As per the below announcement from Austrade, we now have confirmation of the new SIV investment regime effective 1 July, 2015. On initial review of the draft options and final frameworks documents (attached) the main differences are: 

-          the Venture Capital  has been reduced to $500k although may rise to $1M within 2 years. Have addressed the “uncalled capital” question by having the remainder of the committed funds held in escrow in a Cash Management Trust or Australian bank account as security for a bank guarantee in favour of the Venture Capital fund

-          Emerging companies still $1.5M although allowing up to 10% in foreign companies i.e. New Zealand (this may mean we have additional group product that meets the requirements)

By Michael Jeremy RMA

The Aid Industry and Humanitarian Organisations need to be mindful that the rest of the world does drift into "misery overload". There probably is an unprecedented number of catastrophes impacting populations that result in forced or necessary movements. This then results in increased "humanitarian need" etc around the globe.

In the past few years some of the better know hotspots are: Syria, Ebola, Eritrea, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Vanuatu, Nepal and the list goes on.

The following email is from the ACS:

The ACS is committed to providing a high level of service to Registered Migration Agents and recommends applicants consult migration agents to acquire a thorough understanding of the entire migration process and not just the skill assessment aspect.

In order to provide further assistance to agents, we have created a specific set of Frequently Asked Questions (attached) and a guide on using the ACS Agent Dashboard. 

Some investment analysts are saying that the changes to the SIV program which are set to be announced today could have a deterrent effect on the program with investors likely to shop elsewhere for their visa.

Details of the revamped Significant Investor Visa program are set to be released today, according to a report in The Australian. Under the changes, investors will be expected to invest about half of their funds in high-risk investments.

It is expected that at least $2.5 million of the $5million will have to go into investments in start-up and emerging companies, notes the report, as the new program wants to ‘divert the billions of dollars raised from the scheme away from ultra-safe investments such as government bonds and commercial property to more risky areas such as the start-up sector, which is cash-starved.”

“Foreign investors will need to invest at least half a million dollars, or 10 per cent of their total investment, in eligible Australian venture capital or growth private equity funds. Investors also need to set aside at least $1.5m for investing in ASX-listed small companies.”

The report states that there has been push-back from the property sector and some fund managers are expected to lose business as a result of the new change.

Why do employers really recruit workers on the sc457 visas? Is it due to a skills shortage or is it because employers prefer foreign workers, or something else?

Business groups insist they need foreign workers due to a skills shortage while unions claim that the sc457 workers are among the key causes of the high unemployment levels in Australia.

Some statistical perspective might help. There are some 11.7 million currently employed in Australia according to ABS statistics. Workers on the 457 visa scheme account for about 106,750 jobs. This is less than 1 per cent of the workforce.

In addition, the DIBP figures indicate that as Australia’s GDP rises, the numbers of 457 workers rise in concert with it. This makes sense because the 457 scheme allows Australian business to tap into skilled foreign resources as the economy demands.

With unemployment rates sitting above 6 per cent, the number of sc457 workers has fallen in the last year by an estimated 4.5%.