Business Meetings vs Business Work: Understanding Condition 8115
Condition 8115 permits one thing and forbids everything else. If you hold a Subclass 600 visa in the Business Visitor stream, your entire scope of permitted activity is defined by a short list in regulation 1.03, and anything that falls outside it is a breach.
Most business travellers never look at that list. They assume “business visitor” means “here for business”, which is a reasonable reading of the words and not what the law says. This article walks through ten situations business visitors actually find themselves in, and tests each one against the provisions that decide it.
The scope of what you are allowed to do
Condition 8115 appears in Schedule 8 of the Migration Regulations 1994:
The holder must not work in Australia other than by engaging in a business visitor activity.
Clause 600.613 of Schedule 2 makes conditions 8115 and 8201 mandatory for the Business Visitor stream, so every visa granted in this stream carries it.
The permitted list sits in regulation 1.03:
(a) means any of the following activities undertaken by a person:
(i) making a general business or employment enquiry;
(ii) investigating, negotiating, entering into, or reviewing a business contract;
(iii) an activity carried out as part of an official government to government visit;
(iv) participation in a conference, trade fair or seminar in Australia unless the person is being paid by an organiser for participation; but
(b) does not include either of the following activities:
(i) an activity that is, or includes, undertaking work for, or supplying services to, an organisation or other person based in Australia;
(ii) an activity that is, or includes, the sale of goods or services directly to the general public.
Four permitted categories. Two exclusions that override them.
Before the scenarios, one more definition, because it decides whether condition 8115 is engaged at all. Regulation 1.03 defines work as “an activity that, in Australia, normally attracts remuneration”. If an activity would not normally attract payment in Australia, it is not work and condition 8115 has nothing to bite on. If it would, you need it to fit inside the permitted list.
Ten scenarios
These turn on their specific facts, so treat what follows as how the provisions generally apply rather than as a ruling on your situation.
1. Attending a board meeting of your group’s Australian subsidiary
Generally within scope. Governance participation as a director of the parent entity is ordinarily treated as business visitor activity rather than the supply of services to the Australian company. Where directors are separately remunerated by the Australian entity for their role, the analysis changes, because paragraph (b)(i) is concerned with work for an organisation based in Australia.
2. Conducting due diligence on a potential acquisition
Generally within scope, and squarely inside paragraph (a)(ii). Investigating and reviewing a business contract is expressly permitted, and due diligence is the archetypal example.
The caution is on who you are doing it for. If you are the acquirer or its overseas adviser, you are investigating your own transaction. If you have been engaged by an Australian party to carry out the review, paragraph (b)(i) becomes live, because you are supplying services to an organisation based in Australia.
3. Inspecting a supplier’s factory
Generally within scope where you are inspecting as a customer or prospective customer. That is an activity connected to enquiring about and negotiating a contract.
It shifts if the inspection becomes an audit you are performing for the Australian business, or if you start correcting processes on the floor. At that point you are supplying services to an Australian organisation.
4. Receiving training from an Australian company
Ordinarily fine, though for a different reason than people expect. Being trained is not usually an activity that attracts remuneration, so the definition of work is generally not engaged in the first place.
Watch the length rather than the nature of it. Condition 8201 is mandatory on this stream, and it provides that “While in Australia, the holder must not engage, for more than 3 months, in any studies or training.”
5. Delivering training to an Australian company’s staff
Generally outside scope. Delivering training is an activity that normally attracts remuneration in Australia, and doing it for a business based here engages paragraph (b)(i). This holds even where you are training the staff of your own group’s Australian subsidiary, and even where nobody invoices anyone.
This scenario comes up constantly in multinationals, and it is one of the most common breaches we see. If a specialist is coming to upskill an Australian team, that usually points at a work visa rather than a business visitor visa. Our guide to the Subclass 400 sets out what that involves.
6. Signing a contract
Within scope. Paragraph (a)(ii) expressly includes “entering into” a business contract. Flying to Australia to sign is exactly the activity the provision contemplates.
7. Attending your own multinational’s internal conference
Generally within scope under paragraph (a)(iv), which covers participation in a conference or seminar. The exception in that paragraph applies where the person is being paid by an organiser for participation, which is unusual in an internal company event.
The line to watch is whether “attending the conference” quietly expands into working from the Australian office for the fortnight around it. Attending is permitted. Doing your job here is a different question.
8. Scoping a project you have not yet won
Usually within scope while it remains genuinely pre-contractual. Understanding requirements so you can price a bid is investigating and negotiating a contract.
Once the scoping work is itself the deliverable, or once it continues after the contract is awarded, it is no longer an enquiry. It is the work.
9. Interviewing candidates for your overseas office
Generally within scope. Paragraph (a)(i) covers making a general business or employment enquiry, and recruiting for a role based outside Australia does not involve supplying services to an Australian organisation.
