Franchises are businesses where proprietary rights are sold and bought to be used for operations. Many businesses, once they have established themselves, sell their rights and other processes to third parties to replicate their success in other destinations.
Franchises have become one of the boom industries in Australia and the best is yet to come. Now, Chinese nationals are using purchases of franchises and other small businesses in order to immigrate to the country. The trend has been increasing steadily.
10 Thousand Feet Research House is a company that works with businesses in distribution channels. Their report showed that franchise network inquiries have been their top business from overseas. Over thirty five percent of their inquiries, mostly from East Asia such as China and India, have been purchases of these businesses. Another country that has a high volume of inquiries comes from South Africa.
One of the biggest attractions why franchise network businesses have netted this high volume of inquiries from other countries is that these can be the vehicles in order to obtain an Australian Business visa. This is also another way to gain new business or new investments to fund their fledgling business.
According to Head of Intelligence at 10 Thousand Feet Ian Krawitz, "The attractive lifestyle of Australia and the proven success of franchise models have lead to many Chinese residents applying to buy Australian franchises."
He further adds that, "Rather than starting a business from scratch in a new business environment, franchising provides a great opportunity for overseas residents to fast track their learning curve on the service culture, marketing practices and regulatory requirements of operating a business in Australia."
As required by current business rules, foreign nationals can purchase an existing business, purchase a franchise or even establish their own business to be able to avail of a business visa. The easiest way is to purchase a franchise while the hardest way is to establish a business, as there would be scrutiny from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as to the business plan and the viability of the business to be established in Australia. On the other hand, franchise businesses already have an established business model that only need to be operationalized to be viable.
