Australia to Review Significant Investor Visa Program Thursday, March 13, 2014 The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) is planning to undertake a review to reboot the Australian significant investor visa programme as announced by the Coalition government on 7 March 2014. Acknowledging that the progress of the significant investor visa (SIV) programme is currently held up due to significant implementation issues, the Coalition government wants the review to be carried out to send a clear message that Australia is open for business on this visa. There were only 26 significant investor visas issued from the programmes commencement in November 2012 until the election in September 2013, with $140 million in complying investments. Since the Coalition government came to office, DIBP has approved more than 116 visas under this programme with more than $580 million in complying investments. In the first month of the year 2014, Australia received more than $165 million in complying investments via the programme, in comparison to Labors monthly peak of $30 million in July last year. According to Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash, DIBP will conduct the internal review in close consultation with the financial services industry and stakeholders, considering all options under the review to enhance the SIV programme. There will be particular emphasis on examining ways of enhancing greater flexibility and investment choices to significant investor visa applicants, as well as faster processing of applications for this visa. The review will also examine the possibility of introducing a new permanent visa stream for investment migrants, said Minister Cash. This review will further assist the programme to attract international investment to Australia in the competitive global market, she added. The significant investor visa, a new stream within the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (Subclass 188) visa and the Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) (Subclass 888) visa, is designed to facilitate migration of foreign investors who are willing to invest at least $5 million into approved investments for a minimum of four years.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 11:42:13 +0000
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