The Business Innovation and Investment Programme (BIIP) or ‘golden visa’ scheme has been discontinued by the Australia, citing reasons like poor economic outcomes as well as broader immigration overhaul.
Australia Scraps “Golden Visa” Scheme
Through this scheme, the high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) can apply for a visa after investing 3.2million dollars in Australia. Out of this, 60% of the investment would be in 60% of the investment in non-residential real estate whereas 10% would be in venture capital.
There was no cap on age and no compulsion on language and one could apply for permanent residence after a period of 5 years.
A Closer Look at Reasons of the Discontinuation
The government perceived the scheme as failure and as a result of the same it has decided to end it. The reason behind closing the scheme was the revelation that it in fact the average Australian that contributed more than someone who was BIIP migrant.
Since 2012, many ‘golden visas’ have been approved and 85% of the applicants are Chinese millionaires. The critics cited that the scheme brought lesser to the table than what skilled migration could get since the golden visa candidates were often older, spoke little English. Australia is not the only one since other countries who earlier launched these schemes later scrapped it. This includes the likes of Britain, Canada and Singapore.
The decision of scrapping of scheme also aligned with government’s shift in focus to skilled workers. Other reasons behind tossing the scheme was to rule out the possibilities of misusing the program for money laundering as well as illicit funds.
As per the experts, the Indian shall not be affected much from the discontinuation of the scheme since the minimum investment amount exceeds the limits under the RBI’s Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) which anywhich way requires special permission for fund transfers.
