Significant Investor Visa Program Expanded, Premium Investor Visa Introduced
October 22, 2014
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Changes to the Significant Investor Program
The Significant Investor Program offers permanent residence to foreign investors who make qualifying investments in Australia of AU$5 million for at least four years, and meet certain residence requirements.
The proposed changes to the program would include:
- Streamlined visa processing;
- Introduction of Austrade, Australian Trade Commission, as a nominator and reviewer for the program. The nomination criteria are expected to be introduced in July 2015;
- Increase of residency requirement for permanent residence to 180-days per year for secondary applicants such as dependents; and
- Allowing a secondary visa applicant, such as a dependent, who better meets the residence requirement for a permanent visa to act as the primary visa applicant at the permanent visa stage.
Additional resources have already been added to streamline visa processing, and the rest of the changes are expected to be phased in over one year.
Premium Investor Visa Program
The Premium Investor Visa will allow foreign nationals who make a qualifying investment of at least AU$ 15 million and maintain that investment for 12 months to apply for permanent residence in Australia. Applicants will not be required to reside in Australia in order to qualify for permanent residence.
What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals
Australia is broadening opportunities for high-level foreign investors. It would be easier for foreign investors to qualify for the Significant Investor Program since secondary applicants would be eligible to act as the primary visa applicant.
Foreign investors would benefit from the continued streamlining of the Significant Investor Visa.
This alert is for information purposes only. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
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