Interviewing on behalf of the Australian entity, for roles here, moves closer to paragraph (b)(i).
10. Fixing equipment your company sold to an Australian buyer
Generally outside scope. Servicing, commissioning or repairing equipment is work that normally attracts remuneration in Australia, and doing it for the Australian purchaser is supplying services to an organisation based in Australia. Warranty obligations do not change the analysis. The fact that your company is contractually required to fix it is a commercial arrangement, not a migration exemption.
This is the classic case for a short stay specialist work visa, provided the highly specialised and non-ongoing criteria are met.
The pattern underneath the scenarios
Three questions resolve most cases, and they run in order.
Would an Australian normally be paid to do this activity? If no, condition 8115 is generally not engaged. If yes, continue.
Does it fit one of the four permitted categories? Enquiry, contract activity, official government to government visit, or conference and trade fair participation. If not, it is outside the definition.
Do either of the exclusions apply? Work for or supply of services to an Australian-based organisation, or sale of goods or services directly to the public. If either applies, the activity is excluded even if it appeared to fit a permitted category.
That third step is the one people skip. The exclusions in paragraph (b) override paragraph (a), and the drafting is wide. The phrase “is, or includes” means an activity does not have to consist entirely of prohibited work to be caught. The regulation makes this explicit with a note:
Note: An example for paragraph (b) is making a general business enquiry of an organisation based in Australia and also undertaking work for the organisation as part of investigating a business opportunity.
A legitimate meeting does not create cover for the work you do around it.
What sits behind the rule
Home Affairs states the position plainly on its Business Visitor stream page. As a business visitor you can make general business or employment enquiries, investigate, negotiate, enter into or review a business contract, conduct activities as part of an official government visit, and take part in a conference, trade fair or seminar where the organisers do not pay you to take part. You cannot “work for or provide services to a business or organisation based in Australia” or “sell goods or services directly to the public”.
The Department adds the practical direction too: “If you want to do short-term work in Australia that isn’t a business visitor activity, consider applying for a temporary work visa.”
Why this is worth getting right
Breaching a visa condition is a ground on which a visa can be cancelled under the Migration Act 1958, and Schedule 8 carries a note pointing at those provisions. The consequences outlive the trip, because criteria across the temporary visa program require decision makers to consider whether an applicant complied substantially with the conditions of their last substantive visa.
There is exposure at the Australian end as well. Section 245AC of the Migration Act makes it an offence to allow a lawful non-citizen to work in breach of a work-related condition, with a penalty of imprisonment for 2 years or 360 penalty units, or both, and a civil penalty provision of 240 penalty units. The defence depends on taking reasonable steps at reasonable times to verify the person is not in breach, which in practice means checking conditions in VEVO rather than assuming.
Frequently asked questions
Can I answer emails for my overseas job while I am in Australia?
This is fact-dependent and worth advice rather than a blanket answer. The definition of work turns on whether the activity normally attracts remuneration in Australia, and most professional work does. We set out the general framework in visitor visa versus work visa.
Does it matter that nobody is paying me for this specific task?
Generally no. The test is whether the activity normally attracts remuneration in Australia, not whether you personally received anything for it.
How long can I stay as a business visitor?
Home Affairs states this visa allows a stay of up to 3 months and cannot be extended. A new visa is required to stay longer, and condition 8503 may have been imposed, which would generally prevent a grant while you remain in Australia.
Can I study while I am here?
Condition 8201 is mandatory on this stream and prevents engaging in studies or training for more than 3 months while in Australia.
What if my host asks me to help with something while I am on site?
That is the moment to stop and check rather than to be accommodating. Helping with a task an Australian would normally be paid for is where most breaches begin. Our invitation letter checklist explains why it is better for the host to define the activities in writing before you travel.
Are trade shows treated differently?
The same provisions apply, but selling and paid appearances raise particular issues on an exhibition floor. We cover those in working at a trade show on a visitor visa.
A realistic next step
Write out your itinerary activity by activity before you travel, including the informal things you have agreed to do while you are here. Then run each one through the three questions above. Most business trips clear all three without difficulty, which is the point worth making: the Business Visitor stream works well for the thing it was designed for.
Where an activity does not clear them, the answer is a visa that permits work, not a more carefully worded description of the same trip.
If you have an itinerary you are unsure about, book a consultation with our migration lawyers and we will assess the specific activities against condition 8115 before you travel.
About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner and is a Registered Migration Agent, and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
Legislative references in this article were checked against the Migration Regulations 1994 and the Migration Act 1958 as in force on 3 August 2026. Visa rules change frequently. Always check immi.gov.au before lodging.
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or migration advice. Visa rules change frequently and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Speak with a registered migration lawyer or agent before making any application.
