Emigrate To Australia

Australians like to call their home 'the lucky country' and, with a population of less than 20 million, Australia enjoys being the biggest island in the world with over 23,000 miles of beach coastline! So you can imagine - there's lots of beach to go around!

With a climate that sees sunshine even on Christmas Day, it's no wonder that Australians enjoy such an active and sporting outdoor life.

Thanks to so much land, they can also relax in larger and more luxurious homes at a relatively low cost, with around 70% of the people owning their own home.

Comparative Cost of Living

Quality of life in Australia

When issues of cost and quality of life are considered together, Australia stands out as one of the world's most desirable places in which to live and work.

Australia's quality of life is high, featuring; lack of congestion, high quality housing and urban environments, access to sporting and leisure facilities and a clean, natural environment.

According to the Worldwide Quality-Of-Life Index (2006) Australia ranks 8th in the quality of life index compared to the UK which is 26th.

Australia Skilled - Independent Worker Time Line & Costs (sc136)

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• Skilled 'Independent' Visa
• Skilled 'Family Sponsored' Visa
• Business Owner Visa
• Prospective Spouse/Fiancé
• Spouse Visa
• Contributory Parent
• Investor Retirement

Skilled 'Independent' Visa

All applicants for an Australian Independent skilled visa must:

• Be under 45 years of age
• Have at least vocational English language
• Have work experience in an occupation included on the Skilled Occupations List
• Obtain a positive skills assessment from the relevant authority
• Hold post secondary qualifications or have relevant work experience
• Be of good health and character and meet the points test

Skilled 'Family Sponsored' Visa

All applicants for a Australian skilled-family sponsored visa must:

• Be under 45 years of age
• Have at least vocational English language
• Have work experience in an occupation included on the Skilled Occupations List
• Obtain a positive skills assessment from the relevant authority
• Hold post secondary qualifications or have relevant work experience
• Have a directly related, sponsoring family member who is a Australian Resident or Citizen
• Be of good health and character and meet the points test

Alternative skills based visas: Regional-Sponsored, Recognised Graduate.

Business Owner Visa

• Prove that have had successful business career spending at least 50% of your time 'managing' your business rather than providing services personally.
• Demonstrate that during at least 2 of the previous 4 years prior to your application you have held a management role in a business with an annual turnover of at least AUS $500,000
• Demonstrate you have assets in your main business(es) of $200,000
• You and your spouse have combined total assets of at least AUS $550,000 available to transfer to Australia within 2 years.
• Be under 45 years of age
• Be of good health and character

You will at first receive a four year provisional visa which you must hold for at least two years before you can apply for permanent residency. To apply for Permanent Residency your Australian business must meet performance criteria:

• Have net assets in the business of no less than Au$100,000
• You and your spouse have combined net assets of Au$250,000
• The turnover of the Australian business for the 12 months preceding your application for permanent residency must be at least Au$300,000 AND you have employed 2 Australians for the same period.

Alternative Business based visas: State Sponsored Business Owner Visa, Business Investment Visa and Business Talent visa.

Prospective Spouse/Fiancé

Those who apply under prospective marriage category will be granted a visa valid for 9 months, during which time the applicant must enter Australia and marry their partner, they then apply for a spouse visa.

Spouse Visa

This is generally (for those recently married or in a lasting de-facto relationship) a two stage visa which consists of:

1. Initially the applicant will be assessed for a temporary visa which is valid for two years. A permanent visa will then be issued if the relationship is assessed as still being genuine and ongoing onshore in Australia at the end of two years.
2. Meet health and character requirements.

Contributory Parent

Must be the parent of a 'settled' Australian Resident and meet 'balance of family' requirements. A significant, non-refundable visa application charge (VAC) per parent is levied.

Must meet health and character requirements.

Alternatives: Parent visa, Last remaining relative, Dependent child, Aged dependent relative

Investor Retirement

• Must be over 55
• Must be sponsored by state in which they wish to reside
• Must meet the following financial criteria:-
  • Those who wish to settle in regional/low growth areas will need to provide a minimum designated investment of AUS $500,000.
  • Those who wish to settle in non regional or non low growth area will need AUS $750,000.

In addition they will need to provide evidence of additional transferable assets and an annual net income of either $50,000 or AUS $65,000, depending on where they wish to settle.

Be of good health and character.

Note: The investor retirement visa is a four year temporary visa renewable for an additional four years on an ongoing basis if the visa criteria continues to be met.