This permanent visa, known as the Business Talent Visa, is designed for high calibre business people who are owners or part owners of an overseas company and have a genuine and realistic commitment to participate in the management of a new or existing business in Australia. You must be sponsored by a state or territory government and be less than 55 years old.

Significant Business History Stream

You and/or your partner must have all of the following:

• total net assets of at least AUD$400 000 as the ownership interest in one or more qualifying businesses for least two of the four fiscal years immediately before you are invited to apply and if the qualifying business(es) was a publicly listed company, a shareholding of at least 10 per cent of the total issued capital;
• net business and personal assets of at least AUD$1.5 million that are legally acquired and can be transferred to Australia within two years after the visa is granted;
• a total annual turnover of at least AUD$3 million in one or more of your main businesses in at least two of the four fiscal years immediately before you are invited to apply;
• ownership of at least: (a) 51 per cent of a business with turnover of less than AUD$400,000 per year; or (b) 30 per cent of a business with turnover of more than AUD$400,000 per year, or (c) 10 per cent of a publicly listed company;
• an overall successful business career;
• no involvement in unacceptable business activities
• a genuine desire to own and maintain a management role in a business in Australia.

A state or territory can waive the age requirement if your proposed business will be of exceptional economic benefit to the region where it will operate.

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Stream

You must have received at least AUD 1 million in funding from an Australian venture capital firm. The funding must be for the start-up, product commercialisation or business development of a promising high-value business idea. The venture capital firm must be a member of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL). AVCAL has information about the venture capital category of membership in its Venture Capital entrepreneur visa factsheet.

You must have entered into a formal agreement with the venture capital firm for the funding.

This visa is for people who have a successful business or investment career, and have a genuine and realistic commitment to be involved in investing or business in Australia. The business innovation and investment visa is also the first step towards being granted a permanent Business Skills visa. You must pay a non-refundable visa charge when you lodge the Expression of Interest.

This visa includes five streams:

1. Business Innovation stream: for people with business skills who want to establish, develop and manage a new or existing business in Australia. Applicants must be nominated by a state or territory government.

2. Investor stream: for people who want to make a designated investment of at least AUD$1.5million in an Australian state or territory and maintain business and investment activity in Australia. Applicants must be nominated by a state or territory government.

3. Significant Investor stream: for people who are willing to invest at least AUD$5million into complying significant investments in Australia and want to maintain business and investment activity in Australia. Applicants can be nominated by a state or territory government or Austrade on behalf of the Australian government.

4. Premium Investor stream: for people who are willing to invest at least AUD$15million into complying premium investments in Australia and want to maintain business and investment activity in Australia. Applicants must be nominated by Austrade on behalf of the Australian government.

5. Entrepreneur stream: for people who have a funding agreement from a third party for at least AUD$200,000 to undertake a complying entrepreneur activity that is proposed to lead to either the commercialisation of a product or service in Australia or the development of a business in Australia. Applicants must be nominated by a state or territory government.

You can apply for permanent migration with this visa if you are a holder of the provision Business and Innovation (188) Visa in Australia, and have met the immigration requirements prescribed. Your eligibility to apply for the Permanent Business Visa (888 visa) is determined by the temporary visa stream you used under the Subclass 188 program.

Eligibility – Business innovation stream

​You must have been in Australia and held:

• a Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188) in the Business Innovation stream or the Business Innovation Extension stream
• a Special Category visa (subclass 444)

for at least one year in the two years immediately before you apply.

In addition, you must be able to show ongoing business involvement, meet certain financial requirements, and have a history of employing Australian workers.

Eligibility – Investor stream

​If you are applying for this visa in the Investor stream, you must have been in Australia and held your provisional visa in the Investor stream for at least two of the four years immediately before you apply.

In addition, you (or you and your partner combined) must have held a designated investment with an Australian state or territory for at least four years. You are required to hold your provisional visa for at least 4 years prior to applying for a subclass 888 visa.

