Business Skills ( Permanent ) Visas

There are two pathways leading to permanent residence in Australia for Business Migrants namely through:

The Business Skills (Permanent) Subclass 888 visa; or
The Business Talent (Permanent) Subclass 132 visa.

Business Skills (Permanent) Subclass 888 Visa

To be able to apply for this visa you must first apply for the Business Skills (Temporary) Subclass 188 visa which consist of five streams, namely the Business Innovation Stream, the Investor Stream, the Significant Investor Stream, the Premium Investor Stream and the Entrepreneur Stream. This visa is normally granted for a period of 4 years and 3 months. Subsequent to meeting the necessary criteria for permanent residence you may then apply for the Business Skills (Permanent) Subclass 888 visa in the same stream that you applied for your Business Skills (Temporary) Subclass 188 visa.

To be eligible to apply for the Business Skills (Permanent) Subclass 888 visa the following general pre-requisites are required:

You are the primary visa holder of a current Provisional Business Innovation & Investment Subclass 188 visa and you have met all the requirements of your Business Innovation & Investor visa in the stream in which you first applied for; or
You are the secondary visa holder (spouse or defacto partner of primary visa holder) and can meet all the primary requirements of the permanent Business Innovation & Investment visa in the relevant stream; or
You hold a Special Category (NZ) Subclass 444 visa and have met all the requirements of the Business Innovation stream; and
You and your partner have not been involved in any unacceptable or investment activities.

Additional general requirements you are required to satisfy are:

You have a satisfactory record of complying with all Australian Commonwealth laws and that of the state or territory in which you have been operating your business and employing employees relating to your business.
You have been nominated by an Australian state or territory or by Austrade on behalf of the Australian Government.
You and members of your family included in your application meet health and character requirements.
You have a realistic commitment to maintain business or investment activities in Australia.
You meet other requirements relevant to the particular stream in which you held your provisional Business Innovation & Investment subclass 188 visa.

Eligibility – Business Innovation Stream

To be eligible to apply for this visa you must have been residing in Australia and held:

A Business Innovation & Investment (Provisional) subclass 188 visa in this stream; or
A Special Category subclass 444 visa;

for at least one year in the two years immediately before you apply. In addition, you must be able to show ‘ongoing business involvement’ and meet certain financial requirements, and have a history of employing Australian or permanent resident workers. You must be able to show that you (or you and your partner together) have:

Had an ownership interest (and continue to have an ownership interest) and a direct and continuous management role in an actively operating main business (or main businesses) in Australia for the two years immediately before you apply.
Had an annual turnover of at least AUD$300,000 from the main business (or businesses) in the 12 months before you apply. (A nominating state or territory might agree to waive the requirement to show an annual turnover of AUD$300,000 if you live and operate business in a specified regional area of Australia).
Owned at least one of the following percentages of the main business (or main businesses) in Australia in the year immediately before you apply:
1. 51% of a business if the turnover is less than AUD$400,000 per year.
2. 30% of a business if the turnover is more than AUD$400,000 per year.
3. 10% of a publicly list company.
Obtained an Australian Business Number for each of your main business.
Submitted Business Activity Statements to the Australian Taxation office for the two years immediately before you lodge your visa application.
Not acquired ownership of your main business (or two main businesses) from a previous applicant who was the applicant for a permanent residence business visa.

You (or your partner, or you and your partner together) must also demonstrate that you have achieved at least two of the following requirements:

A net value of business assets of at least AUD$200,000 in your nominated main business (or two main businesses) in Australia throughout the year immediately before you lodge your application.
A net value of personal and business assets of at least AUD$600,000 in Australia throughout the year immediately before you lodge your application.
Employed at least the equivalent of two full time employees in your main business or main businesses, throughout the year immediately before you lodge your visa application who are Australian citizens or permanent residents or holders of valid New Zealand passports and are not members of your family.

Eligibility – Investor Stream

To be eligible to apply for this visa you must have resided in Australia and held your provisional visa in the Investor Stream for at least two out of the four years immediately before you lodge your permanent residence visa application. In addition you (or you and your partner combined) must have held a designated investment with an Australian State or Territory for at least four years prior to lodging your Investor (Permanent) subclass 888 visa. This effectively means that even though you have accumulatively resided in Australia for at least two years you will not be able to lodge your Investor Stream visa until you have also held your designated investment with your nominated Australian State or Territory for at least four years as well.

Eligibility – Significant Investor Stream

To be eligible to apply for your permanent residence subclass 888 visa in the Significant Investor Stream you must have held at the time of your application a provisional Subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor Stream. You must also have resided in Australia for 40 days accumulatively in the previous four years or your spouse or partner must have resided in Australia accumulatively for 180 days in the previous four years. In addition, you or your spouse or partner must have:

Held complying investments continuously for at least four years.
Operated a qualifying business under the private Australian company in which you have made a direct complying investment if applicable.

