Jalphonse

Hi Steve,

Thank you so much for clarifying the situation with the 888 Visa. You have eased my concerns and those of many others in the community, I'm sure.

It's a relief to hear that existing applications remain unaffected by the suspension. Although the wait and uncertainty around processing times can be daunting, having a clearer understanding of the current state of affairs is incredibly valuable.

I truly appreciate the time you've taken to share your knowledge. If there are any updates or further insights you come across, please do share them in this thread. It would be immensely helpful for all of us navigating the 188 and 888 visa pathways.

Best regards,
John

Hello PomzinOz Community,

I’m reaching out for some clarity amidst the recent changes to the 888 Visa. After reading about its abolition [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12990395/888-visa-Australia-Major-change-Chinese-investors.html], I'm left wondering about the implications for those of us who have already submitted our applications versus those planning to apply.

Here’s my dilemma:

• Does anyone know if the abolition of the 888 Visa is going to impact current applicants retrospectively, or is it only going to affect new applicants moving forward? I am a 888B Investor Visa applicant.
• And, in the spirit of looking for a silver lining, do you think these changes could potentially lead to faster processing for the existing 888 visa applications?

I'm really hoping to get insights from anyone who's either in the same boat or has navigated similar changes before. Your experiences, any advice, or information you can share would be immensely helpful.

Appreciate your time and help in advance!

Best,
John

On 30/07/2021 at 21:44, DJT said:

Hi Steve,

A quick question for you:

Would investments in managed funds (ETFs, actively managed funds) through a Victoria-based investment management company such as Vanguard qualify as eligible additional investment for the purposes of the 888 visa nomination? Please note that the obligation during the time of my 188 application in mid-2018 required me to demonstrate that I have undertaken additional business or investment activity in Victoria during my provisional visa period (note there was no explicit mention of the additional investment amount of 500k as is the case for applications after July 2019). Looking forward to your inputs on this front.

Cheers,

DJT

 

 

Hello all,

I had a few queries on the 888B visa application. Would love to hear your thoughts:

1. After 4.5 years of holding the qualifying investment, are we required to maintain the qualifying investment with the treasury bonds or can that be invested in any other financial products of our choice?

2. While the 888B visa is being processed are there any conditions that need to be met while on the bridging visa, especially with respect to investments, that will be looked at by the home office as criteria to issue the grant?

3. As I understand, once the 188B visa expires, I will be on the BVA. Can I apply for the BVB and choose to remain outside Australia for a period of 4-5 months in a year? Are there any restrictions? How difficult is it to obtain the BVB?

4. While on the BVA, do we have access to Medicare?

Thanks,

John

Hi,

I just heard from my friend Emil who applied for his 888 Visa in January 2021 and received a grant Monday this week (July 2022). He was primary holder of 188B Investor visa. The processing time is 16-17 months. Has anyone else received their 888 Visa grant? Have the processing times improved? Kindly update.

Hi everyone,

Asking for a friend in India: Has anyone on a 188b visa traveled to Australia in the recent past? I know there is an exemption on the Business visa (188 class) category but want to understand if there is something she needs to keep in mind when traveling, such as documentation etc. If there's someone on this forum who has traveled recently from India to Australia or is privy to information that might help, please respond.

Thank you.

Hi Manrug, TiMoniSam, Asif Sheikh, 3Together,

I just received the grant today! Yay!

It took me close to 18 months from application to grant.

My best wishes to all of you waiting for your turn.

I will checking this forum periodically, so if you have any questions and/or need any guidance I will be glad to help in whatever way I can.

All the best,

J

On 09/10/2019 at 12:06, EMADELDIN said:

any update regarding the visa issuance

Not yet, the last stages are a bit of a drag. Hopefully soon. 

On 31/10/2019 at 13:23, Arthur601 said:

 

Someone tells me that if 188b visa granted, can I work in Australia within the 4years and 3 month ?

Thanks in advance .

 

 

Yes, with a 188b you can work in Australia.

On 15/08/2019 at 13:59, manrug said:

Good luck with the documents, please keep us informed of how you get on.

Thanks, I will wait until grant though to uncork the bubbly

My best wishes to all 188b applicants on this forum  

On 20/08/2019 at 16:18, Asif Shaikh said:

still waiting 

After medicals, it’s a long wait brother. You can anticipate a wait of a minimum of 12-14 months. 

On 19/08/2019 at 16:39, Asif Shaikh said:

what kind of additional information required? 

Additional info on qualifying investments and path of funds. 

On 15/08/2019 at 13:59, manrug said:

Good luck with the documents, please keep us informed of how you get on.

