A graduate took the business migration route — and reached permanent residency a year “early” with our help

As 2026 gets under way, plenty of people say Australia no longer has traditional business and investor migration. That is only half right: there are no new applicants for the business and investor visas, but if you already hold a 188 visa you can still move to 888 permanent residency.

Today we share the story of an international student who reached permanent residency through business and investor migration, and unpack a few little-known points that may help you apply for permanent residency sooner.

An international student off the beaten track, and a strategy built around him

L came to Australia as an international student. After graduating he first went down the employer sponsorship route, only to be refused, and then came to us to assess a review and the options that followed. By that point L already had strong business ideas and resources behind him, so the Newstars migration agents and lawyers suggested switching lanes and trying 188A business and investor migration. We took care of the employer sponsorship review on one side, while L got his Australian business under way as planned on the other. During the wait at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) he built up 2 years of business experience and then applied for the 188A.

Because of the earlier employer sponsorship refusal, applying for business and investor migration while the ART review was still on foot added considerable difficulty and detours to the case — including L having to leave Australia to lodge the 188A after he was invited, then applying for a Bridging Visa B to come back and keep running the business.

Permanent residency a year “early”

Many people assume you have to hold the 188 for 2-3 years before you can apply to move to the 888. Not so. For applicants invited before 1 July 2021 (that is, before the last round of business and investor migration reform), operating a main business for 2 years generally allows the move to permanent residency. That is what clause 888.221 provides. But because L was an onshore applicant and was already operating his main business while waiting for the grant, one year after the grant he already met the requirement of 2 years operating a main business and holding the 188A visa for at least 1 year, so he could lodge for permanent residency. This is exactly why experienced professionals matter: they spare you the detours and can put you on the fast track.

The Department of Home Affairs also happened to be clearing its backlog of 888 transitions at the time, so the client lodged the 888A a year after the 188 was granted — the end of September 2022 — and on the first day of February 2024 the 888A permanent residency came through.

188 can still lead to 888, but you must prepare early

If you have already been invited and lodged a 188 application, the Department of Home Affairs will still process it, although processing is slow at the moment. If you already hold a 188 visa and meet the requirements, you can still apply for the 888 (permanent residency): state governments are assessing and issuing 888 invitations as usual, and the Department is assessing 888 applications as usual.

This of course still requires the applicant and the business itself to meet the requirements of both the state government and the federal Department of Home Affairs. We have taken a good many enquiries recently and heard far too many “sad” stories — sad because after all that effort, money and time were wasted.

The great majority of business and investor migrants are offshore applicants, and most of them are on the 188A. Many arrive in Australia and do not seek professional help straight away, assuming that simply buying a business and running it will meet the requirements for moving to 888 permanent residency?

What gets overlooked:

• First, the business and the way it is run have to satisfy both state and federal requirements, and those vary quite a bit from state to state. Clients often come to us saying a friend in Melbourne did this or that and it seemed to work — but that does not mean the same requirements apply in Sydney or Brisbane
• Second, running a business also brings in local tax and employment law and much else besides; it is understandable that someone newly arrived from China is in the dark and knows almost none of it
• Third, however rich your business experience, adapting to the Australian business environment still takes time. It is understandable that applicants are keen to land and start trading to shorten the wait for permanent residency, but that is exactly when things tend to go wrong
• The saddest ending of all is discovering, long after trading has begun, that the requirements are not met — and having to keep spending money and time

Why choose Newstars

The Newstars group is based here in Australia, with offices in every major Australian city, and our registered agent team has a great deal of hands-on experience. NS Legal provides professional legal advice. We also know the Australian business environment inside out.

You can contact us before you even land in Australia: from company registration, to how much shareholding you should hold, to how to put personal assets into the company, we can help you work it all out in advance. Once you have landed, we can advise on your business, its operation and your visa application the whole way through — in effect, professionals at your side from the 188 all the way to the 888 grant!