Under the requirements of the Sponsored business owner visa subclass 892, the main applicant must show that they have resided in Australia for at least 12 months in the 2 years prior to lodging their subclass 892 visa application.

This is an important requirement that can not be avoided by the main applicant.

Recently I received an inquiry from a subclass 163 visa holder who asked whether it was alright for his wife to live in Australia and fulfill the residency requirement instead of him.  It is not possible for your spouse or any other member of the family unit to be a proxy in relation to the residency requirement.

The situation may be different, if in fact the spouse intended to be the main applicant in the subclass 892 visa application.  That is, he or she owned and managed the Australian business to satisfy the requirements of the subclass 892 as well as resided in Australia for at least 12 months out of the 2 years prior to lodging the application.

Kind regards,

Mege Dalton
Australian registered migration agent (MARN 0501113)