In September 2021 South Australia opened for applications for the 188 Entrepreneur visa and announced it had made some changes to the eligibility criteria which make it much easier to get.  Previously this visa was limited to applicants who had already secured financial backing for their businesses but the new version is much more accessible.  For the right person with the right business proposal, the Entrepreneur visa can offer a path to Australian permanent residency.

Background

The Business Innovation and Investment Program encompasses Australia’s range of business and investment visas.  It incorporates the 188 visa and all its sub-streams, and the 888 permanent visa.  Once an applicant has completed their 5 year stay on the 188 visa, if they have fulfilled the obligations of their visa they may apply for the 888 visa which grants them permanent residency.  There are multiple streams under each visa heading but today we’re looking at the 188 Entrepreneur stream, also known as the Entrepreneur Visa - a visa for ambitious business people wanting to start an enterprise in Australia.

What are the Benefits of the 188 Entrepreneur Visa?

The Entrepreneur visa allows you and immediate members of your family to live and work in Australia.  After 3 years you can apply for permanent residency and eventually, citizenship too. 

Who Is Eligible?

To be eligible for the Entrepreneur Visa anywhere in Australia, you must meet the Federal Requirements.  The Federal Requirements for the 188 visa are that you must:

Federal Requirements

• Propose to undertake a business activity in Australia that will lead to the commercialisation of an innovative product or services in Australia
• Have at least a competent level of English
• Be nominated by a state
• Meet the health and character requirements
• Be under 55 years of age or be able to show your business will provide an exceptional economic benefit to Australia
• Sign a values statement
• Owe no debt to the Australian government, and
• Not have previously had a visa cancelled or an application refused.

In addition to these, you must comply with any additional requirements of the state you intend to live in.  The South Australian Requirements for the 188 Entrepreneur visa are that you must:

South Australian Requirements

• Intend to live in South Australia
• Propose your business be based in South Australia
• Be nominated by a Service Provider, and
• Provide a detailed proposal for your Australian business.

Who cannot Apply?

Unfortunately, holders of certain visas are deemed ineligible to apply for the South Australian Entrepreneur Visa.  You will be immediately refused if you are a holder of a:

• Student visa of any kind (including 500, 570, 571, 572, 573, 574)
• 403 Temporary Work visa, or
• 771 Transit visa.

Do I need to be in Australia to apply?

You can apply for the South Australian Entrepreneur visa from anywhere in the world! There is no need to be onshore.

Service Providers

In order to be eligible for the South Australian Entrepreneur Visa, you must be nominated by a Service Provider.  These Service Providers are a group of organisations dedicated to working with new and growing businesses. The Service Providers are:

• Stone & Chalk

• New Venture Institute (Flinders University)

• Moonshots

• Thinclab (The University of Adelaide)

• The Innovation & Collaboration Centre (UniSA)

What Types of Business does South Australia Want?

The proposed business must be likely to, in the opinion of the Australian Government, achieve the 888 Entrepreneur visa criteria within 5 years.  The criteria are divided into “Key Factors” and “Supporting Success Factors”.  You will need to demonstrate you are likely to meet either:

• 2 x Key Success Factors; or
• 1 x Key Success Factors and 3 Supporting Success Factors

Remember, you don’t need to already be fulfilling these criteria – you just have to show that you are likely to fulfil them in the next 5 years.  As far as what your business actually does, it doesn’t matter so long as it is likely to fulfil the criteria.  There are 3 prohibited categories:

1. Labour hire
2. Residential real estate
3. Purchasing an existing business,

And of course, your business idea needs to be legal and ethical.  So long as it fits the criteria and isn’t one of the prohibited categories, it could be anything from creative arts to space technology!

What about states other than South Australia?

The only other state that is accepting applications for the 188 Entrepreneur visa outside of South Australia is New South Wales (NSW) however the criteria for eligibility are higher in NSW.  In addition to meeting the Federal Requirements, the NSW Requirements are that you must:

New South Wales Requirements

• Already have funding secured for your business project;
• Funding must be secured from an approved entity (an Australian Government agency, publicly-funded research organisation, university, or an approved investor).
• Be nominated by an approved NSW Startup Program;
• Submit a detailed business proposal;
• Commit to living and working in NSW; and
• Have your business headquarters in NSW.

The difference here is that for an 188 Entrepreneur Visa in NSW, you must have already secured your funding. In South Australia, you need only show that you are likely to secure funding.

You can read more about the NSW program here.

How do I apply for the South Australian 188 Entrepreneur Visa?

The first step is to make an appointment to talk about your options with an experienced immigration lawyer or registered migration agent at Work Visa Lawyers who can go through the details of the 188 visa with you and make sure you are eligible, and that your intellectual property is protected.  If you meet the criteria, the next step is to commence discussions with one of the approved Service Providers (above) as you will need one of these groups to nominate you if you are to receive the Entrepreneur Visa.  If for any reason you do not meet the criteria, Work Visa Lawyers will assess your personal situation and advise what you need to do to qualify, or what alternative visa pathways might be available to you.

Being situated in Adelaide, South Australia, Work Visa Lawyers are uniquely positioned to help you with your South Australian Entrepreneur Visa application, and we would love to help you on your journey.

Australian Business and Significant Investor Visas Subclass 188 Closed - New Visa Expected in 2024! Read more here! 

Author:

Chris Johnston, Founder and Principal Lawyer at Work Visa Lawyers

Disclaimer

While every care is made to ensure this information is correct at the time of publication, it is subject to change without notice.  All information provided on this page is provided for purely educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.  For advice on your personal situation, please speak with an Immigration Lawyer or a Registered Migration Agent.

