$5 million threshold for new investor visa

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Created on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 17:11

Written by Editorial staff

The government has announced that foreign investors who plan to inject $5 million or more into Australia through business and other avenues will be eligible for a new investor visa from November.

The government announced the plans back in May and has released the details of the investment visa to the public, stipulating that there are strict rules about the type of investment that will be permitted.

“The $5 million minimum is considered to be sufficient for a meaningful investment contribution, justifying eligibility for visa concessions such as not having to meet the points test, no upper age limit and access to reduced residence requirements,’’ immigration minister, Chris Bowen has said in a statement.

The rules currently stipulate that the areas of investment include state and territory government bonds; Australian Security Investment Commission-regulated managed funds that invest in Australian assets; or unlisted private Australian companies.

It comes as the Australian newspaper reports that there has been a sharp rise in offshore visa grants pointing to a potential influx of Indian students who are coming here for higher education.

Visa grants rose 71 per cent in the last year, but this is well down on the 2007/08 all time high of over 29,000 visas. There are, however, a number of factors to consider.

The Indian bashings in 2009 were likely to have been a contributing factor in the decline and long term growth needs to be established as some suggest that there has been a failure to promote some Australian universities as world-leading.

Simon Marginson of the University of Melbourne said that more work needs to be done.

“Some universities are putting in patient long-term work to build research and graduate studies links in India but it will be some time before these efforts spill over into a lift in our general national reputation in India,” Professor Marginson told News Limited.

Despite the rise in applications in India, China remains the biggest market for overseas education in Australia as approval for migration visas skyrocketed from 12 to 23 per cent last financial year.