COVID-19 has affected the lives of many, it is a challenging time for all of us, the border is closed, businesses are struggling. There is a group of visa holders hoping to get the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs’ (the Department) attention: they are Subclass 888 visa applicants who are still waiting for their visa to be decided. Subclass 888 visa is a Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa, which is the final step for 188 visa holders to get their Permanent visas. The processing time now has been significantly increased to over 24 months, some even over 30 months (it used to be only around 6 months to 1 year). This petition is to bring to your kind attention and to call upon the Department to accelerate the processing of the 888 visa applications.

888 visa applicants are in a very difficult situation, most of them are not holding any substantial visas. Their 188 visas are only valid for 4 years or 4 years and 3 months, and for most of them, such as 188B and 188C visa holders, they can only apply for 888 visas when they have held 188 visas for almost 4 years, so when they apply for 888, their 188 visas are about to expire at the same time. They are neither 188 visa holders nor permanent residents, therefore, they are not eligible for current travel restriction exception like 188 visa holders and Permanent residents, many of them are forced to be separated from their spouses and children; they are hardly able to get a mortgage if they want to expand their business or make any further investment; it is even difficult for them to apply for other countries’ visas in Australia. Because they do not hold substantial visas here, other countries’ case officers would easily suspect their intention. The processing time before was manageable, but now the processing time is over 2 years, some are almost 3 years, it is way longer than other popular permanent visa options such as GTI, 190, 186, even 189, it is unfair.

888 visa applicants have already settled in Australia, they are running businesses here, they are making investments here, their children are attending local schools here, they are playing a vital role in the community. Even they obtain permanent visas, they are not eligible for any Centrelink payments/allowance, because their family assets are above the limit, so they will not place any burden on Centrelink. Moreover, last year, the Department did announce that it doubled the investor visa quota to 13,500 in 2020-2021. We believe the department and the community do recognize 188/888 visa holders’ contributions. But now 2-3years of processing time for 188 visa applications, and over 2 years of processing time for the following 888 visas, is really unreasonable. Therefore, we are sincerely hoping that the Department could consider accelerating the processing of 888 visa applications.