Golden visas for Australia: money is all that matters

More than 7000 Chinese citizens have been granted $5m ‘golden ticket’ visas, but in 10 years not a single applicant has been rejected under the test designed to exclude criminals.

An online ad for immigration specialist AOYE.

More than 7000 Chinese citizens have been granted $5m “golden ticket” visas that buy a pathway to Australian citizenship, but in the 10 years the scheme has operated, not a single applicant has been rejected under the character test designed to help exclude criminals or those with suspiciously obtained wealth.

As governments around the world shut down passports-for-sale schemes in a bid to stop organised crime syndicates and corrupt regime officials hiding their loot, police and security agencies fear Australia has become the go-to destination for those with big enough wallets.

US-born British hedge fund manager Bill Browder, architect of the global Magnitksy laws that target corrupt officials and their wealth, says Australia risks becoming a pariah among nations that value the rule of law. “These schemes should be shut down across the world because the vast majority of people who are involved in them are the people you least want to have come in and settle in your country,” he told The Australian.

“If people are legitimate immigrants, they should just get regular work permits like everybody else.”

Figures obtained by The Australian show 2370 super-rich Chinese nationals have been granted primary visas, along with more than 5000 family members, under the Significant Investor Visa scheme, which requires a minimum investment in Australia of $5m and confers an automatic right of permanent residence.

The scheme has been advertised around Australia and in China on prominent billboards.

At least 600 high net worth Chinese nationals have acquired Australian citizenship under the red carpet program. The scheme has always – and without subtlety – targeted Chinese citizens, who make up 90 per cent of successful applicants The visa subclass was given the number 888 – signifying triple good luck in Chinese numerology.

Exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo was reported by Chinese media to be doing business deals in Wuhan in May last year. Source: Supplied

Investors can gain citizenship even if they spend only 40 days a year in Australia and unlike other visa holders, they are not required to learn or speak Eng­lish. There is also no upper age limit.

None of those who applied for the high wealth visa has failed the “character test” since the scheme was introduced in 2012; 23 were refused for failing to provide accurate information.

The character test is intended to stop criminals and their associates, as well as potential security risks, gaining entry to Australia.

Fewer than five significant visa-holders of any nationality had their visas cancelled under the s.501 character provisions of the Migration Act, while 78 were cancelled under other provisions of the legislation. Only 20 were from China; the others included nationals from Iran (15), Pakistan (10) and Malaysia (8).

Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, who had been granted permanent residency, was one of the few whose visa was cancelled on character grounds, and because of concerns about the reliability of answers he provided.

Security agencies – but not immigration officials – had serious concerns about his links to the Chinese Communist Party and the prolific political donor was later alleged to have personally delivered $100,000 cash in an Aldi plastic bag to Labor Party officials. Huang denied he was the donor.

The significant investor visa scheme has become a multi­billion-dollar industry with financial advisers, migration agents, banks and specialist investment firms queuing for a slice of the ­action.

AOYE Service, an immigration company specialising in the visa, tells prospective clients: “Since it is neither required to go to Australia for business nor long-term residence, it is most suitable for elites and rich people whose career focus is still in China. This visa has only one requirement for immigration applicants, that is, ‘invest $5m to a project recognised by the Australian Immigration Bureau’. There is nothing else,” the company says.

Property tycoon Michael Gu fled Australia in 2020.

“After the applicant has landed in Australia, his children can immediately attend local public primary and secondary schools for free.”

The Australian is not suggesting any improper conduct by AOYE.

Former deputy secretary of the Department of Immigration Abul Rizvi describes the scheme as a “buy a visa” program and wants to see it abolished, saying many of those applying have questionable backgrounds. “In a regime like China, people who are rich and well-connected probably don’t have a criminal record even if they may have done nefarious various things,” Mr Rizvi said.

“It’s like high rollers at casinos – it’s very hard to work out who got their money legitimately and who didn’t.”

One of the biggest players was Michael Menghong Gu, whose property empire iProsperity at one point controlled about $1.8bn of real estate in Australia before it collapsed with debts mounting to as much as $350m. More than $100m was raised by Gu from unlucky Chinese investors in the significant investor visa scheme.

The 33-year-old tycoon, a high-roller gambler at The Star in Sydney and Crown in Melbourne who has a garage of luxury cars including a Rolls-Royce Wraith, fled the country in 2020.

Most Western nations that offered golden visa schemes have shut them down to stop corrupt foreign officials parking their wealth in “safe” countries, leaving Australia as one of the last Western countries where it is possible to buy a right of residency and ultimately, a passport. The EU is trying to outlaw the practice.

Michael Gu’s Rolls Royce Wraith being auctioned for liquidator iProsperity at Pickles Car Auctions in Belmore, Sydney. Picture: Richard Dobson

The Australian has previously revealed concern wealthy members of Cambodia’s Hun Sen regime have bought their way into Australia through the scheme, with at least 80 significant investor visas granted to Cambodian nationals in the past decade.

The absence of visa refusals on character grounds for the high wealth category and the extraordinarily low number of cancellations stands in stark contrast to those in other visa categories. Earlier in 2022, prime minister Scott Morrison said the government had used its powers under the character test provisions to expel 4000 people from Australia in the previous three years.

The significant investor scheme began 10 years ago and has brought nearly $12bn in investment to Australia, although the Productivity Commission says the benefits are small, uncertain and accrue mainly to fund managers. The visas could be a pathway for “dirty money” into Australia and are prone to fraud, it says.

The Grattan Institute says killing off business investment visas and replacing them with more skilled worker visas would boost Australia’s dividend from migrants by $3bn over the next decade, because business ­investment visa holders retire about 20 years earlier than the younger skilled workers who would replace them.

Immigration Minister Andrew Giles was critical of the visa scheme in opposition, describing it as a “questionable program”.

“Under Mr Morrison, if you’ve got money, you can buy a visa to come into Australia while everyone else is left behind,” he said.

Mr Giles did not respond to questions on whether he had confidence all applicants for the visas were being scrupulously vetted, or the future of the program.