This provisional visa stream lets people with business skills to operate a new or existing business in Australia. Holders of this visa stream can bring their eligible family members with them and stay up to 4 years and 3 month in Australia. They can apply for a permanent Business Innovation and Investment visa (subclass 888) Business Innovation stream after 3 years and 11 months if they meet the requirements. The application fee for the main applicant is AUD 5,375.^* This fee does not include other costs such as medical test.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be nominated by an Australian state or territory government agency, or Austrade. If the nomination is withdrawn you will not be granted a visa.
• You must obtain a minimum score of 65 from the Points Test.^*
• You must have a successful business and genuinely be willing to own and manage a business in Australia. You must provide evidence of your business success, such as annual turnover or ownership stake.
• You, your partner, or both of you together must have total net business and personal assets of at least AUD 800,000. These assets must be available for transfer to Australia within 2 years of the date of visa granted.
• You must have had an ownership stake in 1 or 2 businesses with at least AUD 500,000 turnover in each of those 2 years out of 4 fiscal years immediately before invitation to apply for this visa. You must own at least:
  • 51% of the business if its annual turnover is less than AUD 400,000
  • 30% of the business if its annual turnover is AUD 400,000 or more
  • 10% of the business if it is operated by a publicly listed company
• You must be under 55 years of age when you are invited to apply. If you are 55 or older, you might be invited if your business will have exceptional economic benefit.
• At the time of application, you and other applicants over the age of 18 must provide proof of at least Functional English (IELTS score of 4.5 or equivalent), otherwise, you will be asked to pay extra charge.
• You and your family members included in your application must meet the health and character requirements.
• You must not have any outstanding debt to the Australian Government.
• You might not be eligible for this visa if you have had your visa cancelled or a previous visa application refused while you were in Australia.

As an applicant for this visa

• You may be in or outside Australia to lodge a valid application and when the visa is decided on.
• You can include members of the family unit in the application when you lodge the visa application or after that but before your visa is decided on.
• When lodging your application, you must provide supporting evidence for your claims.

As a holder of this visa

• You can own and operate a new or existing business in Australia.
• You can stay in Australia for up to 4 years and 3 months.
• You are allowed to travel in and out of Australia as many times as you want, while your visa is valid.
• You are recommended to arrange adequate health insurance for you and your family members while you are in Australia. See what is considered adequate health insurance here.
• You must meet your business obligations, meaning that you must own a considerable stake in a business and get involved in daily management of that business at a senior level.
• In the business, you must do at least one of the following activities:
  • add to commercial activity and competitiveness within the Australian economy
  • develop business links with international markets
  • employ people in Australia
  • export Australian goods
  • introduce new or improved technology, or
  • produce goods or services that Australia would otherwise import
• While operating your business, you must obey Australian workplace laws.
• If certain requirements are met, you can apply for a permanent Business Innovation and Investment visa (subclass 888) Business Innovation stream after 3 years and 11 months and become an Australian permanent resident.
• If you need more time to be able to apply for permanent residency, you can apply for an extension only once. If granted, it will be valid for 6 years from the date of the grant of the original visa.

Points criteria

You can score points based on the following criteria which are assessed at the time of invitation:

• Age (0, 15, 20, 25, or 30 pts)
• English language skills (5 or 10 pts)
• Educational qualifications (5 or 10 pts)
• Financial assets (5, 15, 25, or 35 pts)
• Business turnover (5, 15, 25, or 35 pts)
• Business experience (10 or 15 pts)
• Special endorsement (10 pts)
• Business innovation qualification (5, 10, or 15 pts)

Please click here to see the points table for Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188).

* Fees and minimum score of 65 were true at the time of compiling this document, but they are subject to change. Please contact us for the latest updates on this visa.

Note: All documents should be originally in English or officially translated into English.