Cricket Australia has just unveiled new eligibility criteria for Professional cricketers looking to enter Australia on the 408 Sporting Visa.

A statement received within the past 24 hours from Cricket Australia stated the following:

As a representative who has contacted Cricket Australia over the previous two seasons regarding sourcing a letter of support for a Temporary Activity Subclass 408 Sporting Activities Visa application, this email is to inform you on updates to the eligibility criteria for the provision of visa letters of support by Cricket Australia (CA) into the future.

Following a review of the eligibility criteria at the request of the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) to ensure that CA continues to adhere to the legislative intent and requirement underpinning the Sporting Activities Visa a number of updates have been implemented. The updates focus on lifting the benchmark standard of competition for those who are seeking to travel to Australia through this visa category and in particular, the ability of those entering the country to participate at the Australian National Level, which is defined as open-age domestic cricket competitions such as Sheffield Shield, Women’s National Cricket League, Men’s and Women’s Big Bash League etc.

The updates include:

  • applications for a Letter of Support will only be approved for those who will be playing, coaching, or umpiring at a Premier Cricket club or above whilst in Australia
  • applicants must have participated at First Class/List A/Twenty20 level at least once in the previous 12 months (with the exception for coaches and umpires being that they were employed in the previous 24 months) in an ICC Full Member nation.
  • applicants will continue to be required to provide evidence via a letter of recommendation from their Home Member nation, as well as via ESPN Cricinfo records.

The application process will reopen early next week, via the Community Cricket website.

Cricket Australia understands that these changes may mean your club is no longer eligible to utilise this particular visa category to attract international players, coaches and officials. To understand what other visa categories may be available to your club and those individuals, please visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Players, coaches and officials who already have their Sporting Activities Visa granted will not be impacted by the changes and their visas will continue to be valid until the expiration of the visa term.

If you have been affected by these changes or would like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact James Cole at CricX at jcole@cricx.com.