Question of the Week
Work 6-months restriction for Working and Holiday Visa
Category: No Category
Question asked
I am currently on a W&H visa from the United States. I arrived October 28, 2017. I have a 6 month employer limitation. That being said, the first 6 months, I have worked as a self-employed contractor (filmmaker). I have a client wanting to hire me up until the last date I can legally work for them as self-employed. However, they have a 30-day billing cycle (I would be paid after my first 6 month term is completed).
My question is- can I take this project, finish it before the 6 month mark but then be paid after that date? I'm worried it would affect my ability to be granted the partnership visa once we apply. Any advice is appreciated!
Answer provided by Migration Agent
Hi R,
Thank you for your inquiry!
In short - yes, you can be paid after the expiry of the 6 month period, so long as you don’t do any actual work after the 6 month period expires. This will have no effect on your partner visa application.
However, it sounds like you may also be able to continue providing services to your new client for longer than you think. This is because the 6 month period that you are referring to functions differently for self-employed contractors when compared to regular employees.
The 6 month restriction actually only prevents you from providing services to the same “end user” for more than 6 months.
For a regular employee, their employer generally is the “end user”, and so they generally need to cease their employment after 6 months.
On the other hand, for a self-employed contractor, each client is considered to be a different “end user”. Accordingly, you may continue to provide services to different end users for longer than 6 months without breaching the condition 8547 that is on your Working Holiday Visa, so long as you do not provide services to any one end user for longer than 6 months.
However, you need to be careful that your relationship with your end user isn’t deemed to be an employment relationship. This generally happens if your work is integrated into the end user’s business (as opposed to you being in business in your own right), or if you create your business specifically to provide services solely to that end user.
Thank you for using Ask an Agent. If you need further services from myself or a registered migration agent, please contact Amy at amy.jacobson@ask-an-agent.com.au – and don’t forget to mention your Question ID so that I can keep providing immigration services to you.
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