A strict legal interpretation of the 457 visa suggests the sponsor is obligated to make sure that visa holder doesn't work for other employers. So anything which can be considered an employment contract (consideration exchanged etc) may come under this heading. As Patrick points out, a non-binding letter of intent which spells out future arrangements, (amongst which conditions could include not being on existing 457 visa) may skirt the immigration/tax issues ... since it is not a contract, there is no consideration (but if formal offer a different legal matter) but because it is forward looking, may give a basis for future negotiations.
Now if the person wants to do stuff on free time on your startup (legally work for hire or copyright assignment), the ATO may consider that taxable income (even equity), so you need to be very careful. One approach would be to partially open-source non-core elements and make it into a contest, saying you are using this as screening process, and that you would like to hire people who satisfy criteria. However, this needs to be non-specific (ie general offer to all) so if someone else is equally good, you can't exclude them. The lawyers would look at the actual relationship established (employor-employee v competition-contestant) and not the forms ... and the ATO has wide anti-circumvention powers so trying to do anything dodgy will only cause complications later. PS ... see my previous post on the term-sheet is the new job contract. Lawrence On Wednesday, 14 August 2013 17:20:18 UTC+8, [email protected] wrote: > > Hi mates, > > Who has a clue on how to give equity to a 457 Visa holder to work -during > its free time- on my startup, without putting him at risk to get fired ? > > Few options I'm considering : > - giving equity in a US company instead of an Australian company (lower > risk ?) > - giving him equity as an investor (how ?) > - giving equity to his wife (risky ?) > > Any other option or advice is highly welcome !! > > You can email privately ([email protected] <javascript:>) and I'll be > happy to offer you a beer if you have time to share your own experience > with me. > > THANKS > > -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Silicon Beach Australia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
