New business visa for Australia
25 September 2015 by News Desk
Plans have been proposed in Australia for a new business visa program to encourage entrepreneurs.
The opposition Labor party says, if elected, it will introduce a new visa program aimed at attracting 4,000 entrepreneurs and new business start-ups to Australia.
The proposals will involve 2,000 international students allowed to stay in Australia for another year after they graduate from university if they have a workable start-up business idea.
Another 2,000 places will be offered to attract entrepreneurs from overseas to start businesses in Australia.
Bill Shorten, leader of the opposition Labour party, told reporters: “We need to be in the global competition for the smartest minds on the planet. It is a very small cost to offer 2,000 entrepreneur visas to people who would bring some capital and also backing their ideas, it is a very small cost to help say to international students ‘we would like you to stay here and back your idea’.”
The new ‘Start-Up Year’ scheme would be aimed at final-year students looking to start a new business. Loans of up to $10,000 would be made through the existing Higher Education Contribution Scheme.
The new proposals come after recent research predicts that 40% of jobs that exist today will be lost to technology and replaced by computers over the next 20 years.
