Despite only 10 visa’s being granted since the launch of the revamped Significant Investor Visa program last July, Australian Trade and Investment minister Steven Ciobo still believes there is nothing wrong with the changes and expects interest in the program to pick-up.
Fund managers however say the drastic fall in interest in the program which had 1,544 applications and 590 visa grants in the final 12 months under the previous version is due to several issues including complexity of the new version and a requirement that venture capital be repaid after four years — half the usual investment cycle in the industry.
According to a report in The Australian, several large asset managers active with the previous version of the program haven’t developed products that comply with the revamped one. Some smaller firms are put off by the cost of anticorruption checks on prospective clients. Given the four-year-turnaround rule, there is also the challenge of finding emerging-company investments that make a rapid return and can be sold quickly.
Last year the Australian Productivity Commission called for abolishing Australia’s SIV program arguing that it may “generate less favourable social impacts,” partly because investor-visa holders don’t need to speak English, otherwise a visa requirement. Canada scrapped its investor-visa program in 2014, saying it had little economic value while the UK recently tightened its program after finding it had been widely abused.
Australian Trade and Investment minister Steven Ciobo however maintains that the government remains committed to the program. “People want to take a little while to make sure all changes are understood. The previous program also started low and grew steadily,” he said.