This visa is the permanent stage for the subclass 188 Business Innovation and Investment visa. This visa allows you to:
continue business and investment activity in Australia (the Investor stream, the Significant Investor stream and the Premium Investor stream)
continue entrepreneurial activity in Australia (Entrepreneur stream)
Business Innovation Stream
To be eligible to apply for the visa under this stream, you must:
be nominated by a state or territory government agency or Austrade
have owned and operated a business in Australia for at least 2 years and you have lived I Australia for at least 1 of the 2 years prior to application (Business Innovation stream)
have a genuine commitment to maintain your business or investment activities in Australia
have a satisfactory compliance with applicable Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws; and
meet additional financial and other requirements of the same stream of this visa and have a history of employing Australian workers.
Investor Stream
If you are applying for this visa in the Investor stream, you must have been in Australia and held your provisional visa in the Investor stream for at least two of the four years immediately before you apply.
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. You must have held a designated investment of AUD 1.5 million for 4 years.
If you applied for your provisional visa (subclass 188) in the Investor stream prior to 1 July 2015, you are eligible to apply for a subclass 888 visa after holding your provisional visa for 3 years and 11 months. If you applied for your provisional visa after 1 July 2015, you are required to hold your provisional visa for at least 4 years prior to applying for a subclass 888 visa.
Significant Investor Stream
You must have been in Australia as the holder of a provisional visa (subclass 188) in the Significant Investor stream or the Significant Investor extension stream for at least 40 days per year (calculated cumulatively) for the period of time you have held your provisional visa(s), or your spouse has been in Australia for at least 180 days per year (calculated cumulatively) on the basis of the period of time the primary applicant has held their provisional visa(s).
In addition, you (or you and your partner combined) must have:
operated a qualifying business under the private Australian company in which you have made a direct complying investment if applicable.
Note that the rules in force at the time you applied for you original subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor stream will apply to you when your application for a subclass 888 visa is assessed.
If you applied for your provisional visa (subclass 188) in the Significant Investor stream prior to 1 July 2015, you are eligible to apply for a subclass 888 visa after holding your provisional visa for 3 years and 11 months. If you applied for your provisional visa after 1 July 2015, you are required to hold your provisional visa for at least 4 years prior to applying for a subclass 888 visa.
Premium Investor Stream
If you are applying for a permanent visa (subclass 888) in the Premium Investor stream, you must have held a provisional visa (subclass 188) in the Premium Investor stream at the time of application and be nominated by the Commonwealth government.
You must have held your provisional visa for a minimum of 1 year.
You (or you and your partner combined) must have held complying premium investments continuously for at least 1 year, and for the entire time you have held your Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188). You must have held a complying investment of AUD 15 million for 1 year.
Entrepreneur Stream
If you are applying for this visa in the Entrepreneur stream, you must have been in Australia and held your provisional visa in the Entrepreneur stream for a continuous period of at least four years immediately before you apply.
In addition, you must be able to demonstrate a successful record of entrepreneurial activities in Australia.
