188A Australian Investment Immigration | Australian Immigration Conditions - Uni Immigration Company

Australia - 188A

About Australia

Immigration to Australia has always been a popular option for Hong Kong people. In recent years, the immigration atmosphere has been hot, and the Australian government has introduced Australian immigration policies that favor Hong Kong people. There has been a sharp increase in Australian immigration visa applications from Hong Kong people. Among them, about 70% of the applicants chose to immigrate to Australia through investment immigration.

As an English-speaking country, Australia has close ties with the United Kingdom, the United States and other Western countries. Mature economic development, coupled with diversified backgrounds and a mild climate environment, have led to an increase in the number of people choosing to immigrate to Australia year after year.

The popular pathways for Australian immigration are mainly divided into two categories: Australian investment immigration and skilled immigration. Each pathway has different plans. As far as Australian investment immigration is concerned, there are mainly 188A (Investor Innovation Visa),188B (investor visa)and188C (Significant Investor Visa). Even if they are both Australian investment immigrants, the Australian immigration conditions for different plans will be different. If you are interested in immigrating to Australia, you absolutely need to understand the differences between the different plans and find the Australian immigration plan that best suits you. The following are the details of the Australian Investment Immigration 188A program.188Band188CYou can click to browse the relevant pages, or sign up directly for ourAustralian Immigration Lecture. At the same time, you are also welcome to contact our Australian immigration consultants at any time to obtain professional Australian immigration consulting services.

The Australian government announced the cancellation of business innovation and investment visas on May 14, 2024, and would stop accepting new applications from July 2024. This visa program is no longer accepting applications for the Business Innovation, Investor, Significant Investor, Senior Investor and Entrepreneur categories. If a visa application has been submitted, the Ministry of Home Affairs will continue to process it according to the fiscal year quota.

188A - Business Innovation and Investment visa

The Australian Department of Home Affairs announced that from July 1, 2021 onwards, it will reduce business innovation and investment immigration visas to four categories and cancel 188D visa and business talent visa (subclass 132).
The remaining categories are:

  • Business Innovation and Investment ( Provisional ) ( subclass 188 )
  • Business Innovation and Investment ( Permanent ) ( subclass 888 )

The Business Innovation and Investment( Provisional ) visa( subclass188 ) is a 5-year visa set up for people who have owned and managed a business. Applicants who have innovative and business management abilities can set up, develop and manage a new or existing business in Australia. After living in Australia for at least one of the 3 consecutive years, applicants can apply permanent residency.

Qualifications:

  1. The principal applicant must be under the age of 55 (if applicants are over 55 years old , it is up to the state to decide whether they can bring special economic interests in order to waive this condition).
  2. The principal applicant must score at least 65 points in the point test.
  3. The principal applicant must have successful experiences in operating and managing businesses.
  4. Annual turnover in one of the applicant’s business during a period of at least 2 years of the preceding 4 fiscal years of at least AUD 750,000.
  5. Requirement of ownership interest:
    • At least 30% of the total value of the business if the business has a turnover of AUD400,000 or more per year, or
    • At least 10% of the total value of the business if the business is operated by a publicly listed company
  6. The principal applicant have not engaged in a business where provision of professional, technical or trade services took up more than 50% of time. (Main duty should be business management)
  7. The principle applicant (or his/her spouse) must have at least $1,250,000 AUD net assets.
  8. Children below age of 18 years, or full-time student who are age of 18 to 23 years.

Permanent visa 888:

The Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) is the second stage of the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188). Applicants can apply for it after fulfilling investment requirements and residing for 2 years in Australia. Applicants do not need to submit an Expression of Interest or be invited to apply for this visa butthey need to be nominated by a state or territory government agency. Besides, applicants should have a satisfactory compliance with applicable Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws.

Granting visa 188 after July 2016
Applying visa 888 - Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa

Qualifications:

  1. Applicants are nominated by a state or territory or the Australian government.
  2. Applicants must hold a provisional Business innovation and investment visa(subclass 188) and have met the requirements of that visa in the stream in which applicant first applied.
  3. Applicant must have owned and been operating an Australia business for the last 2 years prior to application.
  4. Applicants have been in Australia for at least 12 months of the 2 years prior to application.
  5. Applicants must have participated in the day-to-day management of the business for the last 2 years prior to application.
  6. The business has had a turnover of at least AUD 300,000 for the last one year prior to application.
  7. Applicants must meet the ownership interest requirement for the last one year prior to application.
  8. Applicants must meet 2 of the following 3 criteria for the 12 months prior to application:
    • Net assets in the business of at least AUD 200,000.
    • Net personal assets of at least AUD 600,000.
    • 2 Full Time Equivalent employees working in the business -these employees must not be relatives, and must be Australian permanent residents, citizens or NZ passport holders
  9. Applicants and their spouses must have a satisfactory compliance with applicable Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws.
  10. The principal applicant and applicant’s spouse must meet certain health requirements and character requirements.

