NEWS : Australia relaxing Investor Visa scheme after Canada's Investor Fallout

[XpressEnterprise]

Australia might be relaxing the rules on a visa scheme targeted at rich Chinese buyers.

The Australian Significant Investor Visa (SIV) scheme has been running for 18 months. A more pricey version of Europe’s ‘Golden Visas’, the scheme offers residency to individuals who invest over AU$5million (US$4.6m) in the country.

At the moment, the SIV is experiencing a massive backlog in applications. By the end of June 2014, only 286 visas had been approved. According to the Immigration Department, 1,497 “expressions of interest” are still outstanding. The recent scrapping of Canada’s CAN$800,000 ‘millionaire visa’ is only likely to drive these numbers up.

The relaxing of regulation would speed up approvals, the Australian government has said. A spokesman for Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Control told Reuters that the government wanted ”to facilitate rather than frustrate such investment programmes”, though further details have not been forthcoming. The authorities expect to announce the new rules in November of this year.

So far, more than 90% of applicants for the SIV have been from China – whose investment was a main driver of the ongoing inquiry into foreign investment in real estate. This number might wane as the Chinese government cracks down on officials illegally transferring money abroad, but for now Australia remains the second most popular destination for Chinese buyers, second only to the US.

Another Asian market likely to be pleased by the news is Singapore. It is the fourth biggest source of foreign investment in Australia (with around AU$2billion spent in the 2012-13 financial year), according to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and buyers are particularly interested in Sydney property.

By Francine Carrel, international property reporter, OPP

 

[vizsagar]

Australia might be relaxing the rules on a visa scheme targeted at rich Chinese buyers.

The Australian Significant Investor Visa (SIV) scheme has been running for 18 months. A more pricey version of Europe's ‘Golden Visas', the scheme offers residency to individuals who invest over AU$5million (US$4.6m) in the country.

At the moment, the SIV is experiencing a massive backlog in applications. By the end of June 2014, only 286 visas had been approved. According to the Immigration Department, 1,497 “expressions of interest” are still outstanding. The recent scrapping of Canada's CAN$800,000 ‘millionaire visa' is only likely to drive these numbers up.

The relaxing of regulation would speed up approvals, the Australian government has said. A spokesman for Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Control told Reuters that the government wanted ”to facilitate rather than frustrate such investment programmes”, though further details have not been forthcoming. The authorities expect to announce the new rules in November of this year.

So far, more than 90% of applicants for the SIV have been from China – whose investment was a main driver of the ongoing inquiry into foreign investment in real estate. This number might wane as the Chinese government cracks down on officials illegally transferring money abroad, but for now Australia remains the second most popular destination for Chinese buyers, second only to the US.

Another Asian market likely to be pleased by the news is Singapore. It is the fourth biggest source of foreign investment in Australia (with around AU$2billion spent in the 2012-13 financial year), according to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and buyers are particularly interested in Sydney property.

By Francine Carrel, international property reporter, OPP

Hi There,

Do you have any source to find out what exactly is required to migrate to Australia
for investor program.

I want to check if Australia is workable incase Canada immigration thing doesn't work
(God forbid).

God bless !!

Viz

 

[XpressEnterprise]

Hi,

I think what I've heard is that it's called Significant Investor Visa Program. Different subclasses are involved, so you need to explore which one would suite you. I don't even have the slightest clue of what are the requirements, but age shouldn't be more than 45. And there's no guarantee for the return of investment as well. I think US E2 investor visa is also there, but then again... you may want to do more research on that too.

Go through this link : Australia Significant Investor visa

Also check out : Queensland's immigration programs


Also explore USA EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program as it sounds quite catchy.