Visas and the queue

Australian Significant Investor Visa

Also called SIV, Significant Investor stream, subclass 188C, significant investor visa.

The Australian Significant Investor Visa was the Significant Investor stream of the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa, subclass 188: it required a complying significant investment of at least AUD 5,000,000 held for the life of the visa, and it closed permanently to new applications on 31 July 2024.

What it decides

Entry ran through an expression of interest, nomination by a State or Territory government agency or by Austrade, and an invitation. For invitations issued on or after 1 July 2021 the AUD 5,000,000 had to be at least AUD 1,000,000 in venture capital and growth private equity funds, at least AUD 1,500,000 in managed funds holding emerging companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and at least AUD 2,500,000 in a balancing investment, held continuously for the life of the provisional visa, which runs up to five years. Earlier invitations used AUD 500,000, AUD 1,500,000 and AUD 3,000,000 and asked only for a genuine intention to hold for four years. Direct investment in residential real estate was barred and the investment could not secure a loan. Permanent residence came through the subclass 888 Significant Investor stream, which needs 40 days a year in Australia from the investor or 180 from the partner. Home Affairs closed the whole Business Innovation and Investment Program on 31 July 2024; earlier applications are still processed, withdrawal can refund the visa application charge, and the Extension streams remain. No job creation was ever required.

Governed by Department of Home Affairs, Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188), Significant Investor stream, page last updated 1 July 2026, for the AUD 5,000,000 figure, the nomination and invitation route, both investment mixes, the continuous holding rule, the up to five year stay, the residential property and loan security bars and the subclass 888 residence days; Department of Home Affairs, BIIP closure and refunds, last updated 5 August 2026, for the permanent closure on 31 July 2024, the continued processing of earlier applications and the refund rules that exclude the Extension streams. The criteria themselves sit in Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth); no clause number is cited because the Federal Register of Legislation publishes that compilation only as downloadable Word and PDF volumes.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into australian significant investor visa rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

EB-5 Immigrant Investor ProgramEB-5 is the employment-based fifth preference immigrant visa category: a foreign national who invests the required capital in a new US commercial enterprise receives permanent residence, granted first on a two year conditional basis, and keeps it by proving that the investment created full-time jobs for at least ten qualifying US workers. It leads to residence, not citizenship.
Quebec Immigrant Investor ProgramThe Quebec Immigrant Investor Program is Quebec's investor immigration route: a five year, interest free investment of CAD 1,000,000 that the province guarantees and repays in full, plus a non-refundable CAD 200,000 contribution, buys Quebec selection, while Canada alone decides permanent residence.
Citizenship by investmentCitizenship by investment is a scheme that grants a country's nationality, and its passport, in exchange for a set payment or investment; the United States runs no such scheme, and EB-5 buys conditional permanent residence, never citizenship.
Capital at riskThe rule that the investor's required capital must be genuinely exposed to loss, with a real chance of gain, and not shielded by a guaranteed return or by any contractual right to repayment.
Golden visaGolden visa is a colloquial name for a foreign residence by investment programme that grants residence in the country running it in return for a qualifying investment; it is not a term in United States law, it grants nothing in the United States, and the closest US equivalent is EB-5, which is bought with a real enterprise and ten jobs rather than with a payment.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary