New state government still supports significant investor visa. (SBS pictures)
Although the federal government review showed that significant investor visas (SIV) is of little economic benefit to the country and should be withdrawn, the new state, government, continues to support the visa, which provides a permanent route for wealthy foreigners to live in Australia.
A spokesman for the Home Office said in June that "SIV visas have absorbed more than A $10 billion in compliance investments," the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The main beneficiaries of SIV visas are Chinese. Of the 2022 people who have been granted SIV visas since 2012, 87 percent are rich in China, or about 1760.
Data submitted to the New State legislation Institute show that in 2017-18, New State government nominated 112 applicants for SIV permanent residence visas. IV visas were issued for "high net worth individuals" in exchange for permanent residence. It will invest A $5 million in Australia for "eligible investments", such as venture capital projects, stocks and corporate and government bonds. To meet visa requirements, investors need to be nominated by the state government and must demonstrate "genuine and practical sincerity" to settle in the state.
Although the SIV visa represents only a small fraction of Australia`s overall immigration quota, the 2016 review by the Productivity Commission feared that the visa would create the impression that "visas have been sold to wealthy foreigners."
(Gladys Berejiklian), the governor of the new state, announced through a spokesman that the state government supported the former visa on economic grounds, noting that the foreigners "each injected at least A $5 million into the new state economy, creating opportunities and jobs for the wider population."
New state industry office (Department of Industry) also supports the SIV visa program. A spokesman for the department said the state was "in a good position to benefit the new state`s economy through additional investment from businesses and investment immigrants." "the new state is home to many of the financial companies that provide compliance investments for SIV visas, and these companies focus their investment on SIV visas in the new state through a visa program."
But in its 2016 review, the Productivity Commission dismissed the economic benefits of the SIV visa as "negligible" and "mainly increased the benefits of visa holders and fund managers."
In addition, the report also points out that SIV visa holders are less socially integrated than other visa holders because of the lack of language and age requirements for SIV visa applicants, and are concerned that the visa is "abused as a way to invest `black money` in Australia". Therefore, it is recommended that government be cancelled.
Labour government set up a SIV visa in 2012, obtaining a four-year SIV residence visa (S188C) before applying for a SIV permanent residence visa (S888C). To date, the new state government has nominated a total of 1329 people to apply for S188C. But the four-year limit on S188C means that the government will not be able to nominate S188C visa holders to apply for permanent residence from November 2016.
