188 - Entrepreneur stream - Supporting information

Age

You must be under 55 at the time of application.

English

You must have competent English.

Authorised Recommending Partner

You must have a formal letter of recommendation from an Authorised Recommending Partner. See below for further information.

The Victorian Government is partnering with a select group of reputable organisations to support the identification of suitable talent for subclass 188E visa nomination. All partners have a deep knowledge of the Victorian start-up sector and are well placed to identify and recommend the best talent. Recommended individuals will be start-up owners whose business is considered to have capacity for growth.

To be eligible for subclass 188E visa nomination, you must have a formal letter of recommendation from an Authorised Recommending Partner. Authorised Recommending Partners will only be providing letters to start-up owners that have completed or are nearing completion of one of their eligible programs.

Hatch Quarter

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Hatch Quarter is an innovation hub bridging  the gap between industry, technology and human through being data driven, harnessing the value of diversity and inclusion, and connecting local and international communities.

The University of Melbourne

Melbourne Accelerator Program

The Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) was launched in 2012 as the first University-aligned accelerator in Australia. Powered by the University of Melbourne, MAP has supported over 240 startups that have raised over $250 million in funding, generated over $250 million in revenue, and created over 1,400 jobs.

Translating Research at Melbourne

Translating Research at Melbourne (TRAM) is Australia’s premier University-based research impact accelerator program. Since launching in 2016, TRAM has seen over 700 participants complete its programs and workshops, empowering researchers to change the way they approach research problems to achieve real-world impact.

LaunchVic

LaunchVic is Victoria’s lead start-up agency. We were established by the Victorian Government in March 2016 as an independent agency to fuel the growth of Victoria’s start-up ecosystem. We invest in Victorians so they have the confidence and capability to create, scale and invest in start-ups.

Your entrepreneurial business must be headquartered in Victoria and intend to employ at least 50% of its staff in Victoria.

Your business must be of an entrepreneurial nature that uses an innovative idea intending to lead to the commercialisation of a product or service and the development of a business in Victoria which is likely to scale up nationally and internationally.

Your business cannot have an interest in a labour hire entity or residential real estate.

Your business cannot purchase, invest or acquire an interest in an existing entity (including a franchise).

You must sign and comply with the Nomination Conditions as part of your application.

Commitment to Victoria

State nomination cannot be transferred from one state to another. If you receive Victorian nomination, you must live in Victoria.

Surveys

If you are nominated, we will contact you at various times to complete surveys. These surveys provide us important feedback on our client services and policy settings.

Department of Home Affairs and SkillSelect

The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for all visa matters. This includes once you have been nominated by the Victorian Government and have submitted your visa application.

All SkillSelect and EOI issues should also be directed to the Department of Home Affairs.

As this is a provisional visa, you must meet the following requirements before you can apply for the permanent Entrepreneur stream (subclass 888) visa.

Maintain ongoing Entrepreneurial Activity

You must show evidence of your continued ownership and day-to-day management of an eligible Victorian entrepreneurial business. No less than 50 percent of all staffing must be Victorian residents and your business must be headquartered exclusively in Victoria, and no other Australian states or territories.

Maintain contact

You must

1. notify us of any changes to your contact details, and
2. participate in any surveys that the Victorian Government may conduct.

Comply with Victoria’s nomination obligations

You must comply with the conditions that you signed in the Nomination Conditions Declaration.

Commitment to Victoria

State nomination cannot be transferred from one state to another. You must live in Victoria for at least 2 years on this visa before applying for the permanent visa. You cannot live in other states or territories of Australia.

See Specific meanings section below for more information on ‘Establishing a Residence in Victoria.’

Surveys

If you are nominated, we will contact you at various times to complete surveys. These surveys provide us important feedback on our client services to you and our policy settings.

Respond within 2 weeks

We may ask you for more information by email

1. You will have 2 weeks to provide the requested information.
2. If you do not respond within two weeks, we may refuse your application.
3. Please check your junk mail and ensure the email address no-reply-gems@liveinmelbourne.vic.gov.au is added to your list of valid email addresses.

Incomplete applications

You must submit a complete application, including all relevant evidence to support your eligibility claims.

Do not ask for an update on your application

Please do not ask for an update on your application. We assess all applications in order of when they were submitted.

The assessment team is also responsible for responding to enquiries and we prioritise assessment of applications. Unnecessary enquiries slow down application processing times.

Submit your application via the portal

You must submit your application and all documents via the Live in Melbourne portal. We will not accept any applications, or documents via email.

Withdrawal

You can withdraw your application at any stage. Please Contact Us to withdraw your application.

Nomination application fees

The Victorian Government does not charge any application fees for nomination.

False or misleading information

If you provide false or misleading information as part of your nomination application, you will be refused. We may also report it to the Department of Home Affairs who can conduct their own investigation.

We conduct verification checks on many of the documents you provide.

If you are aware of instances, or yourself are pressured to submit an application with false and misleading information, we encourage you to report this to the Department of Home Affairs.

Nomination refusals

If your application is refused, you will not be able to submit a new application for the same subclass for 6 months. This is to prevent repeat and low-quality applications.

Review of nomination decision

If you have been refused as you did not meet the eligibility requirements, you cannot request a review of your application.

If you believe that we made an administrative error in refusing your nomination application, you can submit a request for us to review the application.

Renomination

We do not provide renomination in the following instances:

1. You do not submit your visa application within 60 days.
2. Your EOI was incorrect when we nominated you.

If any of the above apply to you, you must submit a new nomination application.

For specific meanings related to all of Victoria’s business and investor visas, see our Glossary page.