Emigrating to Australia from the UK | MoveHub

What are your options?

There are numerous visas you can apply for when looking to emigrate to Australia. How you can actually qualify for these visas varies considerably, so it’s worth gaining a proper understanding of how they work.

Australian work visas

Australia offers a wide range of work visas that people can apply for. These work visas are by some margin the most common method of emigrating to Australia, and are used by many people from the UK. Here’s a quick breakdown of a few of the most popular working visas:

Working holiday visa: This visa is broken down into two subcategories, the Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) and the Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462). They sound incredibly similar, and in effect they are – the only difference is that if you’re from certain countries, you can only apply for one of the two (for example, US citizens cannot apply for the 462 option).

The working holiday visa is particularly popular for backpackers, who often find themselves picking fruit to supplement their stay in Australia. In order to qualify for the working holiday visa, you must be between the ages of 18 and 30. However, if you’re a French, Canadian, or Irish citizen, the age limit goes up to 35.

Business visas: There are a lot of different business visa categories, so we won’t go into detail on all of them here. But generally, you can apply for different types of business visas depending on what suits you best. If you’re an investor, you can apply for up to four specific types of visas.

Marrying an Australian

One way to emigrate to Australia is to marry either an Australian citizen, a permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen. You can start the process via the Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 130), which will allow you to remain in Australia on the condition that you marry your partner within nine months. The marriage also must be officially registered, which requires you to:

• Have an authorised marriage celebrant conduct the ceremony. A celebrant is someone who performs and carries out formal ceremonies.
• Register your marriage at the registering authority in the place where you were married.
• Fill in an application for a marriage certificate with the registering authority at the place you were married.

The Prospective Marriage visa is also often called the Fiancé Visa.

Permanent residency visa

Your main option for emigrating to Australia indefinitely is to obtain a permanent residency visa. With this, you’ll be allowed to stay in Australia for any length of time. Of course, getting a permanent residency visa isn’t easy; you’ll need to first obtain a five-year 155 visa.

With this, you’ll be able to leave and enter Australia freely, with no pressure to stay in the country or meet any other obligations when the visa is active. Once this visa expires however, you will need to either reapply for one, or have already been granted a permanent residency visa. You’ll also need to make sure that you’re not outside of the country when the visa expires, because that would make things a lot more complicated.