Australia - 188A

About Australia

澳洲移民向來是港人的熱門選項。近年移民氣氛炙熱，加上澳洲政府推出優惠港人的澳洲移民政策，港人的澳洲移民簽證申請都有錄得急增。而當中，有約7成申請是選擇以投資移民方式移民澳洲。

澳洲作為英語國家，與英國、美國及其他西方國家皆有密切聯繫。成熟的經濟發展，加上多元化的背景和溫和的氣候環境，都令選擇澳洲移民的人數年年不減。

澳洲移民的熱門途徑主要分為澳洲投資移民和技術移民兩種，每個途徑底下都有不同的計劃。就澳洲投資移民而言，主要有188A(投資者創新簽證)、188B(投資者簽證)和188C(重大投資者簽證)。即使同樣是澳洲投資移民，不同計劃的澳洲移民條件都會有所不同。有意移民澳洲的您，絕對需要搞清楚不同計劃的分別，找出最適合自己的澳洲移民方案。

以下是澳洲投資移民188A計劃的詳情，至於188B和188C的資料可點擊至相關頁面瀏覽，或者直接報名我們的澳洲移民講座。同時，亦歡迎您隨時聯絡我們的澳洲移民顧問，獲取專業的澳洲移民諮詢服務。

188A - Business Innovation and Investment visa

The Australian Department of Home Affairs announced that from July 1, 2021 onwards, it will reduce business innovation and investment immigration visas to four categories and cancel 188D visa and business talent visa (subclass 132).
The remaining categories are:

• Business Innovation and Investment ( Provisional ) ( subclass 188 )
• Business Innovation and Investment ( Permanent ) ( subclass 888 )

The Business Innovation and Investment( Provisional ) visa( subclass188 ) is a 5-year visa set up for people who have owned and managed a business. Applicants who have innovative and business management abilities can set up, develop and manage a new or existing business in Australia. After living in Australia for at least one of the 3 consecutive years, applicants can apply permanent residency.

Qualifications:

1. The principal applicant must be under the age of 55 (if applicants are over 55 years old , it is up to the state to decide whether they can bring special economic interests in order to waive this condition).
2. The principal applicant must score at least 65 points in the point test.
3. The principal applicant must have successful experiences in operating and managing businesses.
4. Annual turnover in one of the applicant’s business during a period of at least 2 years of the preceding 4 fiscal years of at least AUD 750,000.
5. Requirement of ownership interest:
   • At least 30% of the total value of the business if the business has a turnover of AUD400,000 or more per year, or
   • At least 10% of the total value of the business if the business is operated by a publicly listed company
6. The principal applicant have not engaged in a business where provision of professional, technical or trade services took up more than 50% of time. (Main duty should be business management)
7. The principle applicant (or his/her spouse) must have at least $1,250,000 AUD net assets.
8. Children below age of 18 years, or full-time student who are age of 18 to 23 years.

Permanent visa 888:

The Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) is the second stage of the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188). Applicants can apply for it after fulfilling investment requirements and residing for 2 years in Australia. Applicants do not need to submit an Expression of Interest or be invited to apply for this visa butthey need to be nominated by a state or territory government agency. Besides, applicants should have a satisfactory compliance with applicable Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws.

Granting visa 188 after July 2016
Applying visa 888 - Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa

Qualifications:

1. Applicants are nominated by a state or territory or the Australian government.
2. Applicants must hold a provisional Business innovation and investment visa(subclass 188) and have met the requirements of that visa in the stream in which applicant first applied.
3. Applicant must have owned and been operating an Australia business for the last 2 years prior to application.
4. Applicants have been in Australia for at least 12 months of the 2 years prior to application.
5. Applicants must have participated in the day-to-day management of the business for the last 2 years prior to application.
6. The business has had a turnover of at least AUD 300,000 for the last one year prior to application.
7. Applicants must meet the ownership interest requirement for the last one year prior to application.
8. Applicants must meet 2 of the following 3 criteria for the 12 months prior to application:
   • Net assets in the business of at least AUD 200,000.
   • Net personal assets of at least AUD 600,000.
   • 2 Full Time Equivalent employees working in the business -these employees must not be relatives, and must be Australian permanent residents, citizens or NZ passport holders
9. Applicants and their spouses must have a satisfactory compliance with applicable Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory laws.
10. The principal applicant and applicant’s spouse must meet certain health requirements and character requirements.

