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Immigration Daily News Million dollar startup entrepreneur deported for not picking fruit
Million dollar startup entrepreneur deported for not picking fruit
Chris Bailey, co-founder of Disrupt, has been deported because the department of immigration has found that he did not complete three months of fruit picking as part of the requirement to get an extension on a working holiday visa, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Disrupt, which started-up in Bondi, offers customers the ability to design their own surfboards using 3D printing technology. The company reportedly has a turnover of over $1 million a year. The deportation of Chris Bailey who was arrested last week after returning to Australia from the USA, where he was trying to establish an American office and manufacturing partnerships, has put the company's future in Australia at stake.
Bailey’s Disrupt co-founder Gary Elphick wrote about his partner’s deportation on LinkedIn earlier in the week: “When our COO arrived back to Sydney he was pulled aside by Border Force, subsequently held in a detention centre/prison for two days before being deported to the UK, leaving his car, house, family, and most importantly our company here in Sydney,” Elphick wrote.
“Why? Because as a start-up the government refuses to recognise us a business (for the purpose of sponsoring highly skilled individuals on temporary work visas), despite the fact that he has been personally approved already. The advice from immigration that his only opportunity to work on Disrupt is to first ‘add value to the economy’ by picking bananas for three months? And even then he would only be allowed to work here for six months. Sorry, What?”
Elphick also raised problems around current immigration policy when it comes to small companies and the ideas boom.
“Whilst I have my own personal pain, I’m more concerned about the long-term negative impact immigration has and will have on the Australian tech scene with other companies facing similar challenges: How can they bring in highly skilled individuals from countries with more developed tech eco-systems to work in Australian start-ups?” Elphick wrote.
A "gutted" Mr Elphick said he would consider shifting Disrupt's headquarters to the US.
DIBP has made no comment on the matter, so far.
Immigration blog
This story is missing some crucial pieces such as: 1). which visa was this Chris Bailey character holding-I assume we are talking about Working Holiday (sc. 417) given the 3 months seasonal work requirement for obtaining a 2nd WH visa onshore 2). Why is he being deported? We can assume the reason is that because his subsequent 417 has been cancelled, right? Then why hasn't he applied for review to the AAT? 3). What is this rubbish about start-ups not being recognise us a business for the purpose of sponsoring highly skilled individuals on temporary work visas? They mean 457, don't they? If so, there has never been any problems for start-ups to get a 457 sponsorship approved as long as long as they have a solid business plan and money in the bank. Another issue these days is that getting a 457 nomination approved may sometimes present a challenge, so even after having their 457 sponsorship approved as a start-up, they could still receive a request from DIBP to prove that the position was genuine 4) What do they mean by "despite the fact that he has been personally approved already"-approved for what exactly? 5) Who was advising them, if anybody (which migration lawyer/agent) and couldn't this whole drama have been easily avoided? This article only poses questions and answers none
If anybody has any additional info, as a Bondi-based migration lawyer/business owner I'd be keen to know