Investor Visa Subclass 188b

[Steve Elliott]

Hi Jun

From what you have stated, you may have difficulty as you need to demonstrate your residency in Queensland for 2 years to be eligible for nomination for the 888. 
You should certainly seek some advice on this from an RMA as you must be nominated by QLD to apply and you would have agreed to the Queensland requirements at the 188 stage.

[Marisawright]

On 30/03/2022 at 08:59, jun689 said:

I am primary holder of 188B visa of Queensland nomination. How should  I do or am I eligible to apply 888B visa if my family has been resided in Queensland for 3 years but myself has been living in Sydney due to work reason?

You are the primary holder so you are the one that must reside in Queensland for the required time

[jun689]

On 01/04/2022 at 21:38, Steve Elliott said:

Hi Jun

From what you have stated, you may have difficulty as you need to demonstrate your residency in Queensland for 2 years to be eligible for nomination for the 888. 
You should certainly seek some advice on this from an RMA as you must be nominated by QLD to apply and you would have agreed to the Queensland requirements at the 188 stage.

Thanks for your advice. I heard there is a swapping between primary applicant and secondary applicant (provided that the bond is in both name) and therefore secondary applicant can be the one apply for 888 if the secondary one had resided in QLD for 2 years. Am I correct?

[Alan Collett]

22 hours ago, jun689 said:

Thanks for your advice. I heard there is a swapping between primary applicant and secondary applicant (provided that the bond is in both name) and therefore secondary applicant can be the one apply for 888 if the secondary one had resided in QLD for 2 years. Am I correct?

Respectfully, this is too important an issue for a discussion forum.

I recommend you pay for a written opinion on your permanent visa strategy.

Best regards.

[Steve Elliott]

On 08/04/2022 at 20:15, jun689 said:

Thanks for your advice. I heard there is a swapping between primary applicant and secondary applicant (provided that the bond is in both name) and therefore secondary applicant can be the one apply for 888 if the secondary one had resided in QLD for 2 years. Am I correct?

I concur with Alan. Obtain some qualified expert professional advice on this. The stakes are too high not to.

[dangdang]

On 22/12/2020 at 04:56, saher 1 said:

Hey everyone, 

good news came up today, I applied on the 30th December 2018- 

last month they asked me to submit new police checks and do medical examination again.

today they approved my Application and asked to to do the investment.

good Luck for all of you Guys.

Hi Saher!!! May i ask how many days the Case Office allow you to do the investment? can we extend it? Thanks

[Steve Elliott]

Hi Dangdang

Typically you will get either 28 or 70 days. It usually depends on whether you are an onshore or offshore applicant. Typically 28 days onshore.

One word of caution though is to not delay once you have received your invitation letter. Opening up the investment account can take quite some time. Some of the registries which manage the investments require applicants to send "original certified copies" of identification documents which means hard copies sent in the mail before they will open the account and allow the investment to be made. I have seen a few people get tripped up by this over the years.

So don't delay once you have your invitation letter. Prior to receiving the invitation. you might even chose to download the relevant documents from the registry and note exactly what they require.

All the best

[dangdang]

On 30/05/2022 at 06:38, Steve Elliott said:

Hi Dangdang

Typically you will get either 28 or 70 days. It usually depends on whether you are an onshore or offshore applicant. Typically 28 days onshore.

One word of caution though is to not delay once you have received your invitation letter. Opening up the investment account can take quite some time. Some of the registries which manage the investments require applicants to send "original certified copies" of identification documents which means hard copies sent in the mail before they will open the account and allow the investment to be made. I have seen a few people get tripped up by this over the years.

So don't delay once you have your invitation letter. Prior to receiving the invitation. you might even chose to download the relevant documents from the registry and note exactly what they require.

All the best

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your reply and may i have your email address if possible.

Kind regards,

Dangdang

 

 

[Jeremylin]

I submitted all documents except Form 80 for visa 188B on June 2022.  Do I also need to submit Form 80 for via 188B?

 

Thank you 

[jun689]

Hi everybody, do you have specific WA and NSW state requirements on 188B and 888B visa prior 2021July? Thanks ahead

[Steve Elliott]

On 22/12/2022 at 08:27, jun689 said:

Hi everybody, do you have specific WA and NSW state requirements on 188B and 888B visa prior 2021July? Thanks ahead

You would have received this information when you were invited to apply for the 188b

[Areyousure]

recently got my PR and my parents  are now considering to make the move to Aus as well. My dad runs a successful business back home. 
 

I looked into the business visa criteria and they would need to invest 1.25-2.5 million, which is doable for them. They score ~ 110 on the points. But the main issue they are having is that they turn 58 this year. It states that you won’t be invited if you are aged > 55. 
 

I was wondering whether anyone has any experience getting a state sponsorship? Any chance of that happening? And any agents on this site who deals with this sort of visa?

[Marisawright]

19 hours ago, Areyousure said:

recently got my PR and my parents  are now considering to make the move to Aus as well. My dad runs a successful business back home. 

I looked into the business visa criteria and they would need to invest 1.25-2.5 million, which is doable for them. They score ~ 110 on the points. But the main issue they are having is that they turn 58 this year. It states that you won’t be invited if you are aged > 55. 

