Senior Executives

Senior Executives (Provisional) (Subclass 161)

This visa is for senior executive employees of major overseas businesses, who have significant net assets and a genuine and realistic commitment to participate in the management of a new or existing business. This visa is also the first step towards being granted a permanent Business Skills visa.

Senior executives from overseas who through their experience have gained the skills to successfully manage a business in Australia, are less than 45 years old, and their family.

With this visa you can:

• establish a new or existing business in Australia.
• travel in and out of Australia any number of times as long as the visa is valid
• have your family accompany you to Australia. They will have access to work and study rights. Your family includes your spouse and any dependants

This visa is a temporary visa, and the first step towards being granted a permanent Business Skills visa. You must be outside Australia when this visa is granted, unless you held a student visa at the time you applied.

You may be eligible for a permanent Business Skills visa after holding this visa for a minimum of two (2) years. To be eligible for a permanent Business Skills visa you must meet all the obligations of this visa and additional requirements of the permanent Business Skills visa you apply for. Meeting these requirements may take you longer than two (2) years.

After two (2) years you may be eligible to apply for one of the following visas:

• Business Owner (residence)
  or
• State/Territory Sponsored Business Owner (residence)

This visa is valid for four years.
If the visa is granted while you are:

• in Australia (Student visa holders only), it is valid from the date of grant
• outside Australia, it is valid from the entry expiry date on your visa label

The following people may be included in your application:

• your spouse
• your or your spouse’s dependent children
• other dependent relatives living with you.

With this visa you are unable to access Medicare, the Australian Government medical expenses and hospital care scheme.

With this visa you are unable to access family assistance.

With this visa you are unable to access social security payments.

Eligibility

Main Applicant Eligibility

You must meet the following requirements to be eligible for this visa. You must provide evidence of each of the requirements with your application.

Age

You must be less than 45 years old.

English level

You must have a vocational level of English. To show this you must you have one the following:

• have evidence you are a native English speaker
• undertake the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). You need to take the general training test, and must achieve a band score of at least five from a maximum of nine, for all four components of the test; speaking, reading, listening and writing. (Your IELTS test results may not be more than 12 months old when you apply)
• hold a NAATI accreditation in English.

State/Territory notification

You have notified the appropriate regional authority of a state or territory; and your intention to develop a business in that State or Territory.

Business success

You have an overall successful business career.

Management experience

You have occupied a position in the three highest levels of the management structure of a major business. In that position you were responsible for the strategic policy development affecting a major component or a wide range of operations of that major business, and have done so for at least two of the four fiscal years immediately before you apply.

Significant assets

Your (or your and your spouses) total assets have a net value of at least A$500,000, and were legally acquired and are capable of being transferred to Australia within two years of being granted this visa.

Assets to settle

You have sufficient assets (additional to those above) of at least A$100,000 to settle in Australia.

Business record

You or your spouse (if any) have never been involved in unacceptable business or investment activities

Committed to business in Australia

You have a commitment to maintain an ownership interest in a business in Australia and direct a continuous involvement in management of that business.

Need to live in Australia

You demonstrate there is a need for you to live in Australia for business reasons on a temporary basis.

Health requirement

You must meet health requirements to enter Australia.

Character requirement

You must be of good character for you to enter Australia.

Australian Values Statement

If you are aged 18 years or over, you are required to sign an Australian values statement. The statement is included in your visa application form and all applicants aged 18 years and over will need to sign it to confirm that they will respect the Australian way of life and obey Australian laws. Before signing this statement you are required to have read, or had explained to you, material made available by the government on life in Australia which is contained in the Life in Australia book.

The Life in Australia book provides more information on the values that Australians share and their way of life.

Family Member Eligibility

Eligible family members

Your family members must meet the following requirements to be eligible for this visa. Evidence of each of the requirements with your application.

You can include the following people in the application for this visa.

• your spouse
• your or your spouse’s dependent children
• other dependent relatives living with you.

Adding family to your application

If your child is born after you lodge your application (but before a decision has been made) the child can be added to your application, once you notify the department of the details of the newborn child.

A spouse can not be added to a visa application after it has been lodged but may submit a separate application.

A child born in Australia is deemed to have the same visa as their natural parents.

Members of the family unit, including a baby born overseas, may submit subsequent applications to join a visa holder in Australia.

Health requirement

All family members must meet health requirements to enter Australia.

Character requirement

All family members must be of good character to enter Australia.

Australian Values Statement

All visa applicants aged 18 years or over, are required to sign an Australian values statement. The statement is included in the visa application form and all applicants aged 18 years and over will need to sign it. Before signing the statement, applicants for this visa are required to have read, or had explained to them, material made available by the government on life in Australia which is contained in the Life in Australia book.

The Life in Australia book provides more information on the values that Australians share and their way of life.

Obligations

As a Senior Executive (Provisional) visa holder you are expected to provide valuable input to the Australian economy. You must obtain a substantial ownership interest in a business in Australia or maintain your investment in Australia for four years. In that business you must actively participate in the day-to-day management of that business at a senior level, and continue to make genuine efforts to hold a substantial ownership interest at a senior level in the day-to-day management of such a business.

In that business you must also do at least one of the following:

• Develop business links with international markets
• Create or maintain employment in Australia
• Export Australian goods
• Produce goods or services that would otherwise be imported
• Introduce new or improved technology
• Add to commercial activity and competitiveness within sectors of the Australian economy.

You may be asked to complete a monitoring survey to provide us with information about your business activities in Australia.

Visa conditions

• • You must not marry before you enter Australia
• • You must enter Australia before anyone else included in your visa application.
  Note: This means your family members cannot enter Australia before you.

Change in circumstances

If your circumstances change, you must inform the department (in writing) as soon as possible.

Applying for a permanent Business Skills visa

You may be eligible for a permanent Business Skills visa after holding this visa for a minimum of two (2) years. To be eligible for a permanent Business Skills visa you must meet all the obligations of this visa and additional requirements of the permanent Business Skills visa you apply for. Meeting these requirements may take you longer than two (2) years.

Visa	Charge Amount
1st instalment	$2800
2nd instalment For dependents 18 or over with less than functional English.	$2925