Australia is one of the most sought after countries for immigration. People from all over the world try to get into Australia somehow. The general consensus seems to be that people come to Australia because they can earn more money here and get more services here. While this is indeed one of the reasons, it cannot be the main reason because there are many countries with much stronger economies and better welfare than Australia. Why do people leave all of Europe and North America to come to Australia? As someone who talks to a lot of people interested in migration, here is what we have learned:

The Culture

Australia has, somehow, one of the most tolerant cultures in the world. We say somehow because there hasn’t really been an active campaign to create this culture; we have never seen a government agency or anyone else intentionally promoting tolerance. The culture has just always been this way towards immigrants. This doesn’t mean that Australia has no racism issues at all; rather that the issues are very minor when compared to other countries.

Integration 

The one arena where Australia seems to beat most of the world is immigrant integration. There is a large amount of immigration happening towards UK as well but the problems in UK are a whole other dimension. UK literally has immigrant ‘ghettos’; areas where the majority population is of immigrants. They don’t really integrate into the culture of UK and instead cause a lot of trouble for the general populace. They have issues with extremism, racism, and sexism. Australia, on the other hand, has not created such ghettos. People who migrate here become part of mainstream Australian culture.

It will be luxurious, close to major universities, promising a great deal of communal spaces for study and gatherings but the self-contained rooms will be about the size of a carpark lot.

Three proposed skyscrapers opposite RMIT University in Melbourne city could house up to 1600 students, but these students could be living in spaces as small as 12 square metres, according to a recent report on Domain.com.au.

With more students expected to flood into Australia in the coming years, developers have started to set their sights on development sites close to the major universities in Melbourne. According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), the student housing market is worth about $20 billion.

There are advanced plans for at least five new high-rise towers in the Melbourne CBD catering to university students. London based Scape Student Living is leading the charge, with a proposal for Melbourne’s largest and tallest student housing project. Scape has reportedly paid $560 million for several prime sites in Melbourne and Brisbane.

Scape told Domain that after six years of development it has designed rooms that fit storage space, a kitchen with cooker, sink and fridge, at least a double bed, and a “pod bathroom” with a toilet, shower and space for toiletries.

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The 90% plunge in significant investor visa applications has prompted calls to Trade Minister Andrew Robb to review the program or risk losing an estimated $5 billion to $7b investments a year.

Last year’s changes to the SIV program required investors under the SIV program to put funds into venture capital and technology. This change has led to a dramatic fall in the SIV applications from 128 a month to between just eight and 12 a month this financial year, according to a report in The Australian.

West Australian Liberal backbencher Ian Goodenough has told parliament that the decision to exclude property development and established companies from the program “has proved problematic in practice”.

“This is very serious, and as a nation we could be forgoing up to $7.2bn in investment through the business migration program each year due to the recent changes in the program,” Mr Goodenough said.

James Clarke from the Australian China Business Council of West Australia told The Australian that there were concerns that the crash in applications from Chinese investors since July 1 last year meant Australia was “forfeiting more than $5bn per year to competitor markets such as Europe and the UK”.

Obtain SIV visa programme updates and insights at the 'Migration Conference 2016' delivered by two SIV experts: David Chin, Basis Point & Stacey Martin, NAB Private Wealth

Friday 26^th February 10:15am – 10:45am as part of the $220 10CPD one-day Migration Conference 2016 in Sydney.

The Significant Investor Visa (SIV) migration program was launched in November, 2012.

Migration Agents are travelling internationally to win SIV business in Asia.  One example is a recent trip to Hong Kong for the Asian Financial Forum by RMA delegates of Think Global's 'Invest in Australia' Mission.