Introduction
This is a temporary visa for people who want to operate a new or existing business in Australia.Successful applicants can include their family members and carry out business and investment activity in Australia for 5 years. After making an investment in Australia, the applicant can apply for permanent residence via Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) subclass 888 Visa.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for this visa, you must satisfy the following.
- Nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency before being invited to apply for this visa.(Mandatory, you can click to section 8 for state requirements)
- Have business ownership
- 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:
- AUD500,000 turnover in each of those 2 years if you were invited to apply before 1 July 2021
- AUD750,000 turnover in each of those 2 years if you were invited to apply on or after 1 July 2021
- Whether you have 1 or 2 businesses, you must own at least:
- 51%, of the total value of the business if the business has a turnover of less than AUD400,000 per year
- 30%, of the total value of the business if the business has a turnover of AUD400,000 or more per year, or
- 10%, of the total value of the business if the business is operated by a publicly listed company
- If your business provides professional, technical or trade services, you must have spent less than half your time providing those services, rather than general management of the business.
- Own personal and business assets
- When you are invited to apply for this visa, you, your partner, or you and your partner combined must have total net business and personal assets of at least:
- AUD1,250,000 if you were invited to apply on or after 1 July 2021.
- AUD800,000 if you were invited to apply before 1 July 2021
- Your funds must be available to transfer to Australia within 2 years of us granting the visa.
- Have a successful business career and a genuine desire to continuously own and manage a business in Australia.
- Point test, achieve more than 65 points
- Please visit the link below to calculate points.
- Under 55 years old unless exempted by the State
- Not have a history involvement in unacceptable activities
- Meet the health requirement
- Meet the character requirement
- Sign the Australian values statement
- Have no debt to the Australian government
- Not have had a visa cancelled or previous application refused
Condition
8515 – You must not marry or enter into a de facto relationship before entry.
Checklist
Identity documents such as passport
Business, Investments and assets documents
- Statement of your intended business or investment activities
- Description of your research or study in relevant sectors in Australia
- Description of any current business activities
- Form 1139A Statement of Assets and Liability Position (SALP) for the last day of the 2 fiscal years before application. – You must have at least AUD2,250,000 net assets
- Eligible investments include:
- Ownership interests in a business
- Cash on deposit
- Stocks or bonds
- Real estate
- Gold or bullion
- Loan to a business
- Funds to be used to make the designated investment
- List of the funds in your latest SALP for your AUD1.5 million investment
- Summary describing how these funds were sourced from your qualifying business or eligible investment activities.
- Evidence should also be provided of these sources where possible, for example evidence of long‐term employment, profits earned and retained in your business, or investment yields
- Management of a qualifying business or eligible investments
- You must provide information shows that you have a qualifying business in which you held at least 10% ownership or AUD1.5 million investment at least 3 years of owning and managing.
Point test documents
- English language ability
- Qualification – certified copy
- Net assets – Form 1139A
- Business turnover
- Full set of financial statements for the business for 2 of the 4 fiscal years before application prepared by an independent accountant to international accounting standard
- Business experience
- Provide evidence that you have held one or more main business for at least 4 years in the 5 years before invitation.
- Any evidence in relation to design, patent that you own
Character requirements
- Form 80
- Overseas police certificate from every country
Partner documents
- Partner’s identity documents
- Character documents
- Marriage certificate for married couple
- Joint bank account statements, billing accounts, joint lease or mortgage
Dependent under 18 documents
- Birth certificate or the family book
- Adoption paper if applicable
- Form 1229 (Consent form to grant an Australian visa to child under the age of 18 years)
Eligible dependent over 18 years of age but not yet turned 23 documents
- Identity documents
- Character documents
- For dependent over 23 (physical or cognitive limitations dependent)
- Proof of relationship
- Form 47a
- A report from a qualified medical practitioner
Application Process
Step 1: Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) via SkillSelect.
Step 2: Gather your documents
Step 3: Lodge your application online.
Step 4: Visa outcome.
Cost
This visa costs AUD 9710 for the main applicant.（Update date：2025.01）
Processing Time
- 50% of applications: 43 Months
- 90% of applications: 58 Months
（Update date：2025.01）
Frequently Asked Question
What if my Visa is refused?
You will be informed of reasons for the refusal and of your appeal rights to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
State Nomination
Different States their own nomination requirements. What do I need to do to receive State/Territory Government nomination?
NSW
Personal background
You must be under 50 years of age and have either:
- a bachelor’s degree recognised as equivalent to the Australian standard, or
- in the past 10 years have at least:
- 5 years of successful investment history, or
- 3 years work experience in a NSW target sector, or
- 5 years work experience in a non-target sector
Investment background
For at least one of the five most recent fiscal years, you have directly managed one of the following:
- a qualifying business in which you, your partner, or you and your partner together had at least 10% ownership interest, or
- an eligible investment of at least A$1,500,000 owned by you, your partner, or you and your partner together
Net assets
For the two most recent fiscal years, you, your partner, or you and your partner together have combined personal and business net assets of at least A$2,500,000.
