Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) Subclass 188

Overview

This visa allows you to own and manage a business in Australia, conduct business and investment activity in Australia or undertake an entrepreneurial activity in Australia. There are six different visa streams, which are the Business Innovation Stream, Investor Stream, Significant Investor Stream, Business Innovation Extension Stream, Significant Investor Extension Stream and Entrepreneur Stream.

Basic Eligibility requirements

1. Business Innovation Stream (This provisional visa is for people with business skills. It lets you operate a new or existing business in Australia)

You must be under 55.
You must score at least 65 points on the EOI points test.
You must be nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency, before being invited to apply for this visa.
For 2 out of 4 fiscal years immediately before you receive an invitation to apply, you must have had an ownership stake in 1 or 2 businesses that had at least AUD750,000 turnover in each of those 2 years.
You, your partner, or you and your partner combined must have total net business and personal assets of at least AUD1.25 million, and Your funds must be available to transfer to Australia within 2 years of us granting the visa.
You must have a successful business career and a genuine desire to continuously own and manage a business in Australia.
You and your partner must have had no history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia.
All applicants aged 18 or over at the time of application must either have at least functional English (equivalent to IELTS band 4.5) or you will be asked to pay the fees.
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.

2. Investor Stream (This provisional visa requires you to invest at least AUD2.5 million in Australian investments that meet certain requirements and maintain business or investment activity in Australia)

You must be under 55.
You must score at least 65 points on the EOI points test.
You must be nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency, before being invited to apply for this visa.
For at least 1 of the 5 fiscal years immediately before you are invited to apply for the visa, you have directly managed a qualifying business or have an eligible investment of at least AUD 2.5 million.
For the 2 fiscal years immediately before you are invited to apply for the visa, you, your partner, or you and your partner together, have business and personal assets with a net value of at least AUD2.5 million.
You must make (on or after the time of application for this visa), a complying significant investment of at least AUD2.5 million in Australia, and you must hold complying significant investments continuously for the life of your provisional visa.
You must have at least 3 years of experience managing one or more qualifying businesses or eligible investments.
You and your partner must have had no history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia.
All applicants aged 18 or over at the time of application must either have at least functional English (equivalent to IELTS band 4.5) or you will be asked to pay the fees.
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.

3. Significant Investor Stream (This provisional visa is for people who invest at least AUD5 million in Australian investments that meet certain requirements and maintain investment activity in Australia)

You must be nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency or Austrade, before being invited to apply for this visa.
You must make (on or after the time of application for this visa), a complying significant investment of at least AUD5 million in Australia, and have a genuine intention to hold that investment for the life of your provisional visa.
You and your partner must have had no history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia.
All applicants aged 18 or over at the time of application must either have at least functional English (equivalent to IELTS band 4.5) or you will be asked to pay the fees.
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.

4. Business Innovation Extension Stream (This provisional visa lets holders of a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) in the Business Innovation stream extend their stay in Australia)

You must have a current nomination from a State or Territory agency before being invited to apply for this visa.
You must hold a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) Innovation stream and have held it for at least three year, unless COVID-19 concessions apply.
You must be able to demonstrate your business activities are of a nature that will require a substantial presence in Australia to operate your business and manage its day-to-day affairs.
Your main business must have been operating actively in Australia for at least 2 years immediately before applying for this visa, unless COVID-19 concessions apply.
You must have maintained your commitment to stay directly involved in the day-to-day management and decision-making of the business.
You and your partner must have had no history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia.
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.

5. Significant Investor Extension Stream (This provisional visa lets holders of a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) Significant Investor stream holders extend their stay in Australia for up to 4 more years)

You must hold a Subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor stream for at least 3 years, or a Subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor Extension stream.
You cannot have held more than 1 Subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor Extension stream.
You must continue to hold your complying significant investment in accordance with the complying investment framework in place at the time you applied for this visa.
You must be nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency or Austrade.
You and your partner must have had no history of involvement in business or investment activities that are of a nature that is not generally acceptable in Australia.
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.

6. Entrepreneur Stream (For startup and early-stage entrepreneurs who have been endorsed to develop their concepts and have been nominated by a State or Territory government agency)

You must be under 55.
You must be nominated by a State or Territory government agency.
You must be undertaking, or proposing to undertake, a complying entrepreneur activity in Australia.
You must be endorsed by your nominating State or Territory government agency to develop your entrepreneurial concepts.
You must have at least competent English (equivalent to IELTS band 6).
You must meet the health and character requirements.
You can be in or outside Australia when you apply for this visa.