Significant Investor Visa (SIV) changes & creation of Premium Investor Visa (PIV) ($15 million) category

The Government today announced important changes to the Significant Investor Visa and creation of a Premium Investor visa.

The new Premium Investor Visa (PIV) will require an investment of $15 million, nomination by Austrade and has no residency requirements. PIV holders will be eligible for permanent residency after holding the complying investment for 12 months.

Other changes include:

• the involvement of Austrade in the nomination of applicants on behalf of the Australian Government and in determining complying investment policy
• allowing 'role swapping' between primary and secondary applicants during the provisional visa stage​
• introduction of 180 day residency requirements for secondary visa holders​
• changes to improve visa processing times

The changes will be made progressively through the 2014-15 programme year, with changes requiring legislative amendment expected to come into effect from 1 July 2015.

These changes will not apply to current SIV holders or current applications.

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Significant Investor Visa (SIV) - Update

The table below shows statistics since commencement of the SIV on 24 November 2012 until 31 August 2014.

Item	Total
Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted through SkillSelect	1650
Invitations to apply for a SIV issued as a result of applicants being nominated by a state or territory government	1382
Primary applications lodged	1172
Primary visas granted	386

As of 31 August 2014:

·         45.8 per cent of primary visa applications have been on hand for less than three months

·         AUD1.930 billion has been invested in Complying Investments

·         AUD3.055 billion is proposed to be invested in Complying Investments.

The table below shows the state and territory distribution of the SIV.

Significant Investor visa: State and territory distribution - 24 November 2012 - 31 August 2014

State	EOIs submitted	Invitations	Applications lodged	Visas granted
Any	39	N/A	N/A	N/A
ACT	4	0	0	0
NSW	550	431	380	146
NT	1	0	0	0
Qld	105	82	64	22
SA	41	35	24	9
Tas.	3	1	1	0
Vic.	846	783	663	193
WA	61	50	40	16
Total	1650	1382	1172	386

The table below shows the distribution of primary visa applications and visa grants for the top five source countries for the SIV.

Applicants for top five source countries	Percentage of total visa applications	Grants for top five source countries	Percentage of total visas granted
China	90.9	China	87.6
Hong Kong	3.1	Hong Kong	3.1
Malaysia	1.0	South Africa	1.6
South Africa	0.6	Japan	1.3
Taiwan	0.6	Malaysia	1.3

The table below shows the state and territory distribution of SIV for the 2013-2014 financial year.

Significant Investor Visa: State/territory distribution - 1 July 2013 – 30 June 2014

State	EOIs submitted	Invitations	Applications lodged	Visas granted
ANY	13	N/A	N/A	N/A
ACT	1	0	0	0
NSW	287	209	198	101
NT	0	0	0	0
Qld	54	36	33	19
SA	25	28	20	8
Tas.	1	1	1	0
Vic.	582	517	452	140
WA	29	24	18	14
Total	992	815	722	282

Last reviewed Friday 19 September 2014

Source: DIBP

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Significant Investor Visa – twenty months on

On 24^th November 2012 the Australian government introduced the significant investor visa (SIV) to encourage foreign investment into Australia. 

Successful applicants receive a 4 year provisional subclass 188 visa after investing AUD$5 million into 'approved' investment funds (including ASIC approved funds, state government bonds and proprietary operating companies).

If the subclass 188 visa holder spends a cumulative total of 160 days  in Australia over 4 years it is then possible to apply for a subclass 888 permanent residency visa or extend the subclass 188 visa.

After an initial slow start, interest in this visa category has been growing steadily with applications currently outstripping grants. The first successful visa was granted in September last year and since then grants have been averaging at around 30 to 35 per month. 

Statistics recently made available disclose the majority of applicants for this class of visa come from China (72%), with strong interest from other countries such as Malaysia, the United States, Canada and the UK. Because of the volume of applications from China and the need to ensure the integrity of them, processing of these applications is done by a dedicated team working out of Hong Kong. All other applications are dealt with in Adelaide. 

These visas are attractive to high net worth individuals who, because of their business and lifestyle obligations cannot commit to spending long periods of time in any particular place. Although the qualifying criteria may seem to be straightforward enough, they are not easy visas to obtain. National interest issues and source of funds (that is, where did the applicant get the $5m funds which are to be invested) figure prominently in all applications, and anyone thinking of applying for this class of visa should seek legal advice before doing so.

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Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash annoucement regarding 457 visa program and Significant Investor (SIV) program

The Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash announced that in light of the current inquiries into the subclass 457 visa program and the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program, the Government believes that the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration (MACSM) should be reconstituted with new terms of reference once the review reports are received.

Read full media statement and follow Nevett Ford on LinkedIn

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Greater investment flexibility as government reboots significant investor visa programme

New investment options have been added for significant investor visa applicants who wish to invest through eligible managed funds, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash said today.

The additional options for investment come as the government works towards rebooting the significant investor visa programme, to ensure it produces the best possible outcomes for the nation.

Read full article here

Follow Nevett Ford on LinkedIn

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