Fund managers are making more trips to China to drum up the SIV program to Chinese multi-millionaires, with some reports stating that at least 30 fund managers have jumped into the business of luring China's wealthy to Australia using a SIV program.

The Associated Press reports that the flow of money into Australia could reach as much A$10 billion a year. “More than 1,000 people, almost all from China, have applied so far, and more are expected after Canada cancelled a similar program in February amid a flood of applications. The number also may be boosted by a government review to hasten approvals. More than 60 funds have been started to capture the money, including by the largest banks in Australia” the report notes.

"These are not your usual equity or private-equity type of investors," said Bill Fuggle, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Sydney who advises immigrants on the process and asset managers on compliance with visa rules. "Fund managers need to visit China and convince them of investing not just for a visa, but in turn to preserve their wealth and improve their lifestyle."

The pace of visa approvals has stepped up since the Liberal-National coalition government was elected in September, with 282 granted in the 12 months through June, compared with just four in the program's first seven months.

The report notes that the investment inflows from people with approved visas as well as those expected from 610 people on the waiting list totaled A$4.5 billion as of the end of June. About 39 percent of that money went into managed funds as of March, according to data from the office of Michaelia Cash, assistant minister for immigration and border protection.

Chinese nationals accounted for 91 percent of applications and 86 percent of grantees as of the end of June, according to the minister's office.

"The rich feel it is time to hedge their bets...The closest option for them is Australia, a country which enjoys a special and very long relationship with the Chinese populace." says Bill Fuggle.

The report also notes that this month, the Bank of China confirmed the existence of a previously unannounced program allowing Chinese to send their currency overseas for purposes of emigration or residential home purchase. The bank said the transfers have been permitted by China's regulators since 2011 as part of a trial program in southern Guangdong province.

The Chinese government has taken steps in recent years to allow freer movements of capital in and out of China. The goal of free convertibility of the yuan has been announced by policymakers since the 1990s, and is a step toward stated plans to make Shanghai a global financial capital by 2020.

Applicants for Australia's program must be sponsored by one of the country's eight provinces, which want to draw some of the foreign money into their own bonds.

New South Wales, where Sydney is the capital and which has nominated 400 applicants, requires successful foreigners to invest 30 percent of their A$5 million in state bonds, according to an e-mail from Ben Shine, a spokesman for Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner. The money will help fund infrastructure including the North West Rail Link in Sydney and an upgrade of the Pacific Highway along the state's coast, Shine said.

Chinese investment in Australian property climbed 42 percent to A$5.9 billion in the year to June 2013, surpassing Americans as the biggest group of buyers, the Foreign Investment Review Board said in its latest annual report.

The anticipated A$10 billion a year in Chinese immigrant investment, even when accompanied by additional purchases of residential property, is still small when compared with Australia's A$1.7 trillion pension sector, the fourth-largest in the world. Total foreign investment in Australia was A$135.7 billion in the year through June 2013.