In 1996, two Immigration Officials decided to start helping people just like you emigrate to Australia. Since that first simple idea, we have grown to become one of the world’s most trusted emigration agencies.
Partnering with leading lawyers, financial advisors and others to offer complete tailored emigration solutions.
We helped to write many of the policies still used today. That insider knowledge provides us with a unique understanding of the law and helps us to win cases that others can’t.
Discover your eligibility and receive your e-guide on the emigration stream of your choice. One of our experts will review your information and provide feedback on your eligibility & emigration options.
Welcome to Sterling Migration, assisting people to emigrate since 1996. We are here to ensure your visa is approved as smoothly and quickly as possible.
There are three basic routes for emigration to Australia.
Whatever your reason for emigrating, our experts are on hand to answer your questions and to guide you every step of the way.
The skilled route remains the most travelled path to a new life in Australia.
Each year, Australia invites thousands of professionals and trades people to settle permanently, on the strength of their qualifications, experience and ability to contribute to the economy.
Three points tested visas sit at the heart of the programme. The 189 Skilled Independent visa grants permanent residency on arrival with complete freedom to live anywhere. The 190 Skilled Nominated visa adds the backing of a state government. The 491 Skilled Work Regional visa offers a five year provisional stay in regional Australia with a clear route to permanent residency.
All three lead to Medicare, public schooling at resident rates and the five year clock toward Australian citizenship.
The skilled programme is selective by design. To enter the pool, you need to:
Points are awarded for age, qualifications, years of experience, English ability and partner factors.
Reaching 65 points opens the door to an Expression of Interest. The competitive score is usually higher, and Australia invites only the strongest candidates from each round.
In recent invitation rounds, most professional occupations were invited at 85 points or above. Healthcare, engineering, IT, accounting and legal candidates typically required 85 to 95 points.
Trades told a different story. Carpenters, bricklayers, electricians and plumbers were invited from 65 points, reflecting the extraordinary demand in Australia’s housing and construction sector.
Visa Application Charges from 1 July 2026:
The Department of Home Affairs publishes a median processing time of around nine months from lodgement. Strong cases in priority occupations are often granted materially faster.
Every case begins with accreditation against Australian standards, which are frequently higher than those at home. A British teacher, electrician or lift mechanic may need additional evidence or conversion steps to be deemed fully qualified. Presenting the assessment correctly at the outset protects every point you claim later.
The Department grants points only for work experience it can verify. Missing payslips, closed employers and undocumented years sink otherwise excellent cases. We rebuild and corroborate work histories so the file tells the full story of your career.
When two candidates tie on points, the earlier submission wins the invitation. Lodging your Expression of Interest the day you reach a competitive score can save months, sometimes years, of waiting.
The skilled route is ideal for professionals and trades people under 45 with solid, documented careers. It rewards preparation above all else, and it remains the most affordable route to permanent residency for those who qualify.
For those over 45, or without an occupation on the lists, the entrepreneur and investor route or a family visa may open the door instead. Every option is examined in our free assessment.
With thirty years of experience and former senior immigration officials on your side, we ensure your case enters the pool at its strongest, giving you the best possible chance of an invitation to emigrate.
For entrepreneurs, founders, innovators and investors, the National Innovation Visa is now the premier route to Australia.
Introduced to replace the former business and investment visas, it grants permanent residency on arrival. There is no points test, no upper age limit and no requirement to hold a specific qualification.
From day one, you and your family enjoy the freedom to live, work, invest and retire anywhere in Australia, with access to Medicare, education and a AAA rated economy with no inheritance tax.
Invitations are issued across four priority tiers:
For most of our clients, the government nominated entrepreneur and investor pathway is the natural choice. A state nomination attaches to your federal Expression of Interest and elevates your case to priority treatment.
Invitation rounds are held monthly. Between January and March 2026, the Department of Home Affairs issued 146 invitations from 1,815 Expressions of Interest.
That ratio tells the real story. Roughly one case in twelve succeeds, and the difference is almost always the quality of the evidence and the strength of the nomination.
Common evidence markers across the active nominating states include:
Complete emigration solutions through this route start from around AUD 595K for your entire family, with most clients emigrating within 12 to 24 months. Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis until the quotas are reached.
The Form 1000 nomination is the key that unlocks the visa. Cases nominated by an expert government agency receive priority. We work with accredited nominators, leading investment firms and business brokers across Australia to secure the support your case requires.
Passive wealth alone does not qualify. The strongest cases combine a successful exit, fundraising round or scaling event with ownership of recognised intellectual property and a record of supporting successful ventures.
