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. 

The Pilbara region covering an area of half a million square kilometres is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples, its ancient landscapes, the red earth, its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore and as a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna. The region’s population is estimated to be about 50,000 people.

It is no wonder that the Pilbara Regional Council is complaining of a severe worker shortage and has formally applied to the Department of Immigration to allow small businesses in the North West to employ foreign workers on 457 visas. It is hoped a regional migration agreement will help fill a shortfall of jobs in the community sector.

Council chief executive Tony Friday told the ABC that during the height of the mining boom, small businesses in the Pilbara were struggling to secure local staff.

"It represents a really good option for small business when we find ourselves in the middle of a boom cycle and are unable to staff important community positions," he said.

"The perfect time to do it would have been in time for the last boom, before small businesses were screaming because they couldn't get hold of staff and positions were going unfilled.

I lodged  parent visa (by the way my in-law's) subclass 103 on Friday 30.06.2014 by fax. 

It is my understanding that The Electronic Transaction Act over rides schedule 1 however acting assistant director of Perth Parents Processing Centre I spoke to today,  claims that  their view is different as the fax number for lodgement of 103 visa is not publicly advertised.

Is it right?  

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:

Vulnerable people with genuine claims will soon be precluded from raising them in a fresh visa application, simply because a previous application which they did not understand and which may have been made by someone else without their permission was refused. There are several amendments proposed in the Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 but the amendments to section 48 remains the most contentious.

Section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth( (the Act) in general prohibits an individual whose onshore application for a visa has been refused or cancelled from making a further onshore application, with limited exceptions applying to the application ban.

Submissions to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee opposed the amendments for various reasons including the following (as summarised in the Parliamentary Library Bills Digest 4 June 2014):

• the changes increase the potential for instances of injustice to arise as some vulnerable people will be denied the opportunity to present their claims for asylum in their own right
• the changes will prohibit re-consideration of issues that have been considered in a previous application even though such an application may not have appropriately taken into account the views and capacity of a minor or other vulnerable person
• the changes will adversely affect particularly vulnerable groups of asylum seekers due to factors entirely beyond their control
• the changes could result in unintended consequences such as refoulement
• the changes are not proportionate to the administrative burden on the Department
• the changes raise doubts about Australia’s compliance with international law such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• the retrospective nature of the changes is not fair for applicants
• the changes are premature and misconceived and
• the Minister’s personal and non-compellable powers under section 48B of the Act to exclude the operation of the provision on public interest grounds is a grossly inadequate safeguard against refoulement for particularly vulnerable people subject to the prohibition in section 48A of the Act.

The Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS) provided some scenarios to illustrate the gross unfairness of the proposed legislation which its states unfairly "extends the s48 bar on subsequent applications to individuals who have been refused a protection visa even where they did not know about or understand the nature of the original visa application made on their behalf because of a mental impairment or because they were a minor."

 “A 17 year old young man lives independently of his parents in a relationship not approved of by his parents. He is included on a non-meritorious protection visa application by his parents without his knowledge. This application is refused. He only learns of this visa application history when he makes his own visa application in the future, which is deemed invalid.

“A 16 year old girl remains in conflict with her father due to family violence and remains living in a refuge with her mother. She is included in a non-meritorious visa application without her knowledge by her father which is refused. When her mother includes her on a subsequent meritorious visa application as her dependent, she is informed that the application by the daughter is invalid due to the father’s previous application.”