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Significant investor visa

Premium investor visa

A proposed change to the SIV stream is that Austrade will also be a nominating agency.

1. Australian State or Territory bonds
2. An investment in a managed fund for a purpose specified by the Minister in an instrument, in writing, as shown below:

1. infrastructure projects in Australia;
2. cash held by Australian deposit taking institutions (including negotiable certificates of deposit, bank bills and other cash-like instruments);
3. bonds issued by the Commonwealth Government or a State or Territory Government;
4. bonds, equity, hybrids or other corporate debt in companies and trusts listed (or  expected to be listed within 12 months)  on any Australian Stock Exchange;
5. bonds or term deposits issued by Australian financial institutions;
6. real property in Australia;
7. Australian Agribusiness;
8. annuities issued by an Australian registered life company in accordance with section 9 or 12A of theLife Insurance Act 1995
9. derivatives used for portfolio management and non-speculative purposes which constitute no more than 20 per cent of the total value of the managed fund
10. loans secured by mortgages over the investments listed in (b)(i) to (viii) above
11. other managed funds that invest in the above list of investments.

There is suggestion that the above list may change to align the criteria for complying investments with the Government’s national investment priorities.² This could mean, for instance, changes to the list of eligible managed fund investments that SIV compliant managed funds could invest in, either on a class of assets basis or on a case-by-case basis.

Austrade is still in the early stages of deliberation with regard to these new policy responsibilities (and intends to consult with stakeholders as part of the process for reviewing complying investment policy settings for PIV and SIV)³.

Based on the Government’s suggestion to align the criteria for complying investments with the Government’s national investment priorities it is likely that any investment parameters set by Austrade will be in line with the federal government’s national investment policy.⁴

Potential investment sectors could include⁵:

• food and agribusiness
• mining equipment technology and services
• oil, gas and energy resources
• medical technologies and pharmaceuticals
• advanced manufacturing

Applicants seeking a NSW nomination will continue to be able to invest 100 per cent of their funds into ‘complying funds’ of their choice.⁶

This would, for instance, affect managed funds which allow investors to borrow against their investment and repatriate those borrowed funds overseas.

However given an objective of PIV is to enhance the inflow of foreign investment into Australia, it seems likely that any borrowing against complying investments and repatriation overseas would be restricted (ie to be consistent with that objective).

The residence period does not need to be met per year but can be met cumulatively over the time the primary visa holder held the provisional visa.

Accordingly during the course of the four year visa term, the applicant needs to reside in Australia for a minimum of 160 days (cumulatively).

The Government intends to introduce a new 180 day per year residency requirement for secondary SIV applicants (ie. family members of the primary SIV applicant).

The residence requirements for primary applicants remain unchanged.

At the time of applying for an extension, the applicant must have held a provisional Significant Investor stream visa for at least three years or have not held more than one provisional visa in the Significant Investor Extension stream.