Eligibility – Significant Investor stream

If you are applying for a permanent visa in the Significant Investor stream, you must have held at the time of application a provisional visa in the Significant Investor stream or in the Significant Investor Extension stream. You must have been in Australia as the holder of a provisional visa in the Significant Investor stream or the Significant Investor extension stream for at least 40 days per year for the period of time you have held your provisional visa(s), or your spouse has been in Australia for at least 180 days per year on the basis of the period of time the primary applicant has held their provisional visa(s).

In addition, you (or you and your partner combined) must have:

• held complying investments continuously for at least 4 years while holding your Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188).
• operated a qualifying business under the private Australian company in which you have made a direct complying investment if applicable.
• Note that the rules in force at the time you applied for you original subclass 188 visa in the Significant Investor stream will apply to you when your application for a subclass 888 visa is assessed. You are required to hold your provisional visa for at least 4 years prior to applying for a subclass 888 visa.

Eligibility – Premium Investor stream

​If you are applying for a permanent visa (subclass 888) in the Premium Investor stream, you must have held a provisional visa (subclass 188) in the Premium Investor stream at the time of application and be nominated by the Commonwealth government. You must have held your provisional visa for a minimum of 1 year.

You (or you and your partner combined) must have held complying premium investments continuously for at least 1 year, and for the entire time you have held your Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188).

Eligibility – Entrepreneur stream

​If you are applying for this visa in the Entrepreneur stream, you must have been in Australia and held your provisional visa in the Entrepreneur stream for a continuous period of at least four years immediately before you apply.

In addition, you must be able to demonstrate a successful record of entrepreneurial activities in Australia.

This visa is for people who are well qualified with work experience in their field. It aims to meet Australia’s skills shortages and gives successful applicants permanent residence. This visa is appropriate for those who hold a university qualification or trade qualifications.

To apply for this visa you must be qualified and under 45 years of age when you apply for this visa. Your nominated occupation, which fits your skills and qualifications, must be on the list of approved occupations for migration to Australia, which is adjusted by the Government from time to time (Skilled Occupations List).

Before you apply for a visa you have to obtain a positive skills assessment by the relevant Australian skills assessing body.

You also have to show recent work experience for a period of time in your field, or in another field that is on the skilled occupation list. In addition, you have to meet certain English level standards and also meet the health, character and public interest requirements.

To be granted this visa you must pass the Points Test. Points are allocated for qualifications, age, English language ability, work experience, your spouse’s skills. Extra points are given to those applicants who have family in Australia, who have Australian qualifications or those with skills in demand.

Intended applicants need to record their details through an Expression of Interest (EOI). Applicants can then be nominated by Australia employers of state and territory governments through the SkillSelect model. An invitation is required before an application for a visa can be submitted.

From March 2018, the Australian Government introduced a new work visa in replacement of the 457 visa – the Subclass 482 Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa.

The TSS visa is a temporary visa which permits the holder to live in Australia, while working full-time for the sponsoring employer, in the nominated position. Applicants for a TSS visa may include dependent family members in their application.

The TSS visa has a short-term stream and a medium-term stream.  Applicants with occupations on the Short-Term Skilled Occupations List (STSOL) are eligible for visas of up to two years (renewable once, for a further two years), whilst those on theMedium and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) can apply for up to four years, with eligibility for permanent residency after three years.

The role that the employer wants to fill must appear as an occupation on the Combined List of Eligible Skilled Occupations. In determining whether the proposed nominated occupation is an accurate reflection of the duties of the position, the Department of Home Affairs uses the Australian New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). Both the position description and the TSS visa applicant’s employment and education history must reflect the description provided by ANZSCO.

The applicant must have the skills required to fulfil the role. Whilst the skills required vary in accordance with the occupation in question, all TSS visa applicants are required to have a minimum of two years’ relevant work experience. When examining a TSS visa applicant’s skills and qualifications against the nominated position, DIBP case officers cross-reference the position description supplied in the employer’s nomination application with the visa applicant’s qualifications and work references.

