Australia’s National Innovation visa sets no minimum investment

Australia’s National Innovation visa, subclass 858, sets no minimum capital, investment or net-worth requirement. The permanent visa, available by invitation only since 6 December 2024, selects main applicants on an internationally recognised record of exceptional achievement. The Business Innovation and Investment Program, including the AUD 5 million Significant Investor stream, stopped taking new applications on 31 July 2024.

What closed

Regulations made on 18 July 2024 added one condition to four streams of the provisional subclass 188 visa, Business Innovation, Investor, Significant Investor and Entrepreneur: the application had to be made before 31 July 2024. The Significant Investor stream had required an investment of at least AUD 5 million.

The closure did not end cases already in the system. Subclass 188 applications lodged before the cut-off are still processed, in an order set by a ministerial direction that puts the Entrepreneur stream first and the Significant Investor stream last. Holders of a 188 visa can still apply for the permanent subclass 888 visa. The 2026–27 planning level for the talent and innovation category, 3,500 places, includes 20 for the Business Innovation and Investment visas.

What replaced Global Talent

The National Innovation visa took over from the Global Talent visa for applications made on or after 6 December 2024. The regulations require that the main applicant “was invited, in writing, by the Minister to apply”. Candidates first lodge an expression of interest, which stays valid for two years; an invited candidate has 60 days to apply.

Under the ordinary route in the regulations, the main applicant must have an internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in a profession, a sport, the arts, or academia and research, and must still be prominent in that area. The applicant must also be an asset to the Australian community and have no difficulty finding work or becoming established independently in that area. An Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian organisation with a national reputation in the same field must attest to that record on Form 1000. Applicants under 18 or aged 55 or over must show they would be of exceptional benefit to Australia. Family members can be included in the application. The visa is permanent from the date of grant.

What it costs

Neither the visa’s criteria in the regulations nor the application rules set a capital, investment or net-worth amount. The money set by law is the application charge. For most applicants it is AUD 6,235 for the main applicant, AUD 3,120 for each additional adult and AUD 1,560 for each child. A second instalment of AUD 4,890, payable before grant, applies to each applicant aged 18 or over at application who does not have functional English, with exemptions for certain family-violence cases. A lower first instalment applies where the main applicant holds a valid passport from an eligible Pacific Island country or Timor-Leste, and to family members combined with that application.

The processing direction treats current earnings, or a written Australian job offer, at or above the Fair Work high income threshold as one sign of achievement. It is not a condition of the visa.

Where investors fit

A ministerial direction in force since 25 July 2026 sets the order in which applications are processed. First come global experts who hold top-of-field international awards. Second are candidates nominated by an expert federal, state or territory government agency. Third and fourth are candidates with exceptional and outstanding achievements in two tiers of priority sectors; the first tier covers critical technologies, renewable and low-emission technologies and health, and the second includes financial services and fintech. Everyone else follows.

No tier is reserved for investors. For candidates nominated by a government agency, the direction expressly lists a record as a significant “Angel” investor in successful innovative ventures, or leading an internationally reputed company to its initial public offering, among the achievements to be considered. The Department of Home Affairs still names “innovative investors” among the people the visa is meant to attract.

Selection is narrow. Invitation rounds run monthly. Across the five quarters from April 2025 to June 2026, the department received 11,046 expressions of interest and issued 854 invitations; in the latest quarter, fewer than 20 went to agency-nominated candidates. The planning level for the talent and innovation category falls from 5,300 places in 2025–26 to 3,500 in 2026–27.

For Vietnamese investors

For a new applicant, the question of how much capital an Australian investor visa requires now leads to a closed programme: the initial subclass 188 business and investment streams took their last applications in July 2024, and the National Innovation visa sets no capital threshold. Capital requirements still matter to applicants whose 188 cases are pending and to 188 holders moving to the 888. The department directs applicants to a guide showing processing times for recently decided applications; this article did not establish a figure. TLT’s earlier report on the closure covers the other options that remained for investors.