MacroBusiness
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at 10:20 am on April 19, 2021 | 18 comments
The Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program is a ‘fast-track’ residency scheme that can lead to Australian citizenship, and requires participants to spend $5 million over four years on complying investments in order to receive citizenship.
Since its inception, the SIV program has brought around $11.6 billion into Australia. However, it was criticised by the Productivity Commission (PC) as prone to fraud and money laundering, with the PC recommending the SIV program be scrapped altogether:
Because there are no English-language requirements for the Significant Investor Visa and Premium Investor Visa, and no upper age limits, it is likely that these immigrants will generate less favourable social impacts than other immigrants. Further, compared to other visa streams, investor visas are prone to misuse and fraud. Concerns about visa fraud played a part in the Canadian Government’s decision in 2014 to scrap its investor visa scheme…