The Department of Immigration and Border Protection in Australia has issued new guidance and clarification of residency requirements for the country’s significant investor visa programme.
This follows concerns that changes to residency requirement for the Subclass 888 Visa would affect applicants in the Significant Investor Visa stream.
Among these were changes in the pathway to permanent residency for people who obtain the four year provisional Subclass 188 Visa, specifically the announcement of a residency requirement for secondary visa applicants, for example family members, of 180 days per year.
The announcement of a new 180 days per year rule raised concerns that a new barrier had been introduced that might reduce the attractiveness of the visa programme.
Now the DIBP says that the requirement will be for the primary applicant to reside in Australia for 40 days per year or the secondary applicant (spouse) to reside in Australia for 180 days per year.
This residency requirement will be calculated cumulatively over the four year period of the provisional visa. According to advice issued by KPMG, that means 160 days over four years for a primary applicant or 720 days over for years for the secondary applicant (spouse).
There will be no residency requirement for all other secondary applicants. The new requirement is scheduled to take effect from 01 July 2015.
KPMG is also advising businesses that the period of stay for subclass 400 Temporary Work (Short Stay Activity) visas from has been extended from three months to six months. In addition, the visa validity has been extended to allow entry within six months of the visa being granted.
“The changes make these visas much more flexible for businesses, so will be welcomed by those businesses who need specialists at short notice for discreet short term periods,” a spokesman said.
The firm pointed out that stays longer than three months will require a strong business case to show that employment conditions satisfy Australian workplace standards, and the activities will not adversely impact Australian workers.
Business will need to provide evidence about the nature and importance of a project, evidence that specialist skills are required, evidence of contractual obligations, and the number of Australians to be employed on the project and the time available to train an Australian to do the proposed work.