Recently, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil indicated that the significant investor visas (SIV) could possibly to be scrapped soon.

The significant investor visa program was introduced in 2012, and requires visa applicants to invest at least $5 million in Australia. It is often referred to as a 'golden ticket' visa. Statistics from Home Affair shows this program has attracted around AUD12 billion into complying investments in Australia since inception (refer to cumulative totals from 2015 below).

As has been reported by Australia’s national broadcaster, in 2019 the managing director of asset management at Moelis Australia (now MA Financial), Andrew Martin, said the scheme brought substantial capacity into the country.

"It has been estimated that the follow-on investment from SIV investors has been up to four to five times more than the mandatory $5 million, meaning capital invested into Australia could be as much as $50 billion," Mr Martin said.

However, this program has since been criticised for not imposing a mandatory language requirement and age limit. In fact, Australia is not the only country making changes to the investment visa program this year. In April, Singapore increased the requirement of assets under management in the ‘Family Office program’ from SGD 10 million to SGD20 million (AUD 21 million). The UK has closed its ‘Investor visa (Tier 1) program’ in February, mostly due to concerns of capital flows from Russian oligarchs.

Notwithstanding these developments, the significant investor program in Australia remains open to new applications for the time being.

The basic requirement for the significant investor visa program including:

1. Invited by the state/territory government or Austrade;

2. Before the visa is approved, invest at least AUD 5 million into a designated investment comprising:

• At least 1 million Australian dollars invested in eligible Australian venture capital or growth private equity funds that invest in start-ups or small private companies;

• At least 1.5 million Australian dollars into emerging companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange

• A balancing investment of up to 2.5 million Australian dollars into a managed fund with a range of investment mandates (e.g. cash, equities, derivatives, and commercial property)

3. The AUD 5 million must be legally acquired and unencumbered.

4. Have not engaged in illegal business or investment activities.

We expect strong opposition to the plan to abolish the SIV programme, but encourage high net worth individuals who had considered migration to Australia under this programme to apply under the current arrangemtns as soon as possible.

*Disclaimer: This is intended as general information only and not to be construed as legal advice. The above information is subject to changes over time. You should always seek professional advice before taking any course of action.*