An Australian immigration consulting business is typically worth 2.5x to 4x its normalised annual EBITDA — the profit figure after removing owner personal expenses, one-off costs, and add-backs. For a mid-sized migration agency in Melbourne or Sydney generating $400,000 in normalised profit, that’s a sale price somewhere between $1 million and $1.6 million. The exact number depends heavily on one variable that’s almost unique to this industry: who holds the MARA registration, and whether the business can operate without them.
What Makes an Immigration Consulting Business Valuable
Immigration consulting businesses have a structural advantage most service businesses don’t: their clients can’t easily leave mid-matter. A visa application that’s halfway through the Department of Home Affairs pipeline needs to be managed to completion. That stickiness creates recurring revenue patterns — not in the subscription sense, but in the sense that one client can generate billings across multiple visas over several years (student visa, graduate visa, employer-sponsored visa, then permanent residence).
A well-run immigration firm serving corporate clients or migration pathways with multi-year timelines can generate consistent, forward-visible revenue. That’s what buyers pay for. The flip side: businesses that chase one-off visa work — tourist visas, straightforward student applications — have lower average fees per matter and look more transactional. Transactional means lower multiples.
Australian immigration consulting businesses sell at 2.5x–4x normalised EBITDA, putting them at the lower end of the professional services range. The constraint is almost always owner dependency combined with regulatory structure.
The MARA Problem — and Why Most Immigration Businesses Sell at a Discount
Here’s the structural challenge that keeps immigration business sale prices lower than they should be. To provide immigration advice for a fee in Australia, at least one person in the business must be a Registered Migration Agent (MARA). You can’t sell the MARA registration itself — it attaches to the individual, not the business entity. When the principal is also the registered agent, and the clients came to the business because of that principal’s reputation, a buyer is essentially paying for revenue they might not retain.
I spoke recently to an agent in Brisbane who had built a solid firm — seven staff, $2.4 million revenue, $680,000 normalised EBITDA, strong corporate client base. On paper, at 3.5x EBITDA, that’s around $2.4 million. But every corporate relationship was managed directly by the principal, who had no plans to stay beyond a twelve-month handover. The business sold at 2.8x — about $1.9 million — because no buyer was confident the corporate clients would follow anyone else. Half a million dollars, explained entirely by one question: would the clients stay?
The businesses that achieve the higher end of the multiple range — 3.5x to 4x — have employed agents handling matters independently, client relationships that attach to the firm rather than the individual, and systems that can run without the principal’s daily involvement. That’s the thing worth building toward before you sell.
For more on how key person risk suppresses sale prices across professional services, the pattern is consistent.
What Buyers Are Actually Buying
Buyers of immigration consulting businesses fall into three main categories in Australia. The first is a competing firm looking to add capacity, geographical reach, or a specific visa specialisation — a firm strong in employer-sponsored migration might buy a family stream specialist to round out their offering. The second is a private equity-backed aggregator, of which there are now several operating in the Australian professional services market. The third is a corporate buyer — a law firm, an accounting practice, or a HR consultancy adding immigration to their service offering.
Each buyer type weights value drivers differently. A competing firm cares most about which agents come with the business and whether the client relationships will transition. A PE aggregator wants scalable systems, EBITDA margin, and whether the principal will stay for a meaningful period post-settlement. A corporate buyer wants to know if immigration advice fits their existing compliance structure without creating regulatory headaches.
What all three want to see, and what most immigration businesses haven’t done before they sell: documented client matter management (not just files in the principal’s head), a clear picture of revenue by visa category and client, and evidence that at least one other agent can manage relationships competently. It sounds obvious. It’s rare (which is more than most sellers want to hear, but there it is).
How Value Is Actually Calculated
EBITDA Multiple — The Primary Method
For immigration consulting businesses with $1 million or more in annual revenue, the EBITDA multiple is the method buyers use. You start with your last three years of profit and loss, normalise the figures by adding back the owner’s personal expenses, any one-off costs, and above-market owner remuneration, and arrive at a sustainable profit figure. Multiply that by 2.5x–4x depending on the business characteristics.
The EBITDA add-backs process matters more than most owners expect. Immigration principals typically run personal travel, professional development expenses, and sometimes home office costs through the business. Adding these back properly can lift the normalised EBITDA by 15–25%, which at 3x multiplies into a meaningful difference in headline price.
One quotable rule of thumb: for every $100,000 increase in normalised EBITDA, a business selling at 3x EBITDA is worth $300,000 more. Clean add-backs are not accounting trivia.
Revenue Multiple — Useful for Smaller Firms
For businesses below $500,000 in annual revenue, the revenue multiple is often more practical — partly because the EBITDA can be hard to normalise when the owner is effectively all the cost, and partly because buyers at that size are often paying for client files and ongoing matters rather than an ongoing business.
