The new Labour government (in power since 2022) has effectively suspended the subclass 188 program for new applications as of 1 July 2023. A review that was published earlier this year recommended ending or significantly changing the subclass 188 program. The review was more favorable towards the Significant Investor visa (Subclass 188 "c" with
the A$5m million investment), and saw potential in the Entrepreneur visa (Subclass 188 "e"). The review saw no overall value in the Business Innovation visa (Subclass 188 "a" for business owners). There are no quotas by country, and no processing queues by country, however applications from the greater China region (China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) are processed by a separate team based in Hong Kong, whereas other countries are processed in the Adelaide Business Skills
Processing Centre. In the past, this has resulted in slower processing times for applications from China due to the smaller processing team dealing with a larger queue of applications. At this time it is likely Australia will not see a business innovation /
business owner pathway in the near future. I think it's likely we will have a pathway similar to the Significant Visa in the 2024/25 program year (starting 1 July 2024) requiring a A$5m investment in Australia. I would recommend looking at other alternatives to the business innovation / owner pathway.
