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Liana - Allan

Liana - Allan

Liana Allan is probably Australia's best known migration agent. Liana is the owner of Legal Training Australia Pty Ltd which is a professional development firm training Australian migration agents and owner of Visacorp Pty Ltd migration agency. Liana's main passion is serving the needs of the migration agent community and providing migrants with information that can truly assist them as they seek to create a new life in Australia. Liana plays netball twice a week and enjoys great food and the occasional glass of Shiraz. Liana lives in Sydney, Australia and has two children. Liana is married.

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China’s ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) investors are coming to Australia and are creating new opportunities for the nation’s capital, property and SME markets.

Uncover these opportunities at Basis Point’s 2nd Annual Significant Investor Visa conference – Thursday 3 July, Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel, Sydney, 10.30am to 4.50pm, $388 plus GST.

Unlike Australia-China business dealings of previous decades (where mostly giant Chinese State-Owned Enterprises dealt with Australian resources conglomerates), this new wave of Chinese investment represents more individualised opportunities.

We are also witnessing the rise of the Australia comprador, (a reversal of China/Western history) in connecting Chinese UHNW to Australian investment and business opportunities.

This SIV conference will discuss the mission-critical topics central to the success of the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program, provide insights into the Chinese UHNW, and offer a networking platform for industry players and investors’ representatives/compradors.   It will be Australia’s largest SIV event.  (Last year, the first SIV event attracted 310 delegates)

Panellists will be revealed soon – including;

    - an expert in Macau casinos and the Chinese high-rollers... and a unique distribution network for SIV providers from this sector
    - a well-known (amongst Chinese UHNW in Australia) luxury property advisor;
    - an SIV applicant (on behalf of a relative in China who has 20+ friends waiting to also apply);
    - a venture capitalist who has significant success in attracting SIV capital into his fund.

 To register, please click here.  

Sponsors include - One Investment Group, NAB Private Wealth (both Platinum); Migration Alliance, Baker & McKenzie (both Gold) and Moore Stephens, ACB Newsonline (Both Silver) with more to be announce shortly.

Programme:

10:30am - Coffee & Registration

11.00am – Opening remarks.  NAB Private Wealth

11.15am - SIV Opportunities

                        David Chin, Managing Director, Basis Point                      

11.45am - Panel Discussion 1: Reaching Chinese/Asian High Net Worth investors

1.       Identifying & building relationships with distribution channels, (we have found one channel that has never been discussed)

2.       Rise of the Australian comprador and their increasing importance

3.       Why Asian based private bankers/wealth managers need Australian SIV investments (more than you think)

12.30pm –Lunch (stand-up –buffet style): Hilton Hotel, Grand Ballroom.

1.40pm - Panel Discussion 2: Insights on Asian HNW as they apply to Australia’s SIV. The "SIV Journey"

1.       Getting the funds into Australia, tax issues and other considerations. What gaps in the market exist?

2.       Using service providers and dealing with expectations

3.       How are investors viewing portfolio allocation and how has this changed over the past year?

4.       Catalysts for coming to Australia – what are the drivers and reasons for seeking an Australian SIV and will this escalate?

2.20pm - Panel Discussion 3: SIV Investment Products & Trends in Next 12 Months

1.       Investment and risk appetites of the HNW

2.       Range of investments discussed –e.g. property, equity/bond funds, SME/PE structures, agribusiness/environmental investments. "Beyond bonds"?

3.       Sharing and transfer of IP from Australia to China –opportunities

4.       How is migrant banking and financial services in Australia developing? What products and services are evolving?

5.       What are the key challenges facing the industry and how are these being overcome?

3.00pm - Panel Discussion 4: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Going in 2015?

1.       Competition to SIV from other countries

2.       Why China HNW migration to Australia could increase substantially?

3.       Department of Immigration issues/approval process

4.       What more can be done with respect to education and dissemination of information?

3.40 - Closing Remarks. Justin Epstein, Executive Director, One Investment Group

3.50 - 4.50 – Cocktails, canapés and afternoon tea

___________________________

* Agenda subject to change

Registration

To register, please click here.   Please note, there is no same day ‘walk-in’ registration

P.S  Interest in SIV initiatives (including our latest newsletter here) has been strong, especially with the SIV programme gaining momentum. The magnitude for SIV opportunities can be seen in the $650 million in fees (immigration/legal fees alone) paid by 65,000 applicants to Canada’s SIV equivalent.

