Sydney: Australian government has decided to scrap its ‘golden visa’ programme for wealthy investors. The Australian Significant Investor Visa (SIV) also known as Golden Visa was aimed to attract foreign business, providing affluent overseas investors the privilege to live in the country. It was introduced by by the Julia Gillard government in 2012.
The government said that the programme is delivering poor economic outcomes”for the country and would be replaced with a skill-based visa.
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The Australian Significant Investor Visa offered a streamlined pathway for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) to permanent residency through investment immigration. The visa required a minimum investment of $5 million in Australia, in exchange for automatic permanent residency. Aside from no age limit, holders of the investor visa weren’t required to learn or speak English.
As per the BBC, the visa scheme was severely criticised in Australia for increasing corruption and allowing wealthy foreign nationals to park illegal funds in Australia. Also, Chinese investors dominated the visa scheme. As per Australian government data, 85% of the SIVs were granted to people from China.
An investigation by Australian government revealed that not only the ‘golden visa’ programme was misused, but it also allowed people with ‘less business acumen’ to reside in the country and hence not deliver the result expected from such wealthy investors.
Last month, the Australian government said that it would tighten visa rules for international students and low-skilled workers. As per the new plan, international students would need to secure higher ratings on English tests and there would be more scrutiny on a student’s second visa application that would prolong their stay.
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