The Australian Significant Investor visa (SIV) scheme aka “golden visa” offers quick and easy path to permanent residency in Australia to international investors who invest AUD$ 5 million for 4 years in Australia.
The Australian SIV 188C Visa has number of benefits such as:
- Low residency requirement (40 days per year for primary applicant)
- No English requirement
- No age limit
- No points testing
- Fast processing (Visa grants far quicker than other countries)
- Money can be gifted to spouse to become primary applicant
- Dependent children as sub-applicants
- Due to low residency requirement, the applicant doesn’t need to be an Australian resident for tax purposes.
- Ability to extend provisional visa by 2 x 2 year extensions
- Australian citizenship after 4 years of holding lawful permanent residence.
The following are the breakdown of $5 million investment solutions which qualify for the Significant Investor Visa (SIV), being:
- At least $500,000 in eligible Australian venture capital or growth private equity (VCPE) fund(s) investing in start-up and small private companies. The government expects to increase this to $1 million for new applications within two years as the market responds;
- At least $1.5 million in an eligible managed fund(s) or listed investment companies (LICs) that invest in emerging companies; and,
- A ‘balancing investment’ of up to $3 million in managed fund(s) or LICs that invest in a combination of eligible assets that include Australian listed securities, eligible corporate bonds or notes, annuities and real property (subject to the 10 per cent limit on residential real estate).
Chinese are the major investors in Australian golden visa scheme.
The table below shows SIV statistics from 1 July 2016 to 31 March 2017.
| Item | Total |
|---|---|
| Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted through SkillSelect | 351 |
| Invitations to apply for a SIV issued as a result of applicants being nominated by a state or territory government | 323 |
| Primary applications lodged | 281 |
| Primary visas granted (subject to regulations post 1 July 2015) | 131 |
| Primary visas granted (subject to regulations prior to 1 July 2015) | 213 |
As of 31 March 2017:
- 1778 SIV visas have been granted from the commencement of the programme on 24 November 2012.
-
- 1623 (subject to regulations prior to 1 July 2015)
- 155 (subject to regulations post 1 July 2015)
-
- AUD 8.890 billion has been invested in Complying Investments.
The table below shows government sponsor distribution of the SIV.
Significant Investor visa: Government sponsor distribution – 1 July 2016 to 31 March 2017.
| State | Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted through SkillSelect | Invitation | Applications lodged | Visas granted (application lodged prior to 1 July 2015) |
Visas granted (application lodged on or after 1 July 2015) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any | 7 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Austrade | <7 | <5 | <5 | 0 | <5 |
| ACT | <5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NSW | 121 | 115 | 100 | 50 | 43 |
| NT | <5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| QLD | 19 | 18 | 15 | 5 | <5 |
| SA | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| TAS | 0 | 0 | <5 | 0 | 0 |
| VIC | 179 | 178 | 156 | 146 | 84 |
| WA | 5 | <5 | <5 | <5 | <5 |
| Total | 351 | 323 | 281 | 213 | 131 |
The table below shows the distribution of primary visa applications and visa grants for the top five source countries from the commencement of the programme – 24 November 2012 – 31 March 2017 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 | 89.3 | China | 88.0 |
| Hong Kong | 3.2 | Hong Kong | 2.9 |
| Malaysia | 1.2 | Malaysia | 1.3 |
| South Africa | 0.8 | South Africa | 1.2 |
| Vietnam | 0.7 | Vietnam | 1.0
|