Unfortunately, they won't invite people over 55 because it's too close to old age.  The government worries that they may have as little as 5 years' working life left to contribute taxes and Medicare levy before they retire and start costing the government money in health, pensions and aged care.    Even people who are fit and healthy in their 50's are often on at least one medication (blood pressure, statins etc) by age 65 and anyone over 50 will also be having regular preventive health checks for a variety of conditions, and the cost to the taxpayer mounts up quickly.  I say this as someone in their late 60s, by the way, so not having a go at older people, it's just the way it is.

[Steve Elliott]

On 13/01/2023 at 01:51, Areyousure said:

recently got my PR and my parents  are now considering to make the move to Aus as well. My dad runs a successful business back home. 
 

I looked into the business visa criteria and they would need to invest 1.25-2.5 million, which is doable for them. They score ~ 110 on the points. But the main issue they are having is that they turn 58 this year. It states that you won’t be invited if you are aged > 55. 
 

I was wondering whether anyone has any experience getting a state sponsorship? Any chance of that happening? And any agents on this site who deals with this sort of visa?

The Business and Investment Visa program is effectively closed and will most likely not reopen until July at the earliest. The BIIP program is also under review so no one really knows what it will look like if and when it reopens.

Prior to closing, the investor stream required an investment of $2.5m (previously was $1.5m). Business owners potentially don’t have to invest that much but had to satisfy other criteria as well as undertake to operate a business in Australia.

All these visa streams require applicants to be under 55, however some states would potentially accept applications from older applicants in circumstances where the applicant was deemed exceptional. These cases were rare but  possible. It really boils down looking at the merits of the applicant. Otherwise the only other avenue for business people was the significant investor visa which required an investment of $5m.

 

 

 

[Foot356]

I heard 188b visa and 188c visa application are being refused after investment recently. After investment some of them received the letter to return the money. What's the reason?

[Alan Collett]

19 hours ago, Foot356 said:

I heard 188b visa and 188c visa application are being refused after investment recently. After investment some of them received the letter to return the money. What's the reason?

Please advise where you heard this.   Thanks.

Best regards.

[Foot356]

From my friend. My friend heard of it from his immigration agent in Brisbane. His agent is handling dozens of 188 visa. I think it was unusual.

[Alan Collett]

4 minutes ago, Foot356 said:

From my friend. My friend heard of it from his immigration agent in Brisbane. His agent is handling dozens of 188 visa. I think it was unusual.

Tread carefully when you hear from a friend ... a lot can get missed in translation ...

Best regards,

[Foot356]

I know my English skills are not so good. But I clearly understand what my friend said to me. My visa was granted after investment. But my friend told me even though some people had made an investment, they were not granted their visa recently. Instead they received a letter to return the money. (188C)

[Alan Collett]

34 minutes ago, Foot356 said:

I know my English skills are not so good. But I clearly understand what my friend said to me. My visa was granted after investment. But my friend told me even though some people had made an investment, they were not granted their visa recently. Instead they received a letter to return the money. (188C)

First I've heard of this scenario - and I like to think I'm pretty close to the action on the visa front.

Indeed, I'm not sure the course of action you've described is lawful.

Are you sure there's not another reason the visa application was refused after the investment was made?

Best regards.

[Steve Elliott]

4 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

First I've heard of this scenario - and I like to think I'm pretty close to the action on the visa front.

Indeed, I'm not sure the course of action you've described is lawful.

Are you sure there's not another reason the visa application was refused after the investment was made?

Best regards.

From what has been written, I can only conclude that investments were made prior to grant. This is potentially problematic on several fronts eg funds potentially not being compliant. I can think of a few other scenarios too. Notwithstanding, I do not believe DHA would issue a directive to return the money. Withdrawing funds might be a consequence of a refusal but DHA will not instruct an applicant to withdraw funds. It’s a simple fact that approx 30% of 188c applications lodged do not lead to grant. Most which fail do so due to either “source of funds and or character issues”

[Jalphonse]

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

 

[Steve Elliott]

HI John

Your questions are very specific and any registered migration agent would be reluctant to answer these questions without more information and in a public forum, due to the fact that as soon as they provide advice, they are on the hook for the advice provided, even when provided in good faith and for free.

Having said that, I can offer a few pointers as Business and Investment visas are "my thing" as well as providing investment advice to investor migrants.

1. The answer to Q1 is dependent on the date of your visa grant. The key is that that the investment must be held for a minimum period of 4 years from time of grant. Your investment will most likely have been a bond with a specific maturity date, at which date it is redeemed. Some states do not offer the option of reinvestment.

2. You need to investigate this from the perspectives of both DHA eg legislation as well as the requirements of the nominating state and or territory. Some states require  evidence of an ongoing commitment to investing in their jurisdiction. There are several ways to satisfy this requirement. - This is very important as the 188/888 application requires nomination of the application at both stages.

3. Typically. YES however, you may want to seek some advice re tax residency status.

4. Probably.

[Steve Elliott]

John - Having just re read the legislation, I certainly would not contemplate contemplate taking any of the funds offshore and would certainly lead to wards maintaining the investment in the jurisdiction of the nominating state or territory. Good luck