Moving to Australia

Select an available migration pathway

Check skills, employer sponsorship, family and exceptional-talent routes against your actual circumstances. The closed BIIP should not appear as an open shortcut for a wealthy founder. An expression of interest for National Innovation is not a visa application or an assurance of invitation.

Review assets before becoming resident

Prepare an inventory of company shares, trusts, pensions, property, investments and deferred employment awards. Tax residence and immigration residence use different definitions. Arrival can affect how future foreign gains and income are calculated. Establish valuations and records while they can still be obtained reliably.

Assess the business that follows you

If you direct an overseas company from Australia, its central management and control may become relevant locally. CFC attribution can be a separate issue for foreign entities that remain nonresident. Identify which activities, risks and decisions move with you and which remain abroad. Do not assume that an overseas bank account or director automatically preserves the prior treatment.

Verify the current immigration route and its evidence

A new investor should not use a pre-July-2024 BIIP brochure as an application plan. For National Innovation, prepare evidence of exceptional achievement and the eligible nominator, submit the expression of interest and wait for an invitation before treating it as a visa application. For skilled 189, check the occupation, skills assessment, English, age and points evidence. An expression of interest is not a bridging permission or guarantee of selection.

Prepare the family’s identity, civil-status, health and character documents according to the actual route. Published processing statistics are not a personal approval deadline. Keep existing work and travel permissions valid until the new status permits the intended activity. The detailed programme guides show which stages depend on invitation, third-party assessment and authority processing.

Complete the pre-arrival asset and entity review

List foreign companies, partnership interests, trusts, property, investment accounts, pensions and deferred remuneration. Obtain acquisition costs, recent values and documents proving beneficial ownership. Identify a planned sale, liquidation or distribution that could occur after arrival. Immigration entry and commencement of tax residence may not fall on the same date.

Check whether the temporary-resident rules apply and what would cause them to end. Do not transfer assets or elect a tax treatment based only on a general description of an exemption. A spouse’s status can be relevant, and employment/services income requires separate analysis. Preserve the assumptions in writing so the plan can be revisited when the family’s circumstances change.

Decide how foreign businesses will be run after the move

If you remain the principal decision-maker for an overseas company, document where that authority will be exercised. A foreign director must have a genuine role; travel for a ceremonial meeting does not establish that all management occurs abroad. Separately test CFC control and attribution for foreign entities that remain nonresident.

Arrange local payroll, accounting, bank access and tax-registration responsibilities for the actual activities. Retain records of work locations and related-party services from the beginning. Schedule a review before a major investment exit or the transition to permanent immigration status. A good arrival plan is designed to withstand both the first annual return and the later event that produces most of the family’s value.

How Offshore Capitalist can help

Share your current residence, nationality, business activities and intended changes through the inquiry form or WhatsApp. We can assess the cross-border issues, explain the work required and coordinate the agreed implementation. For this jurisdiction, local regulated work and government decisions remain with the relevant qualified providers and authorities. We confirm scope and fees before starting.