He was asking me for migration advice as to whether it was possible for him to now do business in NSW rather than Victoria on his newly attained sub class 163.

My advice to him as a 163 visa holder or a holder of any sponsored business visas like the sub class 164 or sub class 165  is that – It is possible for you to move to another state to reside and carry on business during the validity of your provisional business visa.   However, when you are in a position to apply for your permanent business visa and if you require state sponsorship, you will need to show that you have obtained an official release from the state that first sponsored you.

A sponsored business visa applicant would be familiar with the form 949 (design date July 2007 – the state sponsorship approval form), if they went back to this form and check Part B they would see that this relates to an applicant who is seeking sponsorship from a state for a permanent business visa application and that state was not their original sponsoring state.

There is a question that the original sponsoring state would need to answer (i.e Victoria – followed by space for their official stamp and signature)

“Are you satisfied that there are reasonable circumstances surrounding the relocation of this applicant to an alternate State/Territory during the validity of their Business Skills (Provisional) visa?

The key term is “resasonable circumstances” or in other words what your reasons were for changing states to live and operate a business and whether that state agrees that you were justified in relocating to another state.

To the particular person who asked me the question about changing states I advised that I have not had any of my own clients changes states so could not advise him on the particular nuances of changing states. Suffice to say, when it comes time for him to apply for a permanent visa and  he required state sponsorship he should have spent some time considering the reasons he was going to give Victoria for relocating to NSW. Simply saying you just changed your mind about where you wanted to live would not be taken favourably by any state government who gave you your initial sponsorship for his sub class 163.  Afterall it takes most people 9 months or so to obtain a business visa, and it’s assumed that you have researched your business location thoroughly when deciding where you wanted live and operate a business.