If applicants are not from an exempt country (UK, USA, Canada, NZ or Ireland), they will also need to meet English language requirements at the time of application.
Health and character criteria will also need to be met. Police clearance certificates are required for every country in which the applicant has lived for 12 months or more since turning 16 years of age, within the last ten years.

Under the Partner Visa Stream an applicant can be sponsored by their Australian spouse, de facto or interdependent partner who must be either an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, aged over 18 years.

Your unique circumstances will determine which Australian visa within the partner category is most appropriate.

Australian Married or de-Facto Spouse Visa

This visa allows you to enter or remain in Australia on the basis of your married or de facto relationship with your partner:

• on a temporary visa (usually for a waiting period of approximately two  years from the date you applied for the visa) or
• on a permanent visa if, after the waiting period (if applicable), your partner relationship still exists and you are still eligible for this visa.

Your Australian resident partner must provide sponsorship for you so you can

• remain in Australia with your partner, until a decision is made regarding your permanent visa;
• work in Australia;
• study in Australia, but you will not have access to government funding for tertiary study;
• enrol in Australia’s medical benefits expenses and hospital care scheme, Medicare.

If applying on the grounds of de-facto partner you and your partner must have been in a de facto relationship for the entire 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application.

This visa allows you to enter Australia and marry your intended fiancé within the visa’s nine months validity period.

Your fiancé must be one of the following:

• an Australian citizen;
• an Australian permanent resident;
• an eligible New Zealand citizen.

With this visa you:

• must enter Australia before you marry your fiancé;
• may leave and re-enter Australia as many times as you wish before your visa expires (nine months after visa grant);
• can work full time in Australia;
• can apply for a Partner visa in Australia after you marry your fiancé;
• can study, but you will not have access to government funding;
• can access Australia’s medical and hospital care assistance scheme, Medicare, but only if you are in Australia and have already applied for a Partner visa.

This Australian visa is for the parent of someone who is a permanent citizen of Australia at the time the visa as sent in for assessment. If your child is a permanent resident, said child should have at least two years of residency before this Australian visa can be given. However, the length of time required for a child’s parents to be given this parent visa may be shortened under special and compelling circumstances.

For parents to be given the Parent Visa the following need to be shown:

• Half of your kids are citizens of Australia or permanent residents. They can also be eligible NZ citizens who reside in Australia;
• A majority of your children are residents of Australia than in any other country.

When applying for this Australian visa, you can bring your partner along with other family members that are considered dependents so long as they fulfil given legal requirements.

Sponsors have to provide written proof that they can support, accommodate and assist the parent for whom the visa is to be granted. They have to make sure that they can provide enough proof that they can do such things for their first 2 years in the country under the temporary visa.

Applicants need to show proof of their kids’ eligibility to sponsor them and they are the ones to complete the application process with the use and presence of all supporting documents. However, just because the visa is good for two years doesn’t mean parents who are handed the visa need to stay in the country for that amount of time.

Requirements

• The sponsor must complete all the necessary forms and the same goes for the applicant;
• There are some fees involved which range from medical exam fees to application fees and these are usually shouldered by the applicant;
• Costs for translation of documents are also usually covered by the applicants.

This visa is for students who wish to pursue their studies in Australia. There are student visas for students who wish to learn English, student visa for students who wish to take short courses that range from 3 months to a year, and there is also a visa for students who wish to pursue bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, or Ph.D. degrees.

Before you apply for a student visa, you must first apply for the school of your choice and you must have the necessary paper work ready. Most of the time, proof of sufficient money will be required to confirm that you will be able to support yourself while you are studying although students are allowed 20 hours of work per week.

Requirements

• Acceptance letter from the school;
• Proof that you have money to support yourself while in Australia;
• Overseas health insurance;
• Test scores that show proficiency in the English language (students from countries like the US, UK and New Zealand need not show these);
• Academic records and history.