Action on ‘golden ticket’ visas

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has rightly recognised the shortcomings of the $1bn-a-year “golden ticket” visa scheme, which is set to be scrapped over the coming year. The national interest demands no less. On Sunday, three days after The Australian’s front-page expose of the program, Ms O’Neil pointed to potential security issues and costs to taxpayers. Nor does the scheme add anything to the nation’s skilled workforce. Amid skills and labour shortages – a major focus of business at the recent jobs summit – emphasis in the nation’s immigration program is shifting to skilled workers. The permanent immigration cap is being lifted from 160,000 to 195,000 a year. As governments around the world shut down passport-for-sale programs, Ms O’Neil is correct when she says “ most Australians would be pretty offended by the idea that we’ve got a visa category here where effectively you can buy your way into the country’’.

Over the past 10 years, more than 7000 Chinese citizens have been granted $5m “golden ticket” visas under the Significant Investor Visa program, buying a path to Australian citizenship. In that time, “not a single applicant has been rejected under the character test designed to help exclude criminals or those with suspiciously obtained wealth’’, NSW editor Stephen Rice reported last week. The character test is also, supposedly, to block applicants who pose significant security risks.

Under the Significant Investor category, wealthy immigrant investors can gain citizenship even if they spend as little as 40 days a year in Australia. Nor are they required to learn or speak Eng­lish. There is also no upper age limit, with many beneficiaries coming to Australia to retire. As a result, calculations by Treasury suggest, business investment visa-holders cost Australian taxpayers $120,000 more in public services each than they pay in taxes over their lifetimes. As Ms O’Neil told Sky News on Sunday, some “really important journalism’’ had pointed out potential security issues with the visas,

The scheme has always, unashamedly, targeted wealthy Chinese citizens with the visa subclass given the number 888, signifying triple good luck in Chinese numerology. The Chinese are not the only takers, but make up 90 per cent of successful applicants. Super-rich members of Cambodia’s corrupt Hun Sen regime are also alleged to have bought their way into Australia through the scheme, with at least 80 of the visas granted to Cambodian nationals over the past decade.

While “golden ticket’’ applicants have been waved through, a number of business migrants in various categories have had their visas cancelled under various provisions in recent years. About 20 were from China, including billionaire businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo. Security agencies, but not immigration officials, were concerned about his links to the Chinese Communist Party. Other cancellations involved newcomers from Iran (15), Pakistan (10) and Malaysia (8). As The Australian’s reporting showed, the system is ripe for reform.