Sources

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/business-innovation-and-investment-188/entrepreneur-stream

https://migration.sa.gov.au/visa-options/business-and-investment-visas/business-innovation-and-investment-provisional-visa#nav-requirements

https://www.nsw.gov.au/topics/visas-and-migration/business-and-investor/subclass-188e

This article is regularly updated. Last updated: Friday, 12th January 2024

As a permanent residency visa with relatively short processing times, the Global Talent Visa is as close to the gold standard of Australian visas as you can get. So why is your Expression of Interest (EOI) taking so long?

Click here to learn the criteria for the Global Talent Visa

Applying for the Global Talent Visa is a two-part process. Eligible applicants are required to submit an EOI setting out how they fulfil the eligibility criteria and, if they receive an invitation to apply for a visa, they can then submit an application. The processing of the EOIs used to be from a few days to 3 months if prioritised.While The processing times have lengthened in the last few months and, the visa applications themselves are still being processed in a matter of weeks anywhere between 6-11 months (as of January 2024).

Consideration of EOIs, on the other hand, has slowed substantially in the last year. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Global Talent visa, the Department is receiving far more EOIs than they can process quickly. As of the start of September 2021 the Department advised that they are still considering EOIs received in October 2020 – a backlog of around 11 months. However, the processing times of the EOI has improved and as of the start of January 2024, the EOIs being considered are those submitted in September 2023. 

Those who did not provide sufficient information and documentation may have their applications delayed.

Historically, EOIs for certain sectors have been processed faster than others – financial services and FinTech being the fastest at around 2 months and AgriTech the slowest at about 5-6 months. However, we are currently seeing a slowdown across all sectors. Based on what we are seeing, EOIs for applicants with a strong salary (>AUD250,000) are being decided much faster than those with a salary only marginally higher than the Fair Work High Income Threshold (currently, AUD167,500).

The Global Talent visa is still the best visa option available for eligible applicants and the sooner you get your EOI submitted the sooner it will be decided upon.

You can fill in your details in our online form here for a free assessment of your prospects of receiving an EOI for the Global Talent visa.

Read more about the Global Talent Visa Program here.

Do you need help?

Our team of experienced Immigration Lawyers and Migration Agents look forward to assisting you with your Australian visa or appeal.

Based in Adelaide South Australia, we provide Australian Immigration advice to people and businesses from all over the world.

If you require further information regarding your Australia visa options you can contact us through:

(08) 8351 9956 or +61 8 8351 9956 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can also subscribe to our TikTok.  

Disclaimer

This information is correct at the time of publication but is subject to change without notice. All information provided on this page is provided for purely educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your situation, please speak with an Immigration Lawyer or a Registered Migration Agent.

Investor visas are one of the best ways to get permanent residency in Australia. If you want to move to Australia and you have the means to invest five million Australian dollars, the 188 Significant Investor visa might be ideal for you.

The Business Innovation and Investor 188 visa is the visa for experienced business people or high net-worth individuals. There are four streams of the 188 visa, depending on how much you are able to invest, but the Significant Investor visa is the stream with the most benefits. Here are 10 reasons we think you’ll love the Significant Investor visa.

This article is updated regularly. Last updated: Friday, 5th January 2024

At Work Visa Lawyers, we understand that the Government’s processing times are important to your expectations and how you plan your life. Unfortunately, as with all visa processes, these are difficult to predict and are never guaranteed. We write about our experiences across many Global Talent visa applications, to help you to gain an understanding of the processing times which might lie ahead if you choose to pursue a Global Talent visa.

Since the outbreak of Covid, thousands of international students have been stranded overseas. Most of them choose to continue their studies online while they are in their home country but this raises the question... if the Student Visa expires during this time, do you need to apply for another Student Visa?

In a media release from the Australian Government on 23 August, it has been confirmed that the Australian Agriculture Visa will go ahead in 2021. In the statement it was announced that new Regulations would be in place by the end of September 2021. Speculation about the promised visa has been widespread since Australia’s Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, David Littleproud, announced in June that it would be coming soon. We wrote an article about the Agriculture visa at the time of the announcement, based on Minister Littleproud’s assertions, but the scope of the visa seems to have expanded substantially over the last few months creating more places in more industries.

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If you're an engineer, getting a nominator just got easier! In positive news for engineers with who fit the Global Talent visa criteria, Engineers Australia has been accepted as a certified nominating organisation for the Global Talent visa program. This means engineers who could not find a suitable nominator for the Global Talent visa can now apply to EA for a nominator.

If you are looking at the Global Talent visa (GTI visa) you must be nominated by a senior professional in your field. This person will vouch for you and can speak on your behalf about how your talent can bring benefit to Australia. This is a key part of the Global Talent visa process but one that is often overlooked. Here are our tips on how to find a Global Talent nominator.

Click here for Global Talent visa criteria

Senator James Paterson, Chair of the Joint Committee in Intelligence and Security has announced that skilled visa applicants coming to Australia from Hong Kong will receive priority processing, a sentiment which Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke confirmed on 30 July 2021 on ABC Radio.  While filling the void in Australia’s skilled labour force is certainly a driving factor in this decision, Paterson said it was also a moral obligation and " the right thing to do after the Chinese Communist Party broke its promise to protect the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong."  While Australia is already fast-tracking business, investment, and global talent visas for Hong Kong nationals, this is a new opportunity for those who could not previously obtain an Australian visa to escape the political turmoil of their homeland.