We also note that SIV service providers and non-competing SIV product providers are becoming strong referral agents for participants in the SIV industry. The power of networking and the establishment of referral marketing channels are very evident in this new SIV industry.

With more than 800 attendees at our previous 7 SIV events in Australia and Hong Kong where David Chin from Basis Point presented, there is a solid turn-out expected at this event, which will enable you to...

  •     Network with potential distribution agents and investment providers
  •     Hear speakers from Asia and Australia
  •     Gather intelligence to build your SIV business strategies
  •     Gain insights into the UHNW in China and Asia
  •     Become a ‘first mover’ in this new but fast developing market

This conference’s venue capacity is limited to 400 delegates.  They will include Australian-Asian firms and compradors with distribution channels into the region, fund managers, property firms, corporate and business advisors, proprietary companies, private bankers, investment advisors, immigration agencies and industry service providers. 

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It is high time the DIBP started to enforce the use of Form 956A, especially in relation to randomized checking of VEVO and randomized online applications such as partner visas by third parties who are not RMAs.  This article explores the reasons why.

Online partner visa applications

Firstly, a relevant issue that needs to be addressed is with the online partner forms.

If a person submits an offshore partner application using the DIBP online system then the DIBP online system currently doesn't allow the draft to be prepared stating that it couldn't confirm the location of the applicant.

After contacting the eVisa support team a very clever Registered Migration Agent discovered that the visa applicant for the offshore partner visa was actually visiting their spouse in Australia.  This is why the online partner visa system wouldn't allow the offshore application to be prepared.  E-services don't ask for the 956 form the agent and provide information about the visa applicant.  Our agents have never been asked for a form 956 by e-services support.

There are two issues here:

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Migration Alliance members will be interested to note a complaint that was sent in to the Global Feedback Unit Manager, this morning by Migration Alliance:

Dear XXX
 
We have received so many complaints from so many agents that it is time I sent this to you.
The responses from e-services take too long (min 3 weeks usually for a reply). 
 
Sometimes when there is finally a reply, there is no solution and it is not solved.  A case can drag along for more than a month without resolution.

The online system for 457 visa applications is unstable and sometimes is unable to identify the applicants (either onshore or offshore) and therefore agents cannot lodge a valid application.

People are nervous and worried that it is coming towards the 1 July and they are unable to lodge the clients applications successfully.

Please could you let MA know if this is going to be resolved shortly?

...
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10 point Migration CPD blitz in London Sunday on the 15th June 2014

AUD$198.00 for Migration Alliance Members
The Down Under Centre
48 Haven Green, Ealing Broadway, London, W5 2NX

When
9:30AM- 6:00PM
Sunday 15 June, 2014

Where
The Down Under Centre
48 Haven Green, Ealing Broadway
London W5 2NX
http://www.visaskills.com/contact
 
FIRST 5 MIGRATION CPD : Date: 15 June 2014  - The Down Under Centre 
Presented by Michael Jeremy, ex DIAC, current RMA
Book online

9:30AM - 11:00AM
Temporary Business Sponsorship - SM2

11:15AM - 12:45AM
Employer Nomination Scheme - SM1

1:00PM - 2:30PM
Partner Visas - SM3

2:30PM - 3:00PM
Lunch break

3:00PM - 4:30PM
Skill Select and the Business Innovation Visa - SM31

4:30PM - 6:00PM
Skill Select and the EOI - SM32

Guest Speaker:  Phil Smith from the Australian Government Approved RTO, Australian Construction Training Services (ACTS).

Other guest speakers TBC.

SECOND 5 MIGRATION CPD:

The final 5 subjects are done online at LTA through online learning (private study).  Online CPD are usually priced at $55.00 per point but for agents booking into this event, the 5 online CPD are free.  These are not transferrable and not redeemable under any other offer.

Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for instructions as soon as you have registered to attend the event.

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I will be spending a lot more of my time on the DIBP Facebook page now, mainly advising the public about the existence of the Office of the MARA and the use of Registered Migration Agents.  

The DIBP provide generic and quite frankly, very poor advice and assistance to the general public via the Facebook page.  I believe the public deserve to know about the existence of RMAs and also the existence of the Office of the MARA.  If the Office of the MARA aren't on there promoting themselves then MA will do it for them, which in turn benefits and promotes the great work we do.

The DIBP Facebook page is where a lot of the latest news and advice to the public is being released.  If Registered Migration Agents have not been to the DIBP Facebook page then I invite you to please go and have a look: https://www.facebook.com/DIBPAustralia

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