Can you immigrate to Australia if you’re over 50?

With strict age restrictions in place for most work visas, one might wonder, “Can you immigrate to Australia if you’re over 50?”

The good news is that there are visas that allow people over 50 to immigrate to Australia, which falls into these four categories:

• Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) Visa (Subclass 482)
• Global Talent Visa
• Parent Visas
• Business Innovation and Investment Visa

Let’s take a closer look at each visa.

1. Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) Visa (Subclass 482)

The Temporary Skill Shortage Visa (Subclass 482) allows Australian employers to sponsor skilled workers for positions there aren’t suitable Australians to fill available roles.

As suggested by its name, the Subclass 482 is a temporary visa. However, you could extend your stay after the expiry date of your visa or apply for a permanent residence if you’re eligible to do so.

Three visa streams

The Subclass 482 Visa has three streams through which skilled workers can apply for their visa:

• Short-term stream:
  • You must be nominated to work in an occupation on the list of eligible short-term skilled occupations.
  • You can work in Australia for up to two years, or for up to four years if an International Trade Obligation (ITO) applies. Hong Kong passport holders may stay up to five years.
• Medium-term stream:
  • You must be nominated to work in an occupation on either the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) or the Regional Occupation List (ROL).
  • You can work in Australia for up to four years. Hong Kong passport holders may stay up to five years.
• Labour agreement stream:
  • You must be nominated to work in a specified occupation under the terms of a Labour Agreement.
  • You can work in Australia for up to a maximum of four years, depending on the terms of the labour agreement. Hong Kong passport holders may stay up to five years.

Further to being able to meet the requirements above, you must have at least two years of relevant work experience in your nominated occupation or a related field. You must also have a relevant skills assessment if it’s required for your occupation.

2. Global Talent Visa (subclass 858)

The purpose of the Global Talent Visa is to attract the world’s best and brightest talent to grow Australia’s economy. You’ll be eligible to apply if you are highly skilled in one of these 10 target sectors:

• Resources
• Agri-food and AgTech
• Energy
• Health Industries
• Defence, Advanced Manufacturing and Space
• Circular Economy
• DigiTech
• Infrastructure and Tourism
• Financial Services and FinTech
• Education

You must also be able to attract a salary that meets the high-income threshold of AUD162,000. This figure is adjusted annually on 1 July.

While there is no age restriction on the Global Talent Visa, the Department of Home Affairs requires that an exceptional benefit to the Australian community be established if you’re older than 55 years of age.

3. Parent Visas

There are several parent visas available to the parents of Australian citizens and permanent residents and Eligible New Zealand (ENZ) citizens:

• Aged Parent visa (subclass 804): You must be old enough to receive the age pension in Australia.
• Contributory Aged Parent visas (subclasses 864 and 884): You must be old enough to receive the age pension in Australia.
• Contributory Parent visas (subclasses 143 and 173): You must apply as a retiree.
• Parent visa (subclass 103): You must apply as a retiree.
• Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa: You’ll need an approved Parent Sponsor to apply.

The other requirements for these visas range from meeting the balance-of-family test to meeting health and character requirements. Please contact us if you’d like to discuss the requirements in detail.

4. Business Innovation and Investment Visa (subclass 188)

The subclass 188 visa is a four-year provisional visa. It is the first step towards permanent residency. You’ll apply for permanent residency through the Business Innovation and Investment Visa (subclass 888).

The requirements to meet under the subclass 188 visa will depend on the stream under which you apply:

1. Business Innovation stream: You want to establish, develop and manage a new or existing business in Australia.
2. Investor stream: You want to make a designated investment of at least AU$2.5 million in an Australian state or territory and maintain business and investment activity in Australia.
3. Significant Investor stream: You are willing to invest at least AU$5 million into complying investments in Australia and maintain business and investment activity in Australia.
4. Entrepreneur stream: For startup and early stage entrepreneurs who have been endorsed to develop their concepts and been nominated by a State or Territory government agency.

For the Business Innovation, Investor and Entrepreneur streams, you must be under the age of 55. That’s not much older than 50, so don’t take too long to apply if you’re already 50.

Want to know if you’re eligible for immigration to Australia?

If you’re almost 50 or older than 50 and would like to know if you qualify to immigrate to Australia, please do not hesitate to book a consultation call with our licensed advisor.

You’ll not only discover your visa options, but also find out how the immigration process works, and learn what costs are involved.

Our team looks forward to hearing from you. Let’s get to you to Australia as soon as possible!