188A - Point test

* the pass mark is 65

Financial assets		Age
At least AUD 1,250,000 in the preceding 2 year	5	18-24	20
At least AUD 1,750,000 in the preceding 2 year	15	25-32	30
At least AUD 2,250,000 in the preceding 2 year	25	33-39	25
At least AUD 2,750,000 in the preceding 2 year	35	40-44	20
		45-54	15
Business experience (Business Innovation stream only)
Held one or more businesses for not less than 4 years within the preceding 5 years	10	Investor experience (Investor stream only)
Held one or more businesses for not less than 7 years within the preceding 8 years	15	Eligible investment of at least AUD 250,000 held for at least 4 years before the time of invitation to apply for the visa	10
		Eligible investment of at least AUD 250,000 held for at least 7 years before the time of invitation to apply for the visa	15
Annual business turnover (the preceding 4 fiscal years)
exceeding AUD 750,000 for at least 2 years		English language ability
exceeding AUD 1,250,000 for at least 2 years	15	Achieved a score of at least 5 in each of the 4 test components in IELTS	5
exceeding AUD 1,750,000 for at least 2 years	25	Achieved a score of at least 7 in each of the 4 test components in IELTS	10
exceeding AUD 2,250,000 for at least 2 years	35
		Others
Qualifications		Evidence of registered patents or registered designs	15
a bachelor qualification recognized by an education institution of a recognized standard	5	Evidence of formal joint venture agreements	5
Bachelor degree in business, science or technology by an Australian institution; or a bachelor qualification by an education institution of a recognized standard	10	One or more of applicant’s nominated main businesses must have derived at least 50 per cent of annual turnover from export trade for at least 2 of the preceding 4 fiscal years.	15
		Receipt of grants or venture capital funding for an innovative business idea	10
		Rapid growth of the company	10
Applicant’s nominated main business must have been registered for no more than 5 years. The average annualized growth in turnover of the business must have been greater than 20 per cent each year for a continuous period of 3 fiscal years. The business must have had 10 or more full-time employees for at least 1 fiscal year in the 3-year period.	10	Received a grant of at least AUD10 000 under specified conditions from a government body in your home country or received venture capital funding of at least AUD100,000 within the preceding 4 years.	10

• Applicant’s age based on the day being invited to apply.
• The IELTS must be demonstrated within the 2 years before applicants are invited to apply for this visa.
• Net business and personal assets were held by applicant and applicant’s partner, excluding children.
• Registered patents or registered designs must have been used in the day-to-day activities of applicant’s nominated main business.

188A - Documents Required

(A) Personal Information:

1. Identity card
2. Passport (information page and all the dates of visas, entries and departures from Australia)
3. Birth certificate
4. Marriage certificate
5. No criminal record (Applicants above the age of sixteen)
6. Applicant’s address for the past decade
7. Names of parents and siblings, their date of birth, marital status and the country they are living in
8. The jobs and educational background of applicant and applicant’s spouse
9. 4 passport photos of each applicant

(B) Personal Property:

1. Bank statement
2. Stocks and bonds: share or bond registers, share/fixed interest securities, debentures or transfer certificates
3. Real estate: valuation certificates by an accredited property valuer

(C) Company Information:

1. Certificate of business registration
2. Certification of incorporation
3. Memorandum and articles of association
4. Annual return for last 1 year
5. A full set of financial statements for past 2 years
6. Photos of business premises and business activities (about 10 photos)
7. Company organizational chart
8. Promotion materials

188A - Procedures

• Free consultation(1 day)
• Collect and process client documents
  Sign service agreement and letter of attorney. Pay advanced deposit (70%)
• Submit Expression of Interest (VISA 188)/Prepare business plan and apply state or territory government nomination
• Compile financial statement by Australian accountant
  Pay accountant fee
• Submit application
• Interview
• Body check
• Visa application

若想更全面了解最新的澳洲移民和澳洲投資移民資訊，歡迎報名澳洲移民講座，或聯絡我們的澳洲移民顧問。