New Changes in Australian Visas to Be Effective from July

Key Highlights

• Overview
• New Changes
• Business Innovation
• Entrepreneur
• Investor
• Significant Investor

According to the Australian government’s new changes after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Business Innovation and Investment Programme will now have only four instead of 9 visa streams effective from July this year.

New Changes

The Australian government had, on October 6, 2020, introduced several changes to its visa plans.

One of these changes was reducing the number of visa streams under the Business Innovation and Investment Programme. These changes will be effective from 1 July 2020.

The programme will now have only these four streams:

• Business Innovation
• Entrepreneur
• Investor
• Significant Investor

Business Innovation

The Business Innovation stream is a pathway for those candidates who own and operate a profiting business in Australia. 

To qualify for this visa, the applicant must score above the minimum cut-off of 65 points on the immigration points test and be under 55 years of age. 

However, a state or territory can decide on wavering the age requirements if your business is deemed by it to be exceptionally beneficial to its economy.

Entrepreneur

It is a 4-year temporary visa for candidates who have investor funding to start and operate a business in Australia. 

The applicant should be nominated by a state or territory government to apply for this visa and be under 55 years of age to be eligible. 

Apart from this, they need to have a funding agreement amounting to at least 200,000 AUD to establish a business in Australia.

Investor

The Investor visa stream is for those applicants who have had a successful career in either business investment or ownership. 

Like the Business Innovation stream, it has an age limit of 55 years. A state or territory can similarly waive the age bar off if the applicant is determined to be of exceptional benefit to the economy.

Significant Investor

Compared to the Investor visa stream, the Significant Investor stream does not have any limit on the applicant’s age. 

However, the candidate must invest at least 5 million AUD into investments in Australia and intend to maintain the investment during the period of visa validity.