A Critical Juncture in the Move from Temporary to Permanent Residency! Shared Experience: Key Requirements and Easily Overlooked Details for the 188A to 888A Transition!

As we all know, Australia’s Innovation stream of business and investor migration is a two-step visa.

Its first stage, the 188A,

is in fact a temporary visa valid for 4 years and 3 months. While holding the 188A visa, applicants canoperate a business in Australia and travel to and from Australia without restriction,and even during the pandemicwere able to obtain an exemption to enter Australia(during the pandemic, close to 3,500 business and investor visa holders were granted entry exemptions, most of them temporary visa holders, with more than 500 holding permanent visas).Meanwhile,accompanying children can also access Australia’s local compulsory education just like local residents, enrolling free of charge in public primary and secondary schools. The entitlements this visa carries are very substantial indeed.

The second stage, the 888A,

isthe permanent residency visa, so how exactly can you move from the 188 to the 888?

To apply for the 888A permanent residency visa, 188A visa holders must meet requirements from two separate departments.The first is the requirements of the Department of Home Affairs, and the second is meeting the requirements of the relevant state government.The Department of Home Affairs sets out the basic requirements for the 888A,and state governments will often add further requirements on top of these, designed to benefit their own state or territory.Only by meeting all of these requirements can an applicant successfully obtain the permanent residency visa.

Let’s first look at what the Department of Home Affairs’ basic requirements are:

1. In the 2 years before applying for the 888A, you must have operated or managed one, or at most two,main businesses in Australia

2. In the 2 years before applying for the 888A, you must have held at least the following percentage ofshares:

– 51% — for a business with annual turnover under AUD 400,000

– 30% — for a business with annual turnover of AUD 400,000 or more

– 10% — for a listed company

3. In the 12 months before applying for the 888A, the main business’sannual turnovermust reach AUD 300,000

4. In the 12 months before applying for the 888A, you need to meet at least2 of the following 3 requirements

– at least AUD 200,000 in business/company net assets

– personal and business net assets of no less than AUD 600,000

– employ two full-time local staff, who must be Australian citizens or hold Australian permanent visas, and these two employees cannot be family members

5. In the 2 years before applying for the 888A, the applicant must haveresided in Australiafor more than 12 months

6. If the main business was purchased from another 888A, or 890, 891, 892, or 893 visa holder, the applicant must have jointly operated the business with that visa holder for at least one year before applying for the 888A.

7. No issues relating to unlawful conduct, health, or character.

DoHA

The above are the basic requirements set by the Department of Home Affairs, and they are not difficult to meet.Many state governments’ requirements are also largely consistent with those of the Department of Home Affairs.However,certain state governments, particularly the more popular states, will often raise the bar for the move to permanent residency.

Here, let’s take the most popular and representative city —Sydney, New South Walesas an example.

State

While helping many clients handle their applications, Newstars has found a few key points that are often easy to overlook — a heads-up for everyone:

Firstly, while operating the business,the applicant must be involved in the day-to-day management of the business,and must be able to demonstrate that they are the business’sprincipal manager.

Secondly,the funds invested into the business must be transferred out of the applicant’s own account, and cannot be transferred on the applicant’s behalf by someone else.

Thirdly,the business’s income and expenditure transaction records need to be active, and the requirement cannot be met with just a single transaction or a handful of transactions in and out.

Fourthly, don’t forget thatthe 188A visa can be extended for 2 years, so if you haven’t been able to meet the requirements in the earlier years, you can apply to the state government and the Department of Home Affairs for an extension.

TIPS

Migration News & Q&A Group

How does the most common business and investor migration pathway convert to PR?Click ‘Read the original’,Five minutes to get you sorted on the 188A to 888A transition!