188A - Point test

* the pass mark is 65

Financial assets Age
At least AUD 1,250,000 in the preceding 2 year518-2420
At least AUD 1,750,000 in the preceding 2 year1525-3230
At least AUD 2,250,000 in the preceding 2 year2533-3925
At least AUD 2,750,000 in the preceding 2 year3540-4420
45-5415
Business experience (Business Innovation stream only)
Held one or more businesses for not less than 4 years within the preceding 5 years10Investor experience (Investor stream only)
Held one or more businesses for not less than 7 years within the preceding 8 years15Eligible investment of at least AUD 250,000 held for at least 4 years before the time of invitation to apply for the visa10
Eligible investment of at least AUD 250,000 held for at least 7 years before the time of invitation to apply for the visa15
Annual business turnover (the preceding 4 fiscal years)
exceeding AUD 750,000 for at least 2 yearsEnglish language ability
exceeding AUD 1,250,000 for at least 2 years15Achieved a score of at least 5 in each of the 4 test components in IELTS5
exceeding AUD 1,750,000 for at least 2 years25Achieved a score of at least 7 in each of the 4 test components in IELTS10
exceeding AUD 2,250,000 for at least 2 years35
Others
QualificationsEvidence of registered patents or registered designs15
a bachelor qualification recognized by an education institution of a recognized standard5Evidence of formal joint venture agreements5
Bachelor degree in business, science or technology by an Australian institution; or a bachelor qualification by an education institution of a recognized standard10One or more of applicant’s nominated main businesses must have derived at least 50 per cent of annual turnover from export trade for at least 2 of the preceding 4 fiscal years.15
Receipt of grants or venture capital funding for an innovative business idea10
Rapid growth of the company10
Applicant’s nominated main business must have been registered for no more than 5 years. The average annualized growth in turnover of the business must have been greater than 20 per cent each year for a continuous period of 3 fiscal years. The business must have had 10 or more full-time employees for at least 1 fiscal year in the 3-year period.10Received a grant of at least AUD10 000 under specified conditions from a government body in your home country or received venture capital funding of at least AUD100,000 within the preceding 4 years.10
  • Applicant’s age based on the day being invited to apply.
  • The IELTS must be demonstrated within the 2 years before applicants are invited to apply for this visa.
  • Net business and personal assets were held by applicant and applicant’s partner, excluding children.
  • Registered patents or registered designs must have been used in the day-to-day activities of applicant’s nominated main business.

188A - Documents Required

(A) Personal Information:

  1. Identity card
  2. Passport (information page and all the dates of visas, entries and departures from Australia)
  3. Birth certificate
  4. Marriage certificate
  5. No criminal record (Applicants above the age of sixteen)
  6. Applicant’s address for the past decade
  7. Names of parents and siblings, their date of birth, marital status and the country they are living in
  8. The jobs and educational background of applicant and applicant’s spouse
  9. 4 passport photos of each applicant

(B) Personal Property:

  1. Bank statement
  2. Stocks and bonds: share or bond registers, share/fixed interest securities, debentures or transfer certificates
  3. Real estate: valuation certificates by an accredited property valuer

(C) Company Information:

  1. Certificate of business registration
  2. Certification of incorporation
  3. Memorandum and articles of association
  4. Annual return for last 1 year
  5. A full set of financial statements for past 2 years
  6. Photos of business premises and business activities (about 10 photos)
  7. Company organizational chart
  8. Promotion materials

188A - Procedures

  • Free consultation(1 day)
  • Collect and process client documents
    Sign service agreement and letter of attorney. Pay advanced deposit (70%)
  • Submit Expression of Interest (VISA 188)/Prepare business plan and apply state or territory government nomination
  • Compile financial statement by Australian accountant
    Pay accountant fee
  • Submit application
  • Interview
  • Body check
  • Visa application

If you want to have a more comprehensive understanding of the latest Australian immigration and Australian investment immigration information, please sign up.Australian Immigration Lecture, or contact our Australian immigration consultants.