The Australian Business Innovation and Investment Provisional Visa (subclass 188) consists of 3 streams or options, namely a) Australian Business Innovation Visas, b) Australian Business Investor Visas and c) Australian Significant Investor Visa.
It is one of three categories of Australian business visas currently available. The other two being the Business Innovation and Investment Permanent Visa (subclass 888) and the Business Talent Migrant Visa (subclass 132).
Should you intend to establish a business in Australia, you may be granted a Business Innovation and Investment Provisional Visa for 4 years. After establishing the requisite level of business or maintaining a suitable investment, you will then be eligible to make an application for the permanent business visa to live in Australia.
a) Requirements for the Australian Business Innovation Provisional Visa:
- You must be nominated by a state government or territory
- You must be less than 55 years old
- You must have assets with a net value of a least A$800,000
- Your business must have an annual turnover of at least A$500,000 in two of the previous four years
- You must own at least:
- 51% of your business if its annual turnover is less than A$400,000
- 30% of your business if its turnover is A$400,000 or more
- 10% if your business is a publicly-listed company
- You must have a successful business background
- You must commit to maintaining an ownership interest in your company and a direct and continuous involvement in its management
- You must live in Australia
- You must meet the relevant health and character requirements
- You must achieve 65 or more points in the applicable points test (based on Age, English language ability, Qualifications, Experience in investment, Net personal and business assets, Business turnover, Innovation)
b) Requirements for Australian Business Investor Provisional Visa
- You must be nominated by a state government or territory
- You must be less than 55 years old
- Your (and your partner’s) total assets must have a net value of A$2.25 million for the 2 fiscal years immediately before you are invited to make an application for the visa
- You maintained direct involvement in managing your eligible investments for at least 1 of the 5 fiscal years before you apply. The total value of that investment was at least A$1.5 million; OR
- You maintained direct involvement in managing a qualifying business in which you (or your partner, or you and your partner together) had an ownership interest of a least 10% for at least 1 of the 5 fiscal years before you apply
- You have made a government-approved Designated Investment of AS1.5 million in a state or territory of Australia at the time of the decision
- You must have a genuine and realistic commitment to maintain business or investment activity in Australia after the designated investment has matured
- You must have a successful business or investment background
- You must meet the relevant health and character requirements
- You must achieve 65 or more points in the applicable points test (as above)
c) Requirements for Australian Significant Investor Provisional Visa
- There are no age, English language or points test requirements for this Australian visa
- You must be willing to invest at least A$5 million into complying investments in Australia and want to maintain business and investment activity in Australia after the original investment has matured
You are allowed to renew the Innovation stream visa after two years if you require more time to meet the requirements for applying for the permanent form of this Australian visa. You are not allowed to renew the Investor stream visa. You are allowed to renew the Significant Investor visa twice, to give you a maximum of eight years on this provisional Australian visa.
The process for all Australian Business Visas is similar to the General Skilled Migration Programme, where the applicant must make an initial Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Department of Immigration, and then be approved for an invitation to apply from the state or territory to which they wish to migrate.
Other Australian visa types:
Australian Skilled Migration Visas
Australian Business Visas
Australian Employer-sponsored Visas
Australian Investor Retirement Visa
Australian Student Visas
Australian Family and Spouse Visa
Australian Resident Return Visa
Australian Working Holiday Visa
Australian Travel Visa