Another update: I submitted all the requested documents and received a request to make the designated investment of AUD 1.5 within 70 days. 

11 minutes ago, manrug said:

Jalphonse

That is really good news. How long have they given to you to submit the documents.

28 days to submit all the documents. 

On 05/06/2018 at 09:46, Jalphonse said:

Hi there,

We applied for the Business Visa (Investor) subclass 188b. Here’s the time line and status so far:

- EOI and State Nomination (NSW) on 09/03/18

- Nomination granted on 31/03/18

- Visa application on 26/04/18

- Medical and police clearance completed - 25/05/18

Can someone help with the following questions, please? 

1. Is the request for medical/police clearance any indication of when we might receive a grant, as I believe there is only a validity of 12 months?

2. The processing time on the website says 19-20 months, so very surprised with the speed. We cannot make the move until June 2019, so will an early grant be a problem?

3. How long do we have to make the designated investment from the date of grant receipt? Will the department offer flexibility with an extension if required?

 

Update: After 14.5 months, I have received a request for more information from the case officer. Hopefully it picks up pace from here. Anyone has any thoughts to share on how their application went after request for additional information and how long it typically takes for a decision from this point on?

On 11/06/2019 at 13:36, manrug said:

Hi Jalphonse

Thanks for your reply. 70 days is not very long to sell the assets and raise the $1.5M. We submitted in Feb 19, so I don't think we will hear anything until May 2020.

Yes, I’d say you shouldn’t expect for a case worker to look up your file until at least May 2020. If your application is accurate and you are confident of your documentation viz., source/path of funds, you should plan to liquidate your assets by July 2020 and be prepared to invest in the bonds when you receive the invite. Good luck. 

On 15/01/2019 at 23:43, Indo said:

Did you contacted by case officer yet? 

Hi Indo,

Please refer to my response to other threads on this query. How are you doing with your application? You seem to have applied in the same month as me (May 2018). 

On 22/04/2019 at 02:52, 3together said:

Hello,

as I found some valuable information in this forum, I like to share our experience with the Australian immigration. 

We applied for 188B. Out of the 188 visa class, it is the most seldom used one. So there are not many applicants. Most go for 188A. I think there are less than 500 applications p.a. for 188B. 188C are far more, than 188B. Not surprising, +90% of all 188 aplicants are from China, HK and South Korea. Even for 188B there are +90% from these countries. I checked numbers for UK and other European countries. Non of them was more than 5 applicants p.a. (they do not show the number if less than 5 p.a. per country). All from China etc. are processed in HK office. Other countries are processed in Adelaite. So I do assume, it is very difficult to tell the processing times for 188 and especially for 188B or any other subclass. 

We are a family of 3 (son 5 years old) and are a business family from Germany. It was tough so far to go through the applications for a visa for Australia. First we wanted to go for skilled migration. After skill approval, Australia canceled the skill in the list. Second skill approvel, same happened. This costs us 1,5 years. Schooling visa for our son, canceled as well. So option 3 was gone. The most complex of all was 188. We decided for 188B, which incluedes AUD 2,25m assests and tons of paperwork. 

our timeline:

end of 2015 we visited Australia and NZ for 3 month
2016 decision to migrate to Australia
2016 preparation of migration/ skilled migration with migration agent from Australia. // all changed due to changes in migration policies (spend 20k EUR)
2018 final decision to go for the complex 188B visa 
06.03.18 contract with migration consultant (from HK) 
03.10.18 applied for NSW sponsorship
22.10.18 Invitation by NSW
04.11.18 IMMI application/ EOI 
08.11.18 payment processed for EOI  // 120 points (option for add. 25 points)
09.11.18 additional information request by CO; form 80, medical checks
11.01.19 medical transmitted by physician 

.... since then waiting, keeping our fingers crossed. So we have now 6 month of waiting time. 

The numbers by IMMI do not really help. What does it mean that 75% are processed withhin 21 month and 90% withhin 22 month. What is the average or what is the fastest or what is the usual processing time? We heard about 12 month for good prepared application in HK. On the other hand, the AU government anounced to reduce the number of immigrants. This goes easily by exspanding the processing times. Moreovery, each case is very specific and might need extra time to check for the CO. I assum, they do a great job and have their goals to reach, like any other employee. They do not have any personal preferences, but have to check by objectives. 

