Austral Migration Consultancy Pte Ltd - Singapore, Singapore

Also referred to as General Skilled Migration (GSM), this accounts for most of Australia’s permanent visas issued each year, with numbers of over 120,000 skilled visas approved each year. This number is set to increase, with some forecasts estimating this number could reach almost 300,000 by 2020.

The basis of this visa program is to allow individuals with genuine skills in certain occupations to apply for residency directly without needing to be sponsored by an employer.

The three most popular visa subclasses for skilled migration are Skilled – Independent (Subclass 189), Skilled – Nominated (Subclass 190) and Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) (Subclass 489) visas.

Australia has always supported business creation throughout the country as this spurs both economic and employment growth. This led them to offer the business migration pathway to overseas business owners to be able to apply for a business visa if they fulfilled certain requirements.

A 2 stage visa with temporary/ permanent residence, an applicant would need to be nominated by an Australian state/ territory to be considered for the various subclasses of visas offered.

The business visa stream is broken down into 2 main visa subclasses, namely the Business Talent (Permanent) (Subclass 132) visa and Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (Subclass 188) visa.

For potential applicants who are looking for an investment linked visa pathway, Australia offers various investor visa sub classes which are subject to qualifying criteria.

This visa type requires investing in approved funds in an Australian state or territory and for a minimum period of time.

The visa starts off as a temporary visa, which converts into a permanent visa once a 4 year term is satisfied.

The investor visa stream is broken down into 2 main visa options, namely the Investor stream (Provisional) (Subclass 188) and Significant Investor stream (Provisional) (Subclass 188) visas.