Prosperity Fountainguard Advisers welcomes the Federal Government initiatives announced under the Industry and Competitiveness Agenda that will expand
the Investor Visa Programme.
The Government will reform the programme to encourage more high net worth individuals to make Australia home and to better direct additional foreign investment,
while maintaining safeguards to ensure the migration programme is not misused. The changes to the programme will:
- streamline and enhance visa processing, further promoting the programme globally and strengthening integrity measures, to both increase the attractiveness of investing and settling in Australia while ensuring Australia’s interests are protected;
- align the criteria for complying investments with the Government’s national investment priorities. The investment eligibility criteria will be determined by Austrade in consultation with key economic and industry portfolios;
- introduce a Premium Investor visa (PIV), offering a more expeditious, 12 month pathway to permanent residency than the SIV, for those meeting a $15 million threshold;
- and task Austrade to become a nominating entity for SIV (complementing the current State and Territory government’s’ role as nominators) and to be the sole nominating entity for PIV.
The Government will reform the programme to encourage more high net worth individuals to make Australia home and to better direct additional foreign investment, while maintaining safeguards to ensure the migration programme is not misused.
We led a nine city investor roadshow throughout China in June, and saw that although there is strong interest in Australia as an immigration and investment destination, and there is a reasonable pipeline of SIV applications, we face strong competition from other jurisdictions. Recent changes in NSW have made this State more attractive with the removal of the need to invest $1.5m in Waratah Bonds recently removed and the Commonwealth measures will only assist to further attract high wealth investors in the future.
Discussions with potential investors in China revealed certainty and clarity of the process were issues that are front of mind for potential SIV applicants when considering which country to pursue. While the initial detail is scant, it appears the initiatives proposed will assist on those fronts. There is uncertainty in other countries SIV programs at the moment and the Government’s focus to enhance the scheme and encourage investment in the right areas as well as remove red tape will continue to make Australia an attractive destination.
Prosperity Fountainguard have a second investor delegation en route to Shanghai at the moment and they will present to over 20 potential investors in the higher net wealth category who are looking to invest $20m plus in Australia. The proposed Premium Investor Visa will no doubt assist that group with their decision making and the revised program commencing in 2015 that allows an applicant to gain residency after twelve months is likely to be highly attractive.
We are eager to understand the detail of the new investment eligibility criteria. These are no doubt designed to temper some of the strong interest in property development. However, if the measures are too prescriptive, it may serve to stifle investor inflows or move them away from areas that Chinese investors are typically attracted to.
