Australia’s Opposition leader Peter Dutton has recently suggested reintroducing the Golden Visa Program which was abolished in January 2024.
Australia’s Residency by Investment Program known as Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) was ended last year amid concerns that it has failed to bring economic benefits to the country, VisaGuide.World reports.
Dutton’s plans to revive the Golden Visa Program have been unfolded in a podcast of SBS, as the President of the United States also announced the introduction of $5 million ‘Gold Card’ visas for wealthy foreigners.
Australia’s Golden Visa Program offered wealthy foreigners the opportunity to acquire residency by choosing one of the two options offered by this program: the Provisional Visa (Subclass 188), valid only for a few years, as well as the Permanent Visa (Subclass 888), leading to Permanent Residency in this country.
Those opting for Permanent Residency had to invest AUD$5 million in this country.
Ongoing Attempts to Bring Golden Visa Program Back
In February this year, the leader of Australia’s opposition Liberal Party, Peter Dutton also talked about the possibility of bringing the Golden Visa Program back, according to a report from Imi Daily.
Dutton said the party thinks it will bring the program back, however, he didn’t clarify a timeline and stressed that they may look at a different design for it.
Director of ANZ Migrate, James Hall, told Imi Daily that he sees the Liberal’s Party efforts to launch again the Significant Investor Visa (SVI) Program as a calculated electoral strategy.
According to Hall, Dutton’s comments aim to appeal to industry stakeholders as well as migrant communities in electorates such as Bennelong where a significant number of voters are Chinese-Australian.
Thousands of Golden Visas Issued
The statistics from Australia’s Government Department of Home Affairs revealed that since November 24, 2012, when the program was introduced until June 2020, a total of 2,349 golden visas were issued with AUD$5 11.745 billion invested in Complying Investments.
Top applicants and beneficiaries of this program were nationals from:
- China
- Hong Kong
- Vietnam
- Malaysia
- South Africa
However, the scheme was officially terminated last year, as confirmed by Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Clare O’Neil
It has been obvious for years that this visa is not delivering what our country and economy needs.
Australia’s Significant Investor Visa (SVI), was often in the spotlight of critics of its involvement in irregular affairs including corruption and illicit funds.