Business Innovation stream (subclass 888A) - Supporting information

Have this visa

You must hold a Victorian nominated visa, either:

• Provisional Business Innovation stream (subclass 188A) visa, and have held this visa for at least 3 years, or
• a Victorian nominated Business Innovation Extension Stream (subclass 188X) visa, or
• a Special Category (subclass 444) visa, or
• in certain cases, a Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa.

For more information please refer to the Department of Home Affairs website: Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888) Business Innovation stream.

Live and work in Victoria

You must prove that you:

• live in Victoria,
• actively manage the day-to-day operation of your Victorian business, and
• have met your Victorian business performance requirements.

English language skills

You must provide evidence that you or your spouse have one of the following:

• Functional English at time of visa nomination application.
• Documentation showing that you have completed any English course funded by the Department of Home Affairs AMEP.

*See the Glossary of Terms page for specific meaning of ‘Functional English’.

An applicant with a High Performing Victorian Business can have the English skills requirement waived. Please see the section below on what is considered a High Performing Victorian Business.

High Performing Victorian Business

Owners of a High Performing Victorian Business are exempt from the English Language requirements.

Your business will be considered a High Performing Victorian Business if you are able to provide evidence of both of the following:

• 6 or more full-time employees (or equivalent part-time employees) employed in the eligible Victorian business/es for no less than 6 months prior to nomination application, and
• turnover of at least $A 2 million per annum for the last 1 year immediately before the 888A nomination application.

*See the Glossary of Terms page for specific meaning of ‘full time employees’.

You met your nomination obligations

Subclass 188A and 188X visa holders

You must have met the Victorian nomination conditions for the provisional Business Innovation stream (subclass 188A) visa.

You must have met the conditions that you signed in the Nomination Conditions Form.

Special category (subclass 444) or eligible Temporary Work (Skilled) (subclass 457) visa holders

You must have met the subclass 188A requirements including:

• business performance, and
• innovation and/or job creation

You must have met these requirements in the 2 years prior to your subclass 888A nomination application.

Contact us for further information.

Comply with the Department of Home Affairs requirements

You must comply with the Department of Home Affairs requirements including minimum financial and business performance requirements.

Department of Home Affairs and Skill Select

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.

Surveys

You must have completed surveys from the Victorian Government and maintain contact.

You must:

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

You must engage in eligible business activity in Victoria.

Job creation

You must also demonstrate that your business has created jobs in Victoria.

You must have employed at least 2 eligible full-time employees*.

We may refuse your nomination application for a permanent visa (subclass 888A) if you have not employed at least 2 full time eligible employees.

Exemption: You could be exempt from this job creation requirement if your eligible business’ turnover is at least A$1million per annum for the 2 years before you apply for permanent residency.

*See the Glossary of Terms page for specific meaning of ‘full time employees’.

$500,000 investment into eligible Victorian business

You must provide evidence of $500,000 in business assets for a period of 1 year in your Victorian business/s.

You will be required to provide a balance sheet for the last 2 years showing a value of $500,000 or greater maintained for a 1-year period following your subclass 188 nomination.

Change of business activities

The Victorian Government expects all applicants to undertake the business proposed in their nomination application. We understand that in some circumstances it may be necessary to change your business proposal due to circumstances beyond your control.

If you decide to change your business activity from the initial proposal provided in your Victorian subclass 188 nomination application, you must seek advice from the Victorian Government’s Skilled and Business Migration Program prior to undertaking any new business activity.

You must ensure the new business activity complies with:

• All your Victorian visa nomination conditions, and
• the Department of Home Affairs’ Business Innovation and Investment (subclass 888) visa criteria.

Examples of businesses that have been successful in Victoria in this program include:

• Technology development
• Tourism and primary producer
• Cosmetics manufacturing
• Nutritional product manufacturing and export

Examples of business types that will not be accepted include:

• property development
• gift stores
• convenience stores
• dollar stores
• franchises (unless international brand that is new to Australia)

If you are proposing to engage in export activity, you must read and be aware of the following information.

Does your proposed export activity provide a direct contribution to the Victorian economy?

If you are proposing to engage in export activity, you must read and be aware of the following information.

You must not engage in ‘parallel exporting’.

What is parallel exporting?

Parallel exporting is where goods are sold in an export market without the consent of the owner of the goods trademark.

You must demonstrate that you have not engaged in parallel exporting in your Victorian business when you apply for your permanent visa nomination.

What evidence do I need if I am exporting goods?

Evidence may include:

• Official certificate or agreement from the trademark owner authorising export activity.  Authorisation from the trademark owner to the supplier/distributor for export activity.
• Correspondence (e.g. meeting notes, emails) showing the trademark owner understands the business migrant’s export intentions.
• Partnership or contractual agreements between the trademark owner and business migrant.

What is an example of parallel exporting?

For example, a Victorian business migrant purchases wine from a wine supplier or wholesaler. The brands purchased have existing and official export channels into the relevant country.

The business migrant only has a receipt of purchase and no additional evidence that shows the trademark owner is aware of, or consents to the business migrant exporting the wine.

This is an example of ‘grey market’ or ‘parallel exporting’ and is not permitted in the Victorian Government’s Business Innovation and Investment Program.

We have a dedicated Relationship Management team to support and assist business and investor migrants nominated by Victorian Government.

Relationship Managers can help you:

• understand Victoria’s target industry sectors,
• find information about doing business or making investments, and
• connect you with relevant Victorian Government services and programs relevant to your business.

Contact a Relationship Manager using this form.

Respond within 2 weeks

We may ask you for more information by email

• You will have 2 weeks to provide the requested information.
• If you do not respond within 2 weeks, we may refuse your application.
• 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.

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 if you do not submit your visa application to the Commonwealth Government within 90 days.

If you do not submit your visa application, you must apply again for nomination.

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