Nominating states expect a concrete link: a registered office, a joint venture with a local partner, or committed Australian venture capital. We can provide commercial opportunities holding the necessary intellectual property, together with a committed minimum investment of AUD 1 million from an Australian venture capital firm.
This is the ideal option for successful business owners, investors and senior professionals who would not qualify under the points tested system, whether by age, occupation or preference.
It is equally attractive to those who simply prefer certainty. Permanent residency on arrival means no provisional stage, no renewal anxiety and no conditions on where you live, what you do next or when you choose to retire.
If you have built, backed or scaled something of substance, Australia wants to hear from you. Our free assessment will establish whether your track record meets the threshold, which of the four pathways fits your family best, and how quickly your case can realistically be invited.
Employer sponsorship is the fastest growing route into Australia, and for good reason.
Where the points tested visas ask you to compete in a global pool, the employer sponsored visas ask only that an approved Australian business wants your skills. Once it does, the visa process moves quickly.
Four visas make up the family. The 482 Skills in Demand visa is the workhorse, a temporary visa of up to four years with a built in route to permanent residency. The 186 Employer Nomination Scheme grants permanent residency directly. The 494 covers regional employers, and the DAMA agreements unlock generous concessions in designated regions across the country.
The core requirements are refreshingly simple:
The 482 has three streams. The Specialist Skills stream serves high earners in almost any occupation. The Core Skills stream covers the mainstream professions and trades. The Essential Skills stream addresses lower paid but critical roles, particularly in care.
Crucially for many of our clients, DAMA agreements can relax the age limit, English requirements and salary thresholds. In some regions, sponsorship remains available up to age 55, offering a lifeline to those the points system has left behind.
From 1 July 2026, the Core Skills Income Threshold rises to AUD 79,499, with higher thresholds applying to specialist occupations.
Government Visa Application Charges from 1 July 2026:
Processing is among the fastest in the system. Many Specialist Skills cases are decided in a matter of weeks, and employer sponsored applicants can often be working in Australia within months of engaging us.
After two years with your sponsor, 482 holders may transition to permanent residency through the 186 visa, with time on the temporary visa counting toward citizenship eligibility once permanent residency is granted.
The sponsor must be an approved business with a genuine need for the role. We verify sponsorship credentials before a single form is filed, protecting you from failed nominations and wasted fees.
Choosing between the 482 streams, the 186 direct entry route and a DAMA concession is the single most consequential decision in the process. The wrong choice can add years to your journey to permanent residency.
Sponsorship, nomination and visa are three linked applications. Each must be consistent with the others. Discrepancies between them are the most common cause of refusals, and the easiest to prevent with expert preparation.
Employer sponsorship suits skilled professionals and trades people who want certainty and speed, those slightly over the points test age limit, and anyone whose occupation appears on the employer sponsored lists but not the independent ones.
It also suits families who want to arrive together and start earning immediately. Your partner receives full work rights, your children study at resident rates, and your salary is protected by the same workplace laws that cover Australian citizens.
Many of our clients use employer sponsorship as a bridge, arriving quickly on a 482 and converting to permanent residency once their two years with the sponsor are complete.
Our experts will assess your profile, identify the stream that serves you best and guide you from first enquiry to permanent residency.
If your partner is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, the partner visa is your route home together.
It is one of the few Australian visas with no occupation lists, no points test and no age limit. What it demands instead is proof, comprehensive, well organised proof, that your relationship is genuine and continuing.
Married couples, de facto partners and, in many cases, fiancés can all apply. Same sex relationships are recognised on exactly the same terms.
Dependent children can be included in the application, and once the permanent stage is granted you enjoy full access to Medicare, unrestricted work rights and the five year clock toward Australian citizenship.
Partner visas are granted in two stages under a single application:
You pay once and are assessed twice. The temporary stage establishes the relationship. The permanent stage, usually two years after lodgement, confirms it endures.
Couples who have been together for more than three years, or two years with a child of the relationship, are often granted the permanent visa immediately.
Partner visas are demand driven, meaning there is no annual cap and no competitive pool. Every genuine couple who meets the requirements can succeed.
Visa Application Charges from 1 July 2026:
Current processing sees around half of offshore cases decided within 14 months and half of onshore cases within 17 months, with nine in ten finalised within about two years.
From April 2026, the Department expects applications to be decision ready at lodgement. Applicants may receive only one opportunity to provide further information, which makes professional preparation more valuable than ever before.
The Department assesses your relationship across four dimensions: financial, household, social and commitment. Joint accounts, shared leases, travel together, statements from family and friends, and the story of your life as a couple all carry weight. Strong cases evidence all four pillars, not just one or two of them.
