About us

Simple, stress-free and affordable visa applications.

Tern is the digital immigration platform that guides you through the visa application process with real-time expert legal advice at every step, strengthening your application and giving you peace of mind.

About tern

Here at Tern, we know that applying for a visa is more than paperwork. It's about your future, your family, and one of the biggest life decisions you will ever make. Every application matters to us and we are here to help you get to Australia. The visa process has long been an underserved market—too many applicants face poor, inconsistent advice, and frustrating experiences. In fact, 34% of Registered Migration Agents have had complaints made against them.¹ We set out to change that.Our platform is built to revolutionise the way visas are applied for in Australia: transparent, consistent, and accountable at every step. Apply with the confidence that comes from expert legal guidance and genuine care for your journey.¹ Source: Migration Agents Registration Authority Annual Report Jan-June 2024.

Our leaders

Jonas

Founder & CTO

A many-time migrant, Jonas understands first-hand how emotional and difficult visa applications can be. Originally from Germany, he has lived in Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Australia. Now an Australian citizen, he has spent many hours of his life researching Australian visas and trying to navigate the Australian Government Immi Account and he has set out to build a better way. With a software-engineering and finance background, Jonas designed Tern so your visa application experience is clear, expertly supported and accountable. When not building Tern, you can find Jonas at the beach with his wife and daughters.

Tony

Head of Legal & Compliance

Tony (Immigration Legal Practitioner Number - 5513641) is a leading migration lawyer and lecturer in migration law. He is not just a registered lawyer, he's the person who trains migration agents. He has already taught hundreds of agents as a lecturer at two leading Sydney universities. With years of hands-on experience advising on visas, corporate immigration, and regulatory compliance, Tony combines deep legal knowledge with practical insight. When you receive advice under Tony's authority, you're getting guidance from one of the most qualified professionals in the field. Tony provides the legal oversight and review that makes the platform lawyer-backed and fully compliant. Outside of work, Tony enjoys mentoring young lawyers and spending weekends with his family checking out Sydney's coastal walks.

Founder story

After years of navigating visa applications in multiple countries Jonas faced the same impossible choice every time:1) Do it yourself and spend countless hours on government websites and online threads, second-guessing every answer, losing sleep over whether a simple mistake would cause the visa application being refused.2) Or pay thousands to a migration agent and just hope they knew what they were doing. Friends paid premium fees to agents only to receive incorrect advice that jeopardised their applications. Even the expensive option wasn't reliable.There had to be a better way. Teaming up with Tony, one of Australia's leading migration lawyers who trains migration agents at university, we shared the same vision. What if we could use technology to handle the complexity and paperwork, while ensuring every application had consistent quality legal expertise behind it? That's why we built Tern. Affordable, consistent, and backed by the same legal expertise that costs thousands elsewhere. Because nobody should have to choose between their savings and their peace of mind.