888A Real Life cases

In this column, we analyse the requirements in detail through real-life cases that occurs when a 188A vias holder prepares to apply for permanent residency through 888A visa after obtaining a temporary visa.

The requirements for the 888A visa written in the Immigration Law may seem simple. But in fact, there are many cases that 188A visa holders have lost time and money when they applied for permanent residency due to the wrong understanding by the explanation of someone who did not fully understand the visa requirements.

Among the many types of Business Investment Visas we’ve explained through our column so far, 188A Business Innovation Stream has the most mistakes made by applicants so we’ll take a close look at the real-life cases related to the 888A visa across two columns.

Mr. A, who has been successfully operating a business in his country for the past 10 years, planned to apply for permanent residency through 188A visa for immigration to Australia.

Mr. A was safely issued the 188A visa, but there was a conflict about giving up his business in his country and moving to Australia to meet the requirements of 888A visa.

Considering various factors, he decided to maintain his business in his country and to seek expert advice on business operation in Australia.
The above inquiry regarding business operation in Australia is one of the most frequently asked questions by 888A visa applicants.

The primary applicant for 888A visa must be at least 18 years old and have 188A visa. Therefore, not only Mr. A, the primary applicant for 188A visa, but also A’s partner can be the primary applicant for 888A visa.

This is often referred to as ‘Primary Applicant Swapping’.

Eventually, Mr. A’s partner, Mrs. A decided to proceed with business operation in Australia. However, Mrs. A did not want to operate the business which is submitted to the state government by Mr. A who planned to run the business. She wanted to change it to the business that Mrs. A herself could operate in Australia.

In this case, prior permission from the state which sponsored when applying for the 188A visa is required before starting a new business.

Since state sponsorship is essential for the 888 visas application as well as 188 visas, it is important to maintain a smooth relationship with the state.

Therefore, rather than start a new business recklessly, it is necessary to make sure that there is no problem with the Immigration Law as well as financial advice.

After consulting with us, Mrs. A, who received permission from the state to change her business, started to do market research.

Mrs. A had a conflict between a cafe located in the city and a dessert shop located outside the city. Thinking that running a cafe in the city would make a bigger profit, Mrs. A decided to take over the cafe run by Mr. B and even received a contract.

According to the broker who introduced the business, Mr. B also ran a café for the purpose of obtaining permanent residency and found out that he received permanent residency safely last month.

Mrs. A thought she would acquire permanent residency safely through the same business, so she was thinking about proceeding with the contract right away, but she decided to get advice from experts again just in case.

Mrs. A had an unexpected word from the expert. If the last business owner acquired permanent residency through the business, it is impossible for the current business owner who took over the business from the last owner to apply for permanent residency through the same business.

In other words, there is a limit when choosing business because of the condition that ‘Business Recycling’ cannot be done when applying for the 888A visa.

Due to this insufficient understanding and experience of the law, there are many cases of time and money loss, but furthermore, applications for permanent residency may become impossible.

Mrs. A decided to run a dessert shop located outside the city after much review.

After the business was established to some extent, Mrs. A frequently went to her own country on the excuse of ‘Home Sick’.

Although the Immigration Law stipulates that the applicant must reside in Australia for at least one year out of the two years of business operation, evidence of actively and directly operating the business is also an important criterion for visa screening.

One of the most common reasons for 888A visa rejection is lack of proof of how the applicant actively and directly operated business when the applicant was not in Australia during the time out of the ‘Reasonable’ period.

If the applicant cannot prove this, there could be a negative impact on visa screening, so according to our advice, Mrs. A has avoided frequent and unprovoked leave.

In the next column, we will continue to look at the visa requirements in more detail based on the real-life cases regarding the 888A visa.