The Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, Mr Chris Bowen, has announced the introduction of the Significant Investor visa which is scheduled to commence from 24 November 2012 and will form part of the Business Innovation and Investment Program. The relevant subclasses relating to this visa are the Business Innovation and Investment subclass 188 provisional visa and subclass 888 permanent visa.
The Significant Investor visa is designed to attract successful investors and entrepreneurs who will assist in boosting the Australian economy and will provide Australia with a pathway of effectively competing for high net worth individuals seeking investment immigration on an international scale.
Applicants who are interested in applying for the Significant Investor visa are required to:
- Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect;
- Be nominated by a State or Territory government; and
- Make an investment of at least AUD$5 million in a complying investment.
Complying investments for the significant visa stream include:
- State or Territory bonds;
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) regulated managed funds with a mandate for investing in Australia; and
- Direct investment into private Australian companies not listed on the Australian stock exchange.
Investors will be entitled to hold investments in each of the investment options and may also be entitled to change between complying investments, subject to being able to meet the reinvestment requirements.
Successful investors who make an investment of AUD$5 million in a complying investment will receive the benefit of:
- No points test;
- No upper age limit; and
- Reduced residency requirement of 160 days over four years.
Significant Investor visa applicants will have the flexibility of extending their initial four year visa term, if required by additional two year periods, with a maximum of two extensions being permitted.
Whilst the Significant Investor visa does not immediately provide the applicant with permanent residency status, it is likely that the majority of applicants, who have held complying investments in Australia for a minimum of four years and continue to meet the relevant requirements, will be eligible for permanent residency status. The key conditions to the pathway of permanent residency status will be announced in the near future.
The implementation of the Significant Investor visa stream will effectively promote the Australian migration program which is not only important to Australia’s economy in terms of skills, but will assist in promoting innovation and capital investment. The Significant Investor visa will create a new source of investment capital and increase the pool of funds managed locally. In turn, this will stimulate growth in industries such as, real estate property, financial planning, fund administration, stockbroking, accounting and funds management. It will also bring Australia into line with other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand, which provide for migration on the basis of specified investments and conditions.
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