Business and Investment Visa - Update.

[Steve Elliott]

Business and Investment Visas have been in the crosshairs lately with the program being temporarily suspended while the government undertook another review. There has been much speculation in  the media the program will undergo a big overhaul and even some streams destined for the chopping block.  Planning levels for visas numbers were set in the May budget and the number of these visas was slashed to just 1950 places for FY 2023/24. While nobody knows what changes maybe made to the current regime which were only tweaked as recently as July 2021, the drums are beating louder with some industry sources advising prospective candidates that the most popular streams will likely be axed with only the stream intended for applicants with $5m to invest being the only stream likely to survive. This visa stream is known as the significant investor stream (SIV) and commonly referred to as the 188c. 

If these whispers are proven to be true, there will almost certainly be an avalanche of EOI's and applications ready for submission the moment the program re-opens.

It is also entirely possible, the rumoured changes  may never materialise and the preparation will be for nothing. You just need to be prepared to act at short notice should the opportunity present itself. 

 

[Alan Collett]

Thanks Steve.

I'll be disappointed if the SIV stream survives.

Surely there should be a pathway for business owners, who by their nature are risk takers and entrepreneurs?

IMHO introducing the SIV stream was the point at which the business migration program started to lose its way.

Best regards.

[Steve Elliott]

On 05/06/2023 at 16:34, Alan Collett said:

Thanks Steve.

I'll be disappointed if the SIV stream survives.

Surely there should be a pathway for business owners, who by their nature are risk takers and entrepreneurs?

IMHO introducing the SIV stream was the point at which the business migration program started to lose its way.

Best regards.

I wholeheartedly agree there should be pathways for successful business operators and would concede that the SIV has attracted many to our shores who have contributed very little to our economy. Having said that I am also aware of some very wealthy and successful business operators who have gone down the SIV track and have created literally hundreds of jobs, paid lots of tax and have transformed struggling businesses along the way.