Complying investments
You must make a complying significant investment of at least A$2,500,000 and have a genuine intention to hold that investment for the life of your provisional visa.
It must be invested in the following proportions:
- at least A$500,000 in venture capital and growth private equity funds which invest in start-ups and small private companies
- at least A$750,000 in approved managed funds. The managed funds must invest in emerging companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange
- a ‘balancing investment’ of at least A$1,250,000 in managed funds
Investing in NSW
To qualify for NSW nomination, you must show that your complying investments will make a contribution to the NSW economy.
NSW will refuse your nomination application for a permanent visa (subclass 888) if you cannot show your complying investments meet the following criteria:
Venture Capital and Growth Private Equity investment
At least 50% of your venture capital component must be invested in:
- a venture capital fund investing in startups and
small-to-medium enterprises in NSW, or - a venture capital limited partnership that sources investments in NSW
Emerging companies
At least 50% of the emerging companies component must be invested in emerging companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange that are headquartered in NSW.
Balancing investment
At least 50% of your balancing investments must bring benefits to NSW. This can be shown where:
- the funds have an office in NSW; or
- the business of underlying investment is headquartered in NSW; or
- the business activities of underlying investment are of economic benefit to NSW
Living in NSW
You must have a genuine commitment to reside in NSW and contribute to NSW through your investment activity.
Points test
Your SkillSelect EOI must show a minimum score of 65 points. Applications showing the following will be prioritised:
- Points in investor experience, or
- 35 points in financial assets, or
- Points for business innovation qualifications
NSW target sectors
Sydney
Sydney target sectors include:
- Advanced manufacturing
- Food and beverage manufacturing
- Agricultural technology
- Aerospace and defence
- Renewable energy and sustainability
- Emerging digital technology
- Cyber security
- Medtech
Regional NSW
Regional NSW target sectors include those for Sydney in addition to:
- Technology-enabled primary industries
- Critical minerals
- Recycling and waste management
Victoria
You must be under 55 years of age
You must have a genuine commitment to establish a residence and reside on the State of Victoria
You must agree to make at least AUD$1.5 million with the Victorian treasury Corporation
You must make additional investment of at least AUD500,000 in Victoria for no less than 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the Business innovation and investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) investor stream nomination application.
You and your dependents must have available no less than AUD200,000 to settle in Victoria.
You will need to understand, read and agree to Victoria’s nomination obligations.
Tasmania
You must satisfy the abovementioned requirements imposed by the Department of Home Affairs
You must genuinely intend to live in Tas permanently and continue to contribute to Tasmania
You should have AUD$2.25 million transferable assets and agree to invest AUD$1.5 million in Tasmania Treasury bonds and maintain the investment for 4 years.
Maintain active business and investment activity in Tasmania during the visa period and after investment has matured
Must have had an overall successful business / investment career
Must have sufficient funds to settle in Tasmania
Queensland
Evidence of net business and personal assets of at least AUD$2.25million to be transferred to Queensland within 2 years after granted your visa.
Make and maintain your designated investment of at least AUD$1.5million in Queensland Treasury Corporation Bonds for at least 4 years.
Commit to living in Queensland
South Australia
Satisfy subclass 188 investment stream requirements imposed by the Department of Home Affairs
Intend to live in SA
Intended to invest at least AUD$1,500,000 into SAFA bonds for 4 years (applicants over 55 years must invest at least AUD$5,000,000 into SAFA for 4 years)
Agree to register your arrival in SA with Immigration SA and maintain current contact details for the duration of your visa.
ACT
You must enter into an agreement to either:
Invest a minimum AUD$500,000 into Significant Capital Ventures
Western Australia
You must satisfy the requirements imposed by the Department of Home Affairs
Able to transfer additional funds of AUD500,000 for your settlement and ongoing living costs in WA
You should maintain your funds in WA on maturity of your treasury bonds
Value of total net assets to be in WA: at least AUD$2 million of which at least 1.5 million must be invested into the Western Australia Treasury Corporation for 4 years
Northern Territory
Proposed investment activities
Investment activities benefiting the NT can include:
- transfer of new capital
- generation of new employment
- generation of Indigenous employment
- expansion of trade in NT goods or services
- development of export markets for NT products or replacement of imports
- introduction of new skills, expertise, technologies or innovations
- investment in remote areas
- investment in a range of areas such as healthcare, education, tourism, mining and primary industries and fisheries
- have a significant flow on effect to other sectors of the economy.
You must have:
An understanding of Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) business and investment
- Showing you have researched the business and investment environment of the NT
- Showing you have an understanding of the legal and licensing framework for operating a business in the NT
- Having a history of dealing with NT businesses
Genuine intentions to actively pursue business or investment in the NT
- Social links to the NT, including relatives and associates
- Undertaking an exploratory visit to research establishing a business in the NT
- Having established a residence in the NT
Financial capacity and business acumen to support your activities
- Having an existing business in the NT
