Wealthy Chinese investors are still getting a ‘Golden Ticket’ visa to Australia

Chinese investors are still getting access to Australia’s “Golden Ticket’’ residency visas, despite calls for the “fraud-prone” scheme to be axed.

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Exclusive: Rich Chinese investors are still the main recipients of Australia’s “Golden Ticket’’ residency visas, four years after the Productivity Commission recommended the “fraud-prone” scheme should be scrapped.

Newly-released Significant Investor Visas figures show 85.2 per cent of the visas have gone to wealthy businessmen and women from China.

The visas, known colloquially as “Golden Ticket visas’’ grant four-year residency rights in Australia in return for a $5 million investment.

Visa applicants must be nominated by a state or territory government or the Federal Government body Austrade in order to apply.

The Productivity Commission called for the visas to be scrapped in a report in April 2016, raising concerns the program was “prone to fraud’’ and the case for retaining the visas was weak.

The Government made changes to the program in 2015 after the Productivity Commission’s draft report, but continued to offer the visas. A second review into the program was announced by Immigration Minister David Coleman in August last year and submissions to the review closed in February.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said the review aimed to get a better deal for Australia.

Alan Tudge holding a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

“As we begin to plan our way out of the coronavirus crisis, we’ll be looking carefully at all our visa programs to maximise our economic recovery,’’ he said.

“Clearly, at the moment no one is coming into Australia other than Australians and permanent residents and I think it will be some time before we are in a position to reopen our borders.’’

The Significant Investor Visas were introduced under Labor in 2012 and in the past eight years have been dominated by Chinese investors, who made up 85.2 per cent of those granted visas from the top five source countries.

The next-highest country for successful visa applicants was Hong Kong, whose citizens received 3.5 per cent of the visas, followed by Malaysia, South Africa and Vietnam, whose citizens each received less than 2 per cent of the visas granted.

The figures are current to the end of February this year.

The visas were introduced to encourage more investment into Australia from foreign real estate entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, with an even more elite Premium Investor visa offered for those who invested $15 million.

But the Productivity Commission report found there were “potential downside risks to these visas.’’

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“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 impacts than other immigrants,’’ the report found.

“Further, compared to other visa streams, investor visas are prone to fraud. The residency requirements (160 days over four years) are very relaxed — only requiring the holder to reside in Australia 11 per cent of the year on average over four years, effectively a nonresident permanent visa.’’

The Productivity Commission noted that “intermediaries have a history of helping their clients to push the boundaries of the visa conditions in ways that may not coincide with the overall interests of Australia.’’

It also noted that: “there is a risk that SIV and PIV might be used as a pathway for investing ‘dirty money’ in Australia.’’ It noted that such risks could be mitigated through rigorous but costly compliance arrangements.

“Overall, the case for retaining the Significant and Premium Investor Visa is weak and the Government should abolish these visas,’’ the report found.

According to Home Affairs, there have been 2338 Significant Investor Visas granted since November 2012, of which 1625 were prior to the administrative changes in 2015.

It says $11.69 billion has been invested in Australia through the program.

Originally published as Wealthy Chinese investors are still getting a ‘Golden Ticket’ visa to Australia