Reminder of Victorian Business Innovation and Investment nomination requirements

The Victorian Government continues to provide nomination for subclass 888 (all streams) and subclass 188 Extension stream visas.

We have recently received a high number of applications that do not meet Victorian nomination requirements and provisional visa holders are therefore not eligible for permanent visa nomination.

A reminder of the requirements that applicants for Victorian nomination must meet are listed below.

Residence requirements for the Business Innovation stream

• Victorian nominated subclass 188 visa holders, nominated between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2024, are required to reside in Victoria for at least 46 weeks per year during the two years prior to submitting the subclass 888 nomination application.

• If these requirements cannot be met, consider applying for subclass 188 Extension nomination to provide additional time.  More information can be found here.

• Information about the residence requirements is available on the Live in Melbourne website.

Additional investment requirements for the Investor stream

• Victorian nominated subclass 188 visa holders, nominated between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2021, are required to make mandatory investments in addition to the designated $1.5 million investment in Victorian Government bonds.

• The additional investment requirement varies depending on the nomination date for the subclass 188 visa.

• No extension of the subclass 188 Investor stream is available. If the additional investment requirement is not met, applicants may not be eligible for Victorian nomination for the subclass 888 visa.

• Information regarding the eligibility of additional investments is available on the Live in Melbourne website.

Submitting nomination applications for subclass 888  

• Applications for Victorian nomination for all subclass 888 streams and subclass 188 Extension stream can be submitted up to three months before the expiry of the subclass 188 visa.

• If the subclass 188 visa expires before the Victorian Government has provided nomination for the subclass 888 or subclass 188 Extension, the visa application may be determined as invalid by the Department of Home Affairs.

• The Victorian Government aims to finalise all applications within 20 business days. All reasonable requests for urgent assessment are considered.

• Please be aware that we have received many nomination applications that have been submitted within 1-2 days of the provisional visa expiring. In these cases, urgent assessment may not be considered.  

Enquiries and requests 

All nomination application enquiries must be submitted through the Live in Melbourne Contact Us portal. 

• If the subclass 188 visa is expiring, you can use this form to request priority processing of the nomination application.

• If you experience technical issues with the Live in Melbourne portal, including the Appointment of Agent form, please use the relevant enquiry form.

• If you have a general enquiry regarding your application, please use this form.

Upcoming information session

The Victorian Government will hold an information session on Monday 13 April 2026 to provide further details on these items: 

• Date: Monday, 13 April 2026

• Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM AEST

• Registration: You can register for the event here.

• Submitting your questions: If you would like to ask a question at this event, please complete the relevant field in the event sign up page.