Contracting in Australia

[ForBajor]

Hi everyone,

I was a contractor in the UK up until end of 2015 when I moved to Hong Kong to try my hand here. All good so far but also watching the I.T industry in Australia closely - some exciting stuff going down there in digital. My UK Ltd Co is in a dormant state at the moment and I'm a permie in HK.

So the catch - working visa for Australia. As far as I can tell (IT Contracting in Australia - Money & Tax :: Contractor UK) I need a 417 or 457 visa.

Anyone switched from UK to Australia already? If so what route did you take to get a visa and how long did the process take?

Cheers!

[ladymuck]

Also have a look at this visa:
https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/189-

You don't need a sponsor for this one

[radish2008]

Also have a look at this visa:
https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/189-

You don't need a sponsor for this one

You do need £4.5k though (if there are 2 of you).

I'm seriously considering this.

[saptastic]

http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...-contract.html

[rich2476]

457 Get you started

I used to work in oz for ten years I only intended on going for a few months

The market has changed a lot over the years and a 457 is now used a lot by offshore companies to bring perm resources to oz. The market is pretty tough at the moment from mates I am still in contact with.

use seek.com.au to look for roles and call a few of the agents

I was a contractor on 457 for a good while but it's a bit risky as the agent holds the visa and if you are out of a role you only have 30 days to find another role with the same agent otherwise you have to leave the country and visa is cancelled


PM me if you want more info

[rich2476]

I used to work in oz for ten years I only intended on going for a few months

The market has changed a lot over the years and a 457 is now used a lot by offshore companies to bring perm resources to oz. The market is pretty tough at the moment from mates I am still in contact with.

use seek.com.au to look for roles and call a few of the agents

I was a contractor on 457 for a good while but it's a bit risky as the agent holds the visa and if you are out of a role you only have 30 days to find another role otherwise you have to leave the country and visa is cancelled


PM me if you want more info

Forgot to say 457 is sponsored so you have to have a job offer and a role suitable to be sponsored for that visa. As the market isn't busy it's going to make it hard to get the roles as they will have to wait weeks for the agent to get your visa and might not even get approved when they can pickup a local candidate who can start tomorrow. Not sure on your skillset so you might be ok