For the 188B we invested about 35k EUR for the migration consultant, visa application, translations, valuations of assets, auditors, notary, tax officer etc. pp. I think we have 3 folders of paperwork for 188B. Most is about my main company. We choosed only one for the application. A lot of paperwork was the translation of company documents. The most complex part was to prove the assets over 3 dates (2 years). We needed to assess all assets. Australia asks for specific certified consultants. The translations should be NAATI certified (you find great ones in Australia), Additionally, you need documentation how you gained your wealth. This is quite tough, as you might not have all documents over the last decates. Moveover, you have to prove you manage your business on a day-to-day base etc. 

I hope this will help someone to better understand the process of 188B. We are not through yet. But so far, it costs us a lot of efforts to come this way. After 188B, there is still a way for 888 and PR and later-on the citizenship. So more exiting things to come. 

TiMoniSam

 

Hi TiMoniSam,

Thank you for sharing your experience in great detail. I have shared my case details on this thread, so please look it up for your reference. Myself and my spouse have applied to VIC, 13 months ago and still waiting. Will keep you posted of any developments. My assessment is it will take anywhere between 16-18 months from date of filing to actual grant of the visa. 

On 23/04/2019 at 20:01, manrug said:

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your helpful information. Could you just be kind enough to tell me where you got the 6-9 months from. I have not seen it mention anywhere before. I hope it is the case,  this will give me plenty of time to sell some assets to raise the $1.5 mil. We have also applied for VISA 143 in January 2017, we are in the queue and the wait on that visa just seems to be getting longer and it may be another 3-4 years wait, so we applied for 188b just before our 55th birthday. "3together" you are welcomed to send me a personal message and stay in contact. As I hear anything else I will keep you updated.

Hi Manrug,

I can confirm that you have 70 days from the time you are invited (this is prior to the actual grant of the visa) to make the investment of 1.5 mln in treasury bonds. Any other time frames you may hear are incorrect. Hope this helps  

On 09/05/2019 at 10:40, Asif Shaikh said:

hi Jalphonse,

Can you please share your experience after Medical?

Hi Asif,

Sorry I have been silent on this forum. My questions did not have any takers for so long that I imagined no one would ever respond  (also because the volume of applications for the 188b stream is super thin).

It appears I got all my dates incorrect by a month. I lodged my visa application on 26th May 2018. Following the request for medical and PC and subsequent completion of the same on 26th June 2018, I haven’t heard back from the department yet. This is my 13th month after lodging of my application. Hopefully, I should hear from them request for additional documentation etc., in the next 3-4 months.

Did you end up filing your application? Love to hear how yours went. Glad to be of any help.

On 30/11/2018 at 18:51, Raxy123 said:

Hi!  Jalphonsean 

You application was moving at great pace. 

Can you please share your experience after Medical and PC with time line.

You had a valid question and I have the same and yet to apply. Can you please share the answer to it as I assume you would have got clarity by now. 

Thanks in advance 

 

Hi Raxy123,

Sorry I have been silent on this forum. My questions did not have any takers for so long that I imagined no one would ever respond  (also because the volume of applications for the 188b stream is super thin).

It appears I got all my dates incorrect by a month. I lodged my visa application on 26th May 2018. Following the request for medical and PC and subsequent completion of the same on 26th June 2018, I haven’t heard back from the department yet. This is my 13th month after lodging of my application. Hopefully, I should hear from them request for additional documentation etc., in the next 3-4 months.

Did you end up filing your application? Love to hear how yours went. Glad to be of any help.

Hi there,

We applied for the Business Visa (Investor) subclass 188b. Here’s the time line and status so far:

- EOI and State Nomination (NSW) on 09/03/18

- Nomination granted on 31/03/18

- Visa application on 26/04/18

- Medical and police clearance completed - 25/05/18

Can someone help with the following questions, please? 

1. Is the request for medical/police clearance any indication of when we might receive a grant, as I believe there is only a validity of 12 months?

2. The processing time on the website says 19-20 months, so very surprised with the speed. We cannot make the move until June 2019, so will an early grant be a problem?

3. How long do we have to make the designated investment from the date of grant receipt? Will the department offer flexibility with an extension if required?

Hi there,

We applied for the Business Visa (Investor) subclass 188b. Here’s the time line and status so far:

- EOI and State Nomination (NSW) on 09/03/18

- Nomination granted on 31/03/18

- Visa application on 26/04/18

- Medical and police clearance completed - 25/05/18

Can someone help with the following questions, please? 

1. Is the request for medical/police clearance any indication of when we might receive a grant, as I believe there is only a validity of 12 months?

2. The processing time on the website says 19-20 months, so very surprised with the speed. We cannot make the move until June 2019, so will an early grant be a problem?

3. How long do we have to make the designated investment from the date of grant receipt? Will the department offer flexibility with an extension if required?