Major changes for Significant Investor Visa
Australian small and medium sized businesses, including entrepreneurial start-ups, will welcome news over last weekend from Scott Morrison M.P, Australia’s new Immigration Minister, of four major changes coming for Australia’s Significant Investor Visa (SIV) applicants.
Firstly, Significant Investor Visa holders must each invest $5 million into Australia.
Morrison has flagged having a more flexible approach that could see this investment capital being available to more Australian small and medium sized businesses, including entrepreneurial start-ups.
Secondly, Morrison also committed to cutting the current unnecessary 9 month processing time for the visa.
This should increase the numbers expressing interest in it from about 470 expected in this first year.
Thirdly, Morrison wants these significant investors to invest hundreds of millions more than their initial $5 million, as they decide to come and settle and become part of Australia’s community and an Australian citizen.
These investors are targeted to bring their experience, knowledge, networks, families, and not just their wealth here to become part of Australia’s future over a generation.
Australian residency will be more flexible for investors
Morrison will make Australian residency more flexible for the head of the investor family (even though they only need to reside 160 days out of 4 years in Australia now) as they spend their time overseas predominantly running their global businesses.
He will create mechanisms for the family of these visa holders to stay in Australia. With their children studying here, families become anchored in Australia and children eventually take over those businesses and move the axis of the family’s international family business to an Australian family business.
Finally, Morrison flags a more sophisticated and pro-active engagement programme from Australia’s immigration department working with Australia’s business community, the migration agent community and drawing on the contacts within our own ethnic communities across Australia to identify and target suitable investors, whether it’s in China, India or the Middle East.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner with two-way goods and services trade worth $128 billion in 2011-12. China is also Australia’s largest source of overseas students, with around 150,000 enrolments in 2012.
China has over one million millionaires and between 200 – 350 billionaires, so more high net worth individuals will now be looking to Australia for new investment opportunities via Australia’s S.I.V. program.
Throughout November 2013 solicitor, barrister & migration agent Mr. Justin Rickard of www.australianimmigrationlawyers.com and licensed business broker Ms. Catherine Austin will be speaking at a series of seminars and workshops in Sydney and surrounds to Australian companies looking for Asian, especially Chinese, investors before leading a delegation to Hong Kong, Beijing & Shanghai, China.
In China they will meet with investors looking for Australian property, business investments and schooling