Australian immigration consulting businesses at the smaller end sell at 0.6x–1.2x annual revenue. The lower end applies to sole-practitioner operations where the principal is leaving and most client matters will be completed before settlement. The upper end applies to firms with multiple employed agents and a client base that has demonstrated it follows the firm.
Sector-Specific Factors That Move the Number
Beyond the generic consulting valuation framework, immigration businesses have factors that simply don’t apply elsewhere:
Visa category concentration: A firm doing 80% of its revenue in employer-sponsored visas is exposed to a single government policy regime. That’s a risk buyers price. Firms with diversified visa mix — employer-sponsored, family stream, student, and partner visas — attract higher multiples because no single policy change wipes the revenue.
Employer clients versus individual clients: Employer relationships are stickier, more predictable, and easier to retain under new ownership. An immigration firm with 20 corporate employer clients paying monthly retainers is structurally more valuable than one handling 200 individual applications per year. The maths might look similar; the risk profile is completely different.
Pending matters at settlement: The treatment of in-progress visa applications needs careful structuring. A business with $300,000 in work-in-progress at settlement date needs clear agreement on who completes those matters, who gets paid for the completion, and who bears the cost if the visa is refused.
For a broader picture of how EBITDA multiples vary by industry in Australia, professional services generally sit above trade businesses for this reason: revenue is harder to replace, but it’s also harder to disrupt.
What Reduces the Value of an Immigration Business
Four things compress the sale price of an immigration consulting firm faster than anything else.
First, the principal holds every client relationship personally. Buyers can see this in a client meeting: when they ask whether a given client knows other agents at the firm, the answer is usually no.
Second, no documented systems. File management done in the principal’s head — or worse, spread across personal email inboxes — creates risk a buyer has to price. A Home Affairs audit during or after transition becomes the buyer’s problem.
Third, a single visa category making up more than 60% of revenue. Policy risk is real. The partner visa queue has had structural changes in recent years; employer-sponsored visa criteria have tightened and loosened with successive immigration ministers. A buyer who pays 3.5x EBITDA for revenue concentrated in one visa type is betting on policy stability. Most don’t want that bet.
Fourth, no second agent. A MARA registration needs to be held by someone who is staying with the business post-settlement. Buyers who acquire an immigration firm need to know it can operate on day one. If the departing principal is the only registered agent, the buyer needs to either already employ a MARA agent or line one up before settlement — which adds complexity and often knocks price.
How to Value Your Business for Sale
Start with three years of management accounts. Identify your normalised EBITDA — and be honest about what’s personal expenses versus genuine business cost. Map your revenue by visa category and client type. Document which clients are employer-based and how long those relationships have run. And count how many matters are currently in progress with the Department.
Then look at your staffing structure: who else holds a MARA registration? Who manages client relationships day-to-day? The answers to these questions will tell you, approximately, what a buyer will pay — before you’ve even run a process.
For a detailed guide on how to value your business for sale, including how to calculate normalised EBITDA, the methodology applies directly.
If you’d like a quick indicative figure, Miro Capital’s valuation calculator takes about three minutes and covers the key inputs. For a proper valuation you’d take to a buyer, contact us at /contact — we work with professional services firms across Australia, including immigration practices, and can give you a realistic number before you decide whether to run a sale process.
FAQ
How to calculate the value of a consulting business?
Most Australian consulting businesses are valued using an EBITDA multiple — typically 2.5x–5x normalised profit. For immigration consulting, the multiple sits at 2.5x–4x EBITDA, depending on owner dependency, MARA registration transferability, client concentration, and whether the business has employed agents who can continue without the principal.
How much do immigration consultants charge in Australia?
Australian registered migration agents typically charge $2,000–$8,000 per visa application, depending on visa type and complexity. Partner visas often run $5,000–$10,000. Higher average fee per matter means better margins — and better margins at scale translate to a stronger sale price.
How do you calculate the value of a business in Australia?
Most Australian SME business valuations use an EBITDA multiple: normalised annual profit multiplied by an industry-specific number (typically 2x–6x). For immigration firms, start with your last three years of accounts, identify the owner’s personal expenses running through the business, then apply 2.5x–4x to the adjusted profit figure.
How much is a business worth with $1 million in sales?
An immigration consulting business with $1 million in revenue might generate $200,000–$350,000 EBITDA, which at 3x–4x produces a sale price of $600,000–$1.4 million. The range is wide because what matters is who earns that revenue — if it’s all the principal, the multiple compresses.
How do I find out how much my business is worth?
Start with a professional business valuation from an advisory firm with experience in professional services. Miro Capital’s free valuation calculator gives a useful starting point, though immigration businesses have structural considerations that affect the final number significantly. Reach out via /contact for a proper assessment.