Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) Visa (Business Innovation Stream) Subclass 888

You and family members who apply for the visa with you, must provide:

Colour copies of the pages of your current passport showing photo, personal details, and passport issue and expiry dates.

Also provide

• a national identity card, if you have one
• proof of change of name, if applicable

Documents that prove a change of name include:

• a marriage or divorce certificate
• change of name documents from an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, or the relevant overseas authority
• documents that show other names you have been known by

You need to have a current nomination from a state or territory government agency.

Fill out Form 1414 Nomination – Business Skills class (306KB PDF). Then:

1. send the form to the state or territory that nominated you
2. the state or territory will fill out the form and send it back
3. include the completed form with your application

Provide:

• a 1-page summary of your business or investment activities in Australia
• a 1-page summary of your Australian business intentions in the long-term

Show us you have followed Australian laws when operating your business. This includes laws about taxation, superannuation and workplace relations. Provide:

• a written declaration stating you have complied with the laws of the Commonwealth, and of the state or territory where your business is located
• details of any time you breached the laws of the Commonwealth, and of the state or territory where your business is located

Prove to us that you have owned your main business or main businesses for the 2 years before you apply.

Whether you have 1 or 2 businesses, you must own at least:

• 51% of the business if the business has a turnover of less than AUD400,000 per year
• 30% of the business  if the business has a turnover of AUD400,000 or more per year, or
• 10% of the business if the business is operated by a publicly listed company
• The business must be qualifying business

Evidence can include:

• documents proving your purchase of the business
• partnership agreements
• trust agreements
• franchise agreements
• documents showing the issue, purchase or transfer of shares
• registration with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
• historical ASIC company extract

Agreements must include all pages and related schedules and evidence you paid stamp duty.

Documents about shares should show:

• date of ownership
• payment of stamp duty

If you bought your business from a person who holds, or applied for:

• a Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa or
• a permanent business skills visa (in subclasses 890, 891, 892 or 893)

You must provide evidence that you held joint ownership interest in the business with that person for at least 1 year immediately before applying.

Provide a 1-page organisational chart for each of your nominated businesses that covers the 2 years before you apply. The chart must show:

• your position
• staff attribution
• management reporting lines
• functional responsibilities

Also provide:

• staff rosters (if applicable)
• trading hours
• a description of activities and practices over a typical trading week

For the 2 years before you apply, provide:

• the Australian Business Number (ABN) for each business
• Business Activity Statements (BAS) for each quarter for each business
• evidence from the Australian Taxation Office if you were not required to provide a BAS for any quarter with supporting documents

Supporting documents can include your most recent business taxation returns.

Also provide extracts from financial statements for each business, including balance sheet, profit and loss statement and notes to the accounts. Make sure:

• the statements cover the beginning and end of a 12-month period ending no more than 3 months before you apply
• your accountant prepares the statements to Australian Accounting Standards
• directors and the accountant sign the statements

For the 12 months immediately before applying, show us that your business had:

• at least 2 employees who worked for a total number of hours that was at least the total number of hours that would have been worked by 2 full-time employees

Evidence of employees should include:

• PAYG summaries
• wage books
• employee contracts
• workers compensation
• insurance and superannuation documents

Also prove to us that those employees are Australian citizens, permanent residents or New Zealand passport holders. Evidence can include:

• passport
• birth certificate
• citizenship certificate

You must provide documents to show your (or you and your partner’s) business and personal assets in Australia.

For the beginning and end of 12-month period ending no more than 3 months before you apply, provide:

• a 1-page summary statement outlining all assets and liabilities
• evidence of AUD600,000 worth of assets (excluding liabilities) held in Australia
• evidence of liabilities (if any) against each asset

The 12-month period must be the same period covered by your financial statements.

Liabilities can include mortgages, credit cards, and loans (including unsecured and third party loans).

Here are the forms of evidence we need for each type of asset:

You and all applicants aged 16 years and older, provide:

• Form 80 Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment (596KB PDF)
• a police certificate from every country, including your home country, where you spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since you turned 16.
• military service records or discharge papers if you served in the armed forces of any country

Provide proof that all dependent applicants aged 18 years and older, who did not pay the second instalment of the visa application charge at provisional stage, have at least functional English.

If you can’t provide functional English documents

If any of the dependent applicants, who did not pay the second instalment cannot show evidence of functional English, you will need to pay the second instalment of the visa application charge for each of those dependent applicants, when we ask you to.

If your partner holds a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (subclass 188) visa application as your dependent partner, we do not need evidence of your relationship.

If you are including a partner who does not hold a subclass 188 visa as your dependant,  we need to see evidence of your partner’s relationship with you along with identity and character documents and documents about other relationships.

Provide:

• identity documents and photos
• character documents
• documents about other relationships, if applicable

Provide either:

• your current marriage certificate or
• enough documents to prove you have been in a de facto relationship with your partner for at least 12 months before you apply

Documents that prove your de facto relationship include:

• joint bank account statements
• billing accounts in joint names
• joint leases or mortgages
• documents that show you have lived at the same address as your partner

For every dependent under 18 years old who is applying with you, provide:

• identity documents and photos
• proof of your relationship with them, like a birth or marriage certificate
• character documents, if applicable

If you are including a dependant aged over 18 years of age who holds a Subclass 188 – Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa) granted on the basis of being a member of your family unit at time of grant, this section does not apply.

To include your child who is over 18 in your visa application, they must be:

• over 18 years of age but not yet turned 23, and dependent on you or your partner, or
• over 23 years of age and unable to earn a living to support themselves due to physical or cognitive limitations and dependent on you or your partner

If your child is likely to turn 23 while your application is being processed, you will need to provide evidence in relation to the second dot point above.

Provide:

• identity documents
• documents about their other relationships, if applicable

You must also provide proof the child is dependent on you:

• proof of your relationship with the dependant such as a birth certificate or adoption papers
• a completed Form 47a Details of a child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over (307KB PDF)
• if the child is aged 23 or is likely to turn 23 while your application is being processed, you must also provide a report from a qualified medical practitioner that states they are dependent on you or your partner due to the total or partial loss of their bodily or mental functions

Note: A child who turns 23 while your application is being processed and who does not meet these requirements cannot satisfy the criteria for this visa.

To nominate someone to:

• receive your correspondence, use Form 956A Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient (301KB PDF)
• provide immigration assistance, use Form 956 Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person (225KB PDF).

Upload your written notification or your forms to ImmiAccount.