188 Business and Investment Visa Update
This column will look at the 188 Business and Investment visa eligibility requirements that have changed from 1 July 2021, revised in 9 years since 1 July 2012.
Firstly, there is no change in visa subclass numbers compared to the adjustment in 2012. However, in the modified amendment, the Premium Investor Stream, commonly known as 188D, which required an investment of 15 million, has been removed.
The minimum Financial Asset and Business Turnover requirements of the 188 visas in the point-based Immigration program have been raised to account for inflation over the past 9 years as follows.
- Minimum Financial Asset has risen from $800,000 to $1.25 million.
- Assets are the assets before the submission of the EOI (Expression of interest), (To apply for asset points, you must have the assets listed in the table below for at least two fiscal years)
- Includes both Business and Personal assets
- Include all assets of the primary and secondary applicant
- Business Turnover requirement has changed from the previous minimum of $500,000 to $750,000 per year.
- Two highest fiscal years among the four fiscal years before the submission of the EOI (Expression of interest)
- Can apply for the sum of two businesses’ revenue
✦ Additional requirements for Ownership Interest in Main Business ✦
- If you received a Provisional sponsorship on or after 1 July 2021, the duration of the 188 visa has changed from 4 years 3 months to 5 years.
- In the case of 188 business visa extensions, the following changes have been made according to the time of receiving the sponsorship of the visa.
1) Invitation before 1 July 2021 → Total of 6 years
2) Invited on or after 1 July 2021 → Total of 7 years
3) If the visa you have at the time of application is 188 Innovation Extension stream → Total of 8 years
- For extension of 188 Significant Invest Visa:
- If the sponsorship of the visa you have before has received an invitation before 1 July 2021 → Total of 6 years
- If the sponsorship of the visa you have before is invited on or after 1 July 2021 → Total of 7 years
- Extend after extension to 1) →Total of 8 years
- Extend after extension to 2) → Total of 9 years
Fortunately, the age range, English proficiency, business and investment experience and educational background remain unchanged.
It has been about a year since the 188 Business Investment visa application conditions changed. In the next column, we will show you how the changed conditions applied to real cases compared to after the changes in 2012.
