New Visa Rules for International Professional Footballers signing with Australian Professional Football Clubs

On 11 March 2019, the Australian Federal Government’s Immigration Minister David Coleman announced that changes were being made to the visa requirements for foreign international footballers who sign with Australian professional A-League football clubs.

Background

The significant change would allow professional foreign footballers to be sponsored to work in Australia (by A-League clubs) for longer periods of time (than the current 2 years’ initial visa) but in order to obtain this visa they would have to be paid a minimum salary of AUD 120,000 (approx. EUR 75,000).

Australia has always had a successful job and educational skill-based immigration program and being a competitive sporting nation, these changes will benefit foreign players, local clubs and fans.

Minister Coleman further stated that the motivation of the change was in essence based on “attracting top international talent to Australian football clubs [to bring] those players’ skills and experiences from overseas and contribute to the knowledge and skills growth of Australian players. It means we can do even better on the international stage.”

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