SIV and Investor Visa Update | Oct 22

SIV & Investor Visa Update: Oct 2022

In this month’s newsletter we will cover:

• Yet another review of the BIIP
• Breaking News – NSW closed for nominations
• Introducing our new team member, Dr. Tran Nguyen

Another BIIP Review

It would be hard to have a newsletter this month without mentioning recent media reports relating primarily to the SIV.

There has been some sensationalist headlines like “ Australia’s new Home Minister hints she may close the Significant Investor Program”, The SIV is the SIV is “Fraud-prone” and that “The Significant Investor Visa program is but a paragon of Australia’s lazy reliance on easy cash from China.”

These articles also include statements purportedly from the Minister for Home Affairs that:

• “the program is living on borrowed time and will be carefully scrutinised in coming months,”
• the minister “has moral qualms about investment-based immigration per se,” and that she thinks that “ most Australians would be pretty offended that we’ve got a visa category here where effectively you can buy your way into the country”
• “ It is a visa program that I think is not adding value to the country.”

We have also seen some pundits arguing that “In my view, it is fundamentally ... relatively old people buying retirement in Australia,” and that “If you look at the level of taxable income they report, and the taxes they pay, they are minimal, yet they are eligible for the rest of their lives for Medicare and social support.”

Much of the anti BIIP narrative has been a Grattan Institute Report, which refers extensively to the 2016 Productivity Commission and a 2021 Treasury paper on ‘The lifetime fiscal impact of the Australian permanent Migration Program.

Despite all the rhetoric, the crux of the argument is that scheme is a drain on the federal budget, that no SIV applicant has ever been rejected, that SIV applicants provided no economic benefit to Australia. It is also maintained that the average SIV applicant paid less tax than the average skilled migrant. This view that business migrants pay less tax than skilled visa migrant workers.

Of course, there has been some push back to the negative press with key stakeholders in the BIIP such as the Financial services Council (FSC), and SIV fund managers strongly disagreeing with the view that business and investor visa applicants bring no economic benefit to Australia. The FSC in their Op-Ed in the Australian on 20 September 2022, patently rebuff the detractor’s arguments and also raise fundamental questions as to the accuracy and the veracity of the statistics supporting the Grattan Institute’s views. The measure of PAYG tax being paid by business and investment migrants cannot reflect the true benefits of the BIIP.

Interesting times ahead with the upcoming review of the BIIP. When the BIIP review is announced we hope that all interested stakeholder take the time to lodge submissions to support the review. Hopefully, when the review is complete, the success and importance of the IV and SIV visas are abundantly clear and that any changes to the investor visa program will be positive.

State Nomination Programs closed.

It is interesting that in the lead up to all this negative publicity, we saw incredibly low allocations for business innovation and investment visas being made to all states. This year only 810 interim allocations have been made, an incredible 85% decrease on last year’s allocations.

These allocations have been described as being interim and have been quickly filled. We are being told by the states that they are hopeful that additional allocations will be made after next week’s federal budget.

Watch this space.

New team member – Dr Tran Nguyen

We are incredibly pleased to announce that Dr. Tran Nguyen has joined the Ord Minnett Investor Visa team.

Tran is an experienced finance, investment, and banking professional. Tran also had an impressive academic career lecturing at the School of Economics and Law at Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City. Tran has experience presenting at various conferences on topics ranging from Marketing to the “Competitive capability of Vietnamese enterprises.” Tran is a published author who has written for Vietnamese Economic journals and a chapter of “The Principles of Marketing,” third edition(2010) – National University of Ho Chi Minh City Publishing.

Tran moved from academia back into financial services and marketing roles involving investment opportunities between Vietnam and Australia. The growth of business between Vietnam and Australia is a passion that Tran has actively promoted through her work as the Executive Director, Australia Vietnam Business Council (AVBC), Head of Business Development Portfolio.

Tran is fluent in both Vietnamese and English and is helping many HNW and UHNW Asian families with their Australian business and investment needs. Ord Minnett clients are benefiting from Tran’s experience and skills honed the World Bank Vietnam, VCCI projects.

If any of your Vietnamese clients are looking for IV or SIV investment advice, Tran can be contacted at [email protected]

We continue to enjoy a lot of success by having an email introduction made as early as possible. We are starting to make our regular trips to Vietnam again. However, the new normal continues to be initial consultations and follow up meetings being very efficiently via Zoom or WhatsApp conferencing.

We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you more about how our service can assist your IV and SIV clients.

It makes good sense and is best practice to refer your investor visa clients to ASIC registered financial advisers like the Ord Minnett Investor Visa Service.

Please contact us at [email protected] to learn how we can work together to assist your visa applicants have a great IV or SIV investment experience.

Once again, thank you for all of your continuing support. We look forward to collaborating with you to help your clients obtain their Australian Investor Visa (IV) or Significant Investor Visa (SIV) and also have a great Australian Investment experience.

“Ord Minnett is where Investor Visa applicants belong.
When you get the right advice, it makes all the difference."