A partner visa file routinely runs to hundreds of pages. Under the new decision ready rules, a missing document is no longer a delay, it can be a refusal. We assemble, order and audit every file before it is lodged.
Applying onshore or offshore changes your rights while you wait, including work rights and travel. Choosing the correct lodgement strategy for your circumstances can save months of separation.
The partner visa suits any couple building a life together where one partner holds Australian citizenship or permanent residency, whether newly engaged, long married or decades into a de facto relationship.
It also suits couples currently living apart. The offshore route allows the Australian partner to return home and establish the household while the application progresses, so the reunion happens on Australian soil.
It is a substantial investment in your shared future, and one where experience genuinely pays. Our experts have guided couples through every conceivable circumstance since 1996, and we would be delighted to guide yours.
Few moments in life compare with watching your grandchildren grow up in person rather than over a video call.
The parent visas exist for exactly that purpose. If you have a child who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, there is a route for you to join them, permanently.
The choice of stream is a genuine strategic decision, balancing cost against time, and it deserves careful expert advice.
Permanent parent visas bring full residence rights, access to Medicare, freedom to travel, and the ability to spend every school concert, birthday and Christmas exactly where you want to be.
Parent migration falls into three broad families:
All permanent streams apply the balance of family test: at least half of your children must live permanently in Australia, or more of your children must live there than in any other single country.
Australia allocates 8,500 parent places each programme year, and demand far exceeds supply. That imbalance is why the queues exist, and why stream selection matters so much.
Charges from 1 July 2026:
The contributory route is a substantial commitment, yet for most families it is the only realistic path to permanent reunion within a parent’s active years.
A couple can structure applications to manage the second instalment intelligently, stage the process through the temporary 173, or combine an 870 stay with a queued permanent application. The correct architecture routinely saves families tens of thousands of dollars and years of waiting.
Families with children spread across several countries need their circumstances presented precisely. We ensure the test is evidenced correctly the first time, because a refusal sends you to the back of a very long queue.
Queue position is set by lodgement date. Every month of delay is a month added to the wait, and government fees have risen every July for years. Families who act decisively are consistently rewarded.
Parent visas suit parents and grandparents whose children have made Australia home and who want more than an annual visit.
Many of our clients combine strategies, spending time in Australia on an 870 or long stay visitor arrangement while their contributory application moves through the queue, so the years of waiting are spent with family rather than away from them.
They also now serve holders of the old retirement visas, who benefit from a dedicated pathway to permanent residency through the parent streams, with several requirements waived.
Whether you seek a permanent move or an extended stay while a permanent application matures, our experts will map the fastest affordable route to your family, and manage every step of it.
Ask most advisers about retiring to Australia and you will hear the same answer: the retirement visas closed years ago.
That answer is only half true, and the other half is where we have built three decades of expertise.
Australia closed its dedicated retirement visas, the Investor Retirement 405 and the Retirement 410, to new applicants on 8 May 2018. What replaced them is not a single visa but a set of routes with no upper age limit, each suited to a different kind of retiree.
Three pathways carry retirees to Australia today:
For existing 405 and 410 holders, the Government has opened a dedicated pathway to permanent residency through the parent visa streams, with several standard requirements waived, including the need to have family in Australia.
Complete family emigration solutions through the investment led route start from around AUD 650K, and the process can be completed in as little as six months, with most clients emigrating within 12 to 24 months.
Once permanent residency is granted, the benefits are considerable:
Dependent children up to the age of 23 may be included in your application, and we work with regulated advisers on pension transfers, including guidance on the Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme.
Not every retiree will have a route, and we say so plainly. Our free assessment establishes quickly whether your career, family circumstances or investment capacity opens a genuine pathway. Where one exists, we pursue it vigorously on your behalf.
Australia welcomes older applicants with a strong record of achievement. A lifetime of building businesses, backing ventures or leading in a profession is precisely the evidence the investment led route rewards. We present that lifetime in the form the decision makers expect to see.
Places on the routes retirees use are allocated on a first come, first served basis until quotas are reached. Emigration policy moves quickly, and those who secure their position early are consistently the ones who succeed.
These pathways suit successful people in their fifties, sixties and beyond who thought their chance to live in Australia had passed, whether drawn by grandchildren, sunshine or the quality of life that consistently ranks among the best in the world.
They particularly reward those who spent their working lives building something: a company, a portfolio, a professional reputation. In Australia’s eyes, that history is not the past. It is precisely what qualifies you for the future.
You may be closer to your dream retirement than you think. It costs nothing to find out, and our friendly experts would be delighted to explore the possibilities with you.
