Since the official launch of the major investor visa (Significant Investor Visa,188C in November 2012, wealthy overseas have invested A $9.2 billion to "buy" permanent residency in Australia, according to the Australian Financial Review. But the plan underperformed expectations, with only 1855 people signed as of July 31, 2017.
Deloitte accounting firm (Deloitte) had predicted that major investor visas would attract 700 applicants a year. Goldman Sachs (Goldman Sachs) also thought it could attract A $10 billion a year if fully implemented. But the number of visa applicants has shrunk from a peak of 592 in 2014-15 to 405 in 2016-17, since the government introduced new rules to restrict investment in real estate and well-known companies in 2015.
Applicants for major investor visas are required to invest A $5 million in designated projects for four consecutive years before applying for permanent residency. Designated investments include at least A $ five hundred thousand in Australian venture capital or growth private equity funds (i.e., start-ups and small private companies) and at least 1.5 million in listed investment firms that invest in emerging companies. The remaining 3 million can be invested in Australian-listed securities, corporate bonds, pensions or real estate.
It is understood that the government revised the regulations in 2015 because of excessive investment in passive investments such as bonds and real estate. In a statement issued at the time, the Immigration Department wrote that the (Complying Investment Framework) would help screen immigrants who will invest in Australia's priority economic sectors and target Australian start-ups.
Major investor visas are subcategories of 188 temporary visas and 888 permanent visas-the government names it after China's lucky figure of "8" or hopes to attract more Chinese. Statistics have found that the Chinese account for 87.5% of the total number of visas.
