Recently received a lot of advice on 1818A permanent residence (888 visa) rejected. We note that many visa rejection is due to the incorrect and incomplete understanding of the request for permanent residence 888A by 188A visa holders, resulting in two years of hard work and even losing the opportunity to obtain permanent residence in Australia. We have summed up the following three main mistakes that are most likely to be made in the transition to permanent residence:
First, not participating in daily operation and management
Some applicants misinterpret 188A-888 as "investment immigrants": it seems as long as they invest in Australian business and keep a stake. In fact, the 188A visa is in the category of skilled immigrants. Australia's government set up such visas to introduce skilled business-savvy people rather than capital. 188A holders need to demonstrate their business skills by demonstrating their success in running one or more businesses in Australia. Therefore, whether the applicant personally participates in the operation and management, is the immigration inspection focus. This is clearly stated in the immigration legislation:
…the applicant maintains, or has maintained, direct and continuous involvement in management of the business from day to day and in making decisions affecting the overall direction and performance of the business…
The applicant is required to be directly and continuously involved in day-to-day business management, and is a decision maker who sets the overall direction of business operations and affects performance.
To successfully apply for 888 permanent residence, 188A holders need to keep evidence of their personal involvement in business management from the outset. Generally speaking, supporting evidence includes signature documents, supporting letters, minutes of meetings, and so on. Note, in particular, the need to prove at least two years of involvement in management, not just the last 12 months.
It is also important to note that this requirement is sometimes linked to the requirement for time of residence in Australia. We know that the requirement to apply for permanent residence 888 A is that you must live in Australia for at least 12 months in the last two years. But even if the applicant meets the minimum requirement for this residence, if he does not live in Australia for a long time, the visa officer may be sceptical about his involvement in the day-to-day management of the business. Applicants in this situation should pay particular attention to evidence of how business is managed while they are not in Australia.
Second, business is "active" for less than two years.
When applying for 888 A permanent residence, many of the requirements are only for the last year. For example, the requirements for personal assets in Australia, the annual turnover of the company, the requirements for net assets of the company and the number of local employees all depend on the last 12 months prior to the application. As a result, some 188A holders mistakenly assumed that other requirements were only for the last 12 months, leading to the rejection of applications for permanent residence. In fact, the time requirements for the following three points are at least two years:
Maintain a 30% or more stake in business (small business or listed companies require different requirements);
Participate in the day-to-day management of the business (as mentioned above);
Keeping "active" (Actively Operating), is the easiest thing to ignore.
So, what is "active operation"? "active operation" usually means that the business has begun to offer products or service to the public. Just set up a company, but the business does not work, it is not "active operation". Some new business applicants were not clear about this requirement, did not work hard in the first year, did not even start business at all, and did not retain evidence of market development, resulting in a refusal to sign. New Town suggests that the new 188 A owners should start business as soon as possible. If sales are not immediately available at the start-up stage of the business, try to retain evidence of activities such as marketing, customer visits, contracts of interest, and so on.
III. Sources of funding
This is another issue that is easily overlooked by 188 A holders. Some applicants believe that the source of funding has been explained in detail when applying for 188A, so there is no problem with the second-stage application. Actually this is not so。
In immigration legislation, it is clear that visa officers must check that assets are lawful when examining the following two categories of assets:
Personal assets of applicant and spouse in Australia
Net assets of applicant and spouse in business
For 188A holders, domestic assets in China have been explained and approved at the time of application for 188A. The point, therefore, is to prove that the assets were legally transferred from China to Australia. Some applicants use funds in Australia that were not disclosed at the time of the 188A application to invest in business and cannot prove their legal route of transfer, as well as funds transferred under other names or transferred from Chinese companies. Can have serious consequences that can't prove the legal source of money.
188 A to permanent residence preparation time is long, preparation materials are more. It is recommended that applicants seek guidance from a professional company before setting up or buying a business and regularly consult professional immigration consultants during the two-year period of business operation in order to ensure a successful permanent residence visa.
