Our Entrepreneurs & Investors guide is packed with useful information you will need to know when emigrating to Australia.
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In recent years, opening a business in Australia has become an effective pathway for emigrating. The National Innovation Visa (NIV) has a stream dedicated to entrepreneurs with the business acumen to create jobs, economic growth and tax receipts for the ATO.
Registering the company itself is quick and inexpensive. The harder part is presenting a business plan that qualifies under the NIV, because Australia now selects entrepreneurs by invitation on the strength of what they have already achieved. This page covers both.
In short
The National Innovation Visa (subclass 858) is the pathway for entrepreneurs to open a business in Australia and to secure permanent residency on arrival.
The Department describes it as a visa for established and emerging leaders with talent and skills who can make significant contributions to Australia’s future prosperity, and it identifies entrepreneurs and innovative investors as target groups.
Employer sponsorship and the skilled routes stay open alongside it, and they suit business owners whose occupation appears on the skilled list.
It is worth noting that these visas don’t impose an age cap.
The NIV process requires applicants to submit an expression of interest outlining their prior business achievements to determine whether they are of significantly high calibre in their field and can make an economic contribution to Australia.
For the NIV, the applicant must be prepared to establish a proprietary limited company (PTY) because it separates personal assets from business risk and allows an Australian Venture Capital fund to invest in an opportunity to acquire shares.
For an NIV case to be successful, support from an Australian Venture Capital fund or other financial institution willing to invest, if given the opportunity, provides the Immigration authorities with comfort that experts in the field have assessed the business.
The Business Registration Service takes the company, the company name, the business name, the Australian Business Number, GST, pay as you go withholding and several other tax registrations in a single application. The business tax file number is applied for as part of the same Australian Business Number application rather than separately.
Where the details you supply can be verified, the Australian Business Number arrives immediately. Where they need manual checking, allow up to 28 days.
Registration begins once turnover reaches A$75,000, counted as gross income from all your businesses less GST. A non profit organisation registers at A$150,000. GST itself is charged at 10%, half the British rate on most goods and services.
Company tax paid in Australia is credited to the shareholder when profits are distributed, so it works as a prepayment of the shareholder’s own tax rather than a permanent cost. The British system taxes the dividend again on top.
A company with aggregated turnover under A$20 million claims a refundable offset worth its company tax rate plus an 18.5% premium. Because the offset is refundable, any excess above the company’s tax liability may be refunded, which matters while a business is still investing ahead of profit.
Four small business capital gains tax concessions apply, and they can work together.
A proprietary company needs at least one director who lives in Australia, and a public company normally needs two. Officeholders are at least 18 years old, and every director applies for a director identification number before being appointed.
Owning shares in a company is a separate question from what your visa permits you to do inside the business, and the Department publishes no general guidance on whether running your own business counts as work under a condition that limits it. Check the conditions on your own grant letter before you begin trading.
We look at the business and the visa together, because a strong company on the wrong visa goes nowhere, and a strong application without a workable business plan goes the same way.
We assess your eligibility, secure business plans and venture capital support, shape the case around your achievements, and manage it through to grant approval.
Comparing life in Australia to the United Kingdom.
Australians pay half the consumption tax, and nothing at all to transfer listed shares. Both are headline rates published by the tax authority in each country.
| Measure | Australia | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption tax rate | 10% | 20% |
| Duty on transfers of listed shares | None | 0.5% |
Sources: Australian Taxation Office; Queensland Revenue Office; HM Revenue and Customs Australian source
One Australian home in three generates its own electricity from the roof. Household counts come from the statistics agency and the energy department in each country.
| Measure | Australia | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Households with rooftop solar | About one in three homes | About one in fourteen homes |
| Rooftop solar installations | More than four million homes | About two million installations |
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics; Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; ONS Australian source
Mackay collects more sunshine, sees fewer wet days and runs far warmer through the year than Scarborough. Each figure is a long term average taken from the official weather station records on both sides.
| Measure | Mackay | Scarborough |
|---|---|---|
| Sunshine per day | 8.2 hours | 4.3 hours |
| Days of rain a year | 97.8 | 127.3 |
| Mid winter daytime high | 21.5 °C | 6.7 °C |
Sources: Bureau of Meteorology; Met Office Australian source