a registered migration agent, refer to Migration Agents Registration Authority. Entry to and use of this web site means that the viewer acknowledges that State Sponsorship Services Pty Ltd does not provide immigration advice and cannot be held responsible for the outcome of any immigration application that is lodged as a result of the viewer accessing this web site.