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49 Can I emigrate to Australia??

8837 Views 7 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  xMarcusx
Hi

I am 49 my wife is 51 and we have both decided we would like to emigrate to Australia all our children have now grown up and its time to lead a quieter and less stressful life style.

I currently run my own business and my wife is a house wife.

I have phoned around and been told by an emigration office that I could not go out on a working holiday as I am too old and as I have no sponsor I have no way of getting out there on a working VISA.

I actually want to emigrate permanently and was looking to see if maybe any one here has had the same situation but found a way to get out there permanently.

Any ideas gratefully recieved!!
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most working visas have the upper threshold age limit of 50.
you can try for business visa..
Some business visas like the state sponsored business visa or business investor visa seem to have age limits of 55 so you could try them.
Mind if you want a less stressful life I'm not sure Aus is the answer. Oz is not a behind the times backwater and the economy is just as advanced and hardworking, if not more so, than any other developed nation. Plus you'll have the extra stress of being far from family and grandkids and stuff! That said people seem to say New Zealand can certainly offer a quieter simpler life but there again the economy is much smaller and so guess harder to make a business work.
People used to be able to emigrate on a business visa. Maybe thats changed ,but just research it on the government sites.

Hi

I am 49 my wife is 51 and we have both decided we would like to emigrate to Australia all our children have now grown up and its time to lead a quieter and less stressful life style.

I currently run my own business and my wife is a house wife.

I have phoned around and been told by an emigration office that I could not go out on a working holiday as I am too old and as I have no sponsor I have no way of getting out there on a working VISA.

I actually want to emigrate permanently and was looking to see if maybe any one here has had the same situation but found a way to get out there permanently.

Any ideas gratefully recieved!!
Hi

I am 49 my wife is 51 and we have both decided we would like to emigrate to Australia all our children have now grown up and its time to lead a quieter and less stressful life style.

I currently run my own business and my wife is a house wife.

I have phoned around and been told by an emigration office that I could not go out on a working holiday as I am too old and as I have no sponsor I have no way of getting out there on a working VISA.

I actually want to emigrate permanently and was looking to see if maybe any one here has had the same situation but found a way to get out there permanently.

Any ideas gratefully recieved!!
It's going to be quite difficult for you.
The easiest route is to obtain a 457-Visa, in which a company sponsors you for a position within the company. This would require either yourself or your wife to find a job in Australian in either of your fields. Only one of you needs the visa as the other would come across as the spouse.

Alternatively you could try coming over under your own steam, but it is a points based system. You would need to have qualifications and experience that appear on the Skills Shortage List, you lose points for your ages but if you have a bit of money tucked away this will help.

The Australian Immigration Site has a helpful tool to determine what visas are available to you. Australian Visa Wizard - Visas & Immigration

Playing around with this it seems that you have a few options:

  • Get a 457 sponsored visa in any profession.
  • If you meet one of the professions on the Skills Sortage you can come under your own steam.
  • If you have a family member in Australia, they can sponsor you (the closer the relationship the better).

Apparently you can not come on a permanent basis under a business visa.

Basically Australia is a VERY attractive place to live at the moment. The immigration policy is aimed at filling highly-skilled vacancies with foreigners when required, leaving the semi and non-skilled jobs for Australians. They want to avoid people coming over and being non-productive.
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It's going to be quite difficult for you.
The easiest route is to obtain a 457-Visa, in which a company sponsors you for a position within the company. This would require either yourself or your wife to find a job in Australian in either of your fields. Only one of you needs the visa as the other would come across as the spouse.

Alternatively you could try coming over under your own steam, but it is a points based system. You would need to have qualifications and experience that appear on the Skills Shortage List, you lose points for your ages but if you have a bit of money tucked away this will help.

The Australian Immigration Site has a helpful tool to determine what visas are available to you. Australian Visa Wizard - Visas & Immigration

Playing around with this it seems that you have a few options:

  • Get a 457 sponsored visa in any profession.
  • If you meet one of the professions on the Skills Sortage you can come under your own steam.
  • If you have a family member in Australia, they can sponsor you (the closer the relationship the better).

Apparently you can not come on a permanent basis under a business visa.

Basically Australia is a VERY attractive place to live at the moment. The immigration policy is aimed at filling highly-skilled vacancies with foreigners when required, leaving the semi and non-skilled jobs for Australians. They want to avoid people coming over and being non-productive.
457 is a temporary visa up to 4 yrs.
Skills shortage oy PR has an age limit of 45
Family can only if majority of family is in Aus
Applying for a Business Visa (subclass 890) would enable you and your wife to settle permanently.

The only catch is your business needs to have a certain turnover in the 12 months prior to applying. You'll find the details at the Department of Immigration website. If your business is profitable enough that it has been supporting you both it's likely you are able to meet this criteria.

Sure, the pace of life in some of the major cities can be hectic but there are many lovely towns where the pace is much slower.

Best of luck :)
My parents are in their early 60s now and have been looking at retiring here now from the UK since we have moved here.

The agent who handled our move has advised the Investor Retirement (Subclass 405) as an option for them, it has no PR attachment but allows you live as a resident as long as you are financially supporting yourself. It also allows you to work part-time to.

The trouble is that you need to be over 55 for this. I think that the 890 visa, cloudberry suggested, or getting sponsorship via a 457 is the the only options you have at the moment.
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