Innovation and Investment in Business (188 VISA)
Only applicants who are nominated by an Australian State or Territory government and pass the required points test are eligible for the 188A visa. The applicant must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) via the SkillSelect system in order to be nominated.
For those who want to run a new or existing business in Australia, a 5-year temporary visa is available. The Business Innovation & Investment (Residence) Subclass 888 visa allows applicants to apply for permanent residence once they have proven their ownership interest in an Australian company. After the applicant has held the subclass 188 visa for three years, a 2-year extension is available, giving them six years from the original visa’s issuance date.
For those who want to run a new or existing business in Australia, a 5-year temporary visa is available. The Business Innovation & Investment (Residence) Subclass 888 visa allows applicants to apply for permanent residence once they have proven their ownership interest in an Australian company. After the applicant has held the subclass 188 visa for three years, a 2-year extension is available, giving them six years from the original visa’s issuance date.
If the applicant is in Australia:
Update:
- upcoming business and investment visa changes for immigration to Australia in 2022
- Conditions of States for Business Visas
- 188 visa fees for COVID-19 Concessions for Business Visas (SC188 and SC888).
- What does daily administration for the 888 Business Permanent Visa entail?
- Does the 888 Business Permanent Visa accept franchises?
- Role Swapping 888 Business Permanent Visa
The Business Innovation Stream, or 188A
188 Visa General Conditions
- Owning a company with annual revenue of at least AUD 750,000 for at least two of the previous four fiscal years; and
- at least AUD 1,250,000 in net personal and company assets; and
- Under the age of 55, unless the nominating state or territory certifies that the applicant would provide an exceptional economic benefit;
- Achieve the minimum score required to pass the Business Innovation and Investment Points test, which is currently 65 points.
- Have an all-around prosperous business career.
Needs for Subclass 888 Visas:
Prior to filing, the applicant had been in Australia on a subclass 188A visa for at least 12 months.
Had a business in Australia that you had owned and operated for at least two years before to the application and that had at least $300,000 in revenue in each of the previous two years.
- For the 12-month period, you and/or your partner must satisfy two of the following three requirements:
- 200,000 or more in assets
- At least $600,000 in net personal and company assets in Australia
- employed at least two full-time Australians in your Australian business
To be eligible to apply for a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) in the Business Innovation stream or the Investor stream, you must receive at least 65 points (the pass mark) on the points exam.
If you are applying in the Business Innovation Extension, the Significant Investor Extension, the Significant Investor stream, or the Premium Investor stream, the points test does not apply to you.
The exam incorporates objective measurements of company success and awards points for several aspects of human capital and business innovation.
- Assigning points for:
- age
- English proficiency
- qualifications
- knowledge of investing or business
- personal and business assets, net
- business expansion
- innovation.
The following table includes the criteria used to determine how many points are given out. Except where otherwise noted, all factors are taken into account at the time you are invited to apply for this visa.
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FACTOR
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DESCRIPTION
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POINTS
|
|---|---|---|
Age
- Depending on your age on the day you received your application invitation, you may receive up to 30 points.
- If you are 55 years old or older, you cannot receive age-related points under the points test for the Business Innovation or Investor streams.
proficiency in English
Vocational English: 5 points if you received one of the following scores in the three years prior to submitting your visa application:
|
TEST
|
SCORE*
|
|---|---|
You are of British, American, Canadian, New Zealand, or Irish descent, and you currently possess a valid passport from one of those countries.
Proficient English – 10 points
Show proof that you achieved one of the following scores in the three years prior to receiving our invitation to apply for the visa to demonstrate that you speak English proficiently:
|
TEST
|
SCORE*
|
|---|---|
Qualifications
|
|
||
|---|---|---|
Investing or business experience
If you can demonstrate that you have had relevant business or investment experience for a certain period of time prior to being invited to apply, you could get up to 15 points:
- stream of business innovation: knowledge of
- at least four of the five years prior have been at least (10 points)
- seven years or more in the eight years prior (15 points)
- Investor stream: Minimum eligible investments of $100,000 Australian dollars
- at least the four years prior (10 points)
- at least the seven years before that (15 points).
Net assets, both personal and business
You, your partner, or the two of you together must have held net business and personal assets of at least in each of the two fiscal years prior to being invited to apply for points for your assets.
Net assets, both personal and business
You, your partner, or the two of you together must have held net business and personal assets of at least in each of the two fiscal years prior to being invited to apply for points for your assets.
|
Not less than AUD1,250,000
|
5
|
|---|---|
Business turnover
You can be awarded points on the basis of the turnover of your nominated main business in at least two of the four fiscal years before you are invited to apply:
Commercial innovation
- This part of the points test awards points for evidence of the following qualities at the time you are invited to apply for this visa for the Business Innovation stream. There is a limit to how many times you can receive points for each attribute.
- Patents or designs that have been registered (15 points)
- A minimum of one year must have passed since the patent or design was registered.
- It must have been applied to your designated main business’ regular operations.
- trademark registration (10 points)
- At least a year must have passed since the trademark was registered.
- It must have been applied to your main business’ routine operations.
- Contracts for joint ventures (5 points)
- The arrangement must be in writing and must have been in effect for at least a year.
- You must have played a key role in the venture’s daily management and decision-making at a senior level.
- Trade in exports (15 points)
- For at least two of the previous four fiscal years, one or more of your nominated main businesses had to have gotten at least 50% of their annual revenue from exports.
- Businesses that have recently opened and have experienced rapid growth (10 points) are called “gazelle businesses.”
- Your designated main business cannot be older than five years in registration.
- In the preceding three years, the company needed to have employed 10 or more people full-time during at least one fiscal year.
- Grant or venture capital funding received for a creative business idea (10 points)
- This money must have been used for a business’s early stages of development, the commercialization of a product, business growth, or business expansion.
Grants: You must have received a grant of at least $10,000 from a government agency in your home country within the previous four years, subject to certain requirements. - Venture capital funding: Within the previous four years, you must have gotten at least AUD100,000 in venture capital funding.
- This money must have been used for a business’s early stages of development, the commercialization of a product, business growth, or business expansion.
specific approval
A nominating state or territory government may, in a small number of circumstances, decide that your proposed business or investment will be particularly valuable to the state or territory. You may receive 10 points in these circumstances.
Additional points
- The visa is valid for four years and three months.
- One may be available to those with subclass 188 Business Innovation visas who apply.
- extension (2 years) only upon fulfilment of certain requirements