Business Visa

All business visa applicants (with the exception of Subclass 132 visa applicants) seeking to come to Australia to establish or buy into a business, or make a designated investment, have to apply for a Business Skills temporary (provisional) visa.

These temporary provisional business visa holders may become eligible to apply for a permanent business skills visa after they have successfully operated a business, or maintained their designated investment, in Australia for a set period and met other requirements.

There are three different steams from the provisional visa to a permanent visa:

The Business Innovation stream is for people who want to own and manage a new or existing business in Australia.

The Investor stream is for people who want to make a designated investment in an Australian state or territory and want to maintain business and investment activity in Australia after the original investment has matured.

The Significant Investor stream is for people who are willing to invest at least AUD5 million into complying investments in Australia and want to maintain business and investment activity in Australia after the original investment has matured.

Business Innovation stream

The applicant must meet the following requirements when he or she applies for a provisional business visa.

• Under 55 (May be waived if the client willing to get a state sponsorship)

• At least 65 points in the point test

• Personal asset of more than AUD 800,000 which could be transferred to Australia within 2 years.

• Must be the owner of the company whose turnover has been over AUD 500,000 in at least two of the four fiscal years

immediately before you are invited to apply. (Add all revenues if the applicant has more than 1 entity.)

The applicant will be eligible to apply for a permanent visa several years later while holding a provisional visa if his or her business in Australia is being operated to the satisfactory level.

The Investor stream

The applicant will be eligible to apply for a permanent visa if the applicant maintains the level of investment in Australia for 4 years.

• Under 55 (May be waived if the client willing to get a state sponsorship)

• At least 65 points in the point test

• The applicant have maintained over AUD 2.25 M of the personal asset (the applicant and the partner together) in the past 2 years

• The applicant has at least 3 years experience of investment

• Invest 1.5m to the designated places (at the last stage of visa processing)

The Significant Investor stream

Visa applicants do not need to satisfy the innovation points test and there are no upper age limits. The visa stream features a residence requirement of 160 days spent in Australia over four years while holding the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (Subclass 188) visa.

Visa applicants must:

• submit an expression of interest in SkillSelect

• be nominated by a State or Territory government

• make investments of at least five million Australian dollars into complying investments.