Getting the Right Australia Visa for Your Business Trip

Although Australia is best known in travelling circles as a tourist destination, it has become increasingly popular in recent times as a place for business. Many UK companies seeking to exploit the Far East and Australasian markets are looking to expand into this territory, and with this quest for expansion there’s a need to ensure that all business people have the right Australia Visa for their requirements.

At the most basic level, a business may require an employee to visit the country for negotiations or to conduct a business investigation or maybe to attend a conference in a one off or over a short term. At the other end of the scale, there may be a business owner, senior executive or investor seeking to establish an existing or new business in the country on a more permanent and long-term basis.

Finding the right Australian visa for your business depends very much on your business needs. Initially, for those people seeking to come to Australia on short business trips, then a short stay ETA business visa may be the most appropriate solution.

The short stay business visa is administered by the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) and applications can be made online. It works in almost exactly the same way as the short stay ETA tourist visa, which enables tourists to stay in Australia for a holiday for less than three months and uses the same set of criteria. The only major difference between the two types of ETA visa is that the short stay ETA business visa has been specifically designed for business travellers entering Australia.

To apply for a short stay ETA business visa, you need to have a valid passport and reside in one of the countries approved by the Australian government for inclusion on the ETA scheme, of which the UK is one. You make your application for the visa online and, provided everything is in order with your application and you can provide all the details requested, your ETA application will be granted within minutes of being made.

However, you will need to ensure that your passport will be valid for the time you are going to be in Australia. When accepted, the visa is linked directly to your passport and passport number, so if you get a new passport at any point before your trip, you will need to apply for a new visa.

The short stay ETA business visa allows you to stay in Australia for up to three months and enables you to attend conferences, conduct negotiations and make exploratory business visits.

While this is a useful visa for business people who may need to make a single visit to Australia, it may be less useful if you are in a business where you may need to make several visits to the country over a sustained period. If you are a business person who may need to visit the country several times, then a better option may be to apply for an ETA long validity business visa.

The ETA long validity business visa has the exact same requirements as the short stay visa and is also applied for online via the automated ETA system. The long validity business visa has the additional benefit of allowing the holder to make repeated visits to Australia, each of up to three months in length, on the same visa for the duration of the passport.

Sometimes, however, a person engaged in business may need to remain in Australia for longer than three months as part of their work. As such, a long stay business visa is the perfect solution.

This form of visa is specifically aimed at personnel for companies that have overseas personnel working in Australia, personnel from offshore companies seeking to establish a presence in the Australian marketplace or employees coming into Australia on the Invest Australia Supported Skills agreement. The long stay business visa cannot be applied for online and there may be a requirement to provide additional documentation and other information to assist with the application.

Alternatively, if you are a business owner, a senior executive in a business or a major investor seeking to establish a branch of the business in Australia, then there are extensive alternative visas available. These visas will not only enable the holder to run their business in the country under the same rules as an Australian native, but also the ability to seek permanent residence in the country if the holder wishes to do so.

There are two pathways for business owners and investors to settle in Australia, firstly as a provisional visa holder, with eligibility for permanent residence after the holder has successfully established their business in Australia over a sustained period.

These applicants are initially granted a business skills (provisional) visa for four years. When that visa comes up to renewal, the holder may be eligible to make an application for a business skills (resident) visa, after which they may be granted permanent residence in Australia, provided their business has proven sustainable and their level of investment is suitable.

For high calibre business owners who have been sponsored by a state or territory, a direct permanent residence visa is also available. This visa is known as the business talent visa. This visa is only open for highly successful business people who meet a lengthy list of stringent criteria, such as the CEOs of successful businesses that have an annual turnover of AUD $3 million each year and that you have net assets of AUD $400,000.