Note: The rules in force at the time you applied for your original Subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor stream will continue to apply to you when your Subclass 888 visa application is assessed even though there have been changes in the law.

Eligibility – Premium Investor Stream

To be eligible to apply for the permanent Subclass 888 visa in the Premium Investor Stream, you must:

Have held a provisional Subclass 188 visa in the Premium Investor Stream at the time you lodge your application and also you have been nominated by the Australian Commonwealth Government.
Have held your provisional visa for a minimum of one year.
Have held your complying premium investments continuously for at least 1 year.
For the entire time have held your Subclass 188 visa in the Premium Investor Stream.

Eligibility – Entrepreneur

To be eligible to apply for permanent residence in the Entrepreneur Stream you must have held your Subclass 188 visa in the Entrepreneur Stream for the last four years. A successful record of entrepreneurial activity will be measured by a combination of key success factors and supporting success factors. You will need to demonstrate the completion of at least two key success factors or a combination of one key success factor and three supporting success factors.

Key success factors include:

Employing two or more Australians, permanent residents, or eligible NZ citizens.
Generating an annual turnover of at least AUD$300,000.
Filing a provisional patent or acquiring a standard or innovation patent.
Receiving ongoing funding or investment in your entrepreneur activity.
Entering into a partnership with a university.
Selling an entrepreneurial venture for AUD$2,000,000.

Supporting success factors include:

Diversifying entrepreneurial activities into other business areas.
Receiving a statement of success from a state or territory government nominator.
Receiving sponsorship from the corporate sector.
Starting at least one other business or contributing to at least two other businesses.
Receiving formal awards or recognition.
Raising or contributing to social capital.

Entrepreneurial activities in Australia must not be in one of the following categories:

Residential real estate.
Labour hire.
Purchase of an existing enterprise or a franchise in Australia.

Business Talent (Migrant) Subclass 132 Visa

To be eligible to apply for this visa the applicant must be nominated by an Australian state or Territory of his/her choice. This category of visa has two streams:

Significant Business History stream: for high-calibre business owners or part-owners who want to do business in Australia.
Venture Capital Entrepreneur stream: for applicants who have sourced venture capital funding from a member of the Australian Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL).

Significant Business History Stream. The applicant, his/her partner, or both combined must have all of the following:

Total net assets of at least AUD$400,000 as the ownership interest in one or more qualifying businesses for least two of the four fiscal years immediately before the applicant is invited to apply and if the qualifying business is a public listed company, a shareholding of at least 10 per cent of the total issued capital.
Net business and personal assets of at least AUD$1.5 million that are legally acquired and can be transferred to Australia within two years after the visa is granted.
A total annual turnover of at least AUD$3 million in one or more of the applicant’s main businesses in at least two of the four fiscal years immediately before he/she is invited to apply.
Ownership of at least:-
- 51 per cent of a business if the turnover is less than AUD$400,000 per year.
- 30 per cent of a business if the turnover is more than AUD$400,000 per year, or
- 10 per cent of a public listed company.
- An overall successful business career.
- No involvement in unacceptable business activities.
- A genuine desire to own and maintain a management role in a business in Australia:

The applicant must also be younger than 55 years of age, although a state or territory can waive this requirement if the proposed business will be of exceptional economic benefit to the region where it will operate.

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Stream. To be eligible to apply for the visa under this stream the applicant must meet the following criteria:

Have received at least AUD$1 million in funding from an Australian venture capital firm.
The funding must be for the start-up, product commercialisation or business development of a promising high-value business idea.
The venture capital firm must be a member of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL). AVCAL has information about the venture capital category of membership in its Venture Capital Entrepreneur visa factsheet.
Have entered into a formal agreement with the venture capital firm for the funding.

Conclusion. If an applicant is able to meet all the requirements of any particular category of visa he/she intends to apply for, then he/she is invited to contact James Tan Immigration Consultants by completing the Assessment Form in this website for a proper assessment to determine whether an application should be lodged with the Department of Immigration & Border Protection. This assessment costs only $150.00 and is credited to the applicant’s fees payable if he/she proceeds to instruct us to proceed with an application. In all instances lodgement fees (which can be quite substantial) once paid to the Australian Department of Immigration is non-refundable. Therefore the $150.00 assessment fee paid is money well spent.

Please note that the immigration information provided in this website is a guide only. You are advised to contact James Tan Immigration Consultants or the Department of Immigration & Border Protection for specific answers to any question affecting your case. For a prompt reply to any query with regard to your case you are invited to submit your confidential completed Assessment Form to James Tan Consultants for an accurate and quick assessment of your specific case.