Australia Opposition Leader Plans to Revive Significant Investor Visa

Moustafa Daly
Cairo

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Peter Dutton, leader of Australia’s opposition Liberal Party, plans to revive the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program, a scrapped immigration pathway for wealthy individuals willing to invest AU$5 million in Australia.

He made the remarks during a private fundraising event, reigniting debate over the visa, which the current government abolished last year due to what it believes to be concerns about substandard economic impact, fraud, and threats to national security.

James Hall, director of ANZ Migrate, sees the Liberal Party’s potential revival of the SIV as a calculated electoral strategy. He says the “parties are in pre-election mode,” and they’re speaking to the various electorates to “drive up votes”.

He explains that while SIV applicants are not voters, Dutton’s pitch likely targets Australian industries that benefit financially from the program, including migration agents, banks, and investment advisers.

He argues that the SIV had generated significant income for all the service providers involved and speculates on Dutton’s intent to win over the financial ecosystem surrounding the visa.

Dutton has defended the SIV as a way to attract capital and create jobs. At the fundraising event, a migration agent directly asked Dutton whether the Liberals would bring back the visa, to which he replied: “I think we’ll bring it back,” but did not clarify a timeline and stated that they may “look at a different design for it.”

Hall believes Dutton’s comments aim to appeal to industry stakeholders and migrant communities in electorates like Bennelong, where Chinese-Australian voters represent a significant bloc.

He believes that this is “about more than just visas” but rather about signaling to voters that the “Coalition is serious about economic growth and restoring Australia’s competitive edge in attracting investment.”

A Contentious History

The SIV, which Julia Gillard’s Labor government introduced in 2012, allowed applicants to bypass traditional immigration requirements, such as language proficiency and age limits, by investing significant sums into the Australian economy.

Critics argued the program was prone to misuse and that it was riddled with controversies.

The government abolished the visa in 2024, arguing it failed to deliver meaningful economic benefits and exposed the country to risks such as money laundering. Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has since prioritized skilled migration pathways to address chronic labor shortages.

A Strategy of Revival or Reincarnation?

Hall believes investment-based immigration pathways will continue to exist in some form in Australia.

He argues that governments “rarely resurrect a visa, but they often reincarnate visas with minor changes.” He cites the evolution of Australia’s temporary work visas, such as the shift from the 457 visa to the 482 Temporary Skills Shortage visa, as examples of politically motivated rebranding.

Hall also notes that work visa changes “weren’t very significant, but they allowed the government to claim they shut down the ‘bad’ visa and replaced it with a new one.”

He also predicts any future investment visa will need to address criticisms of the SIV while aligning with national priorities, predicting that the government is likely create an investment structure that delivers clearer benefits for Australian industry.

He expects new funding streams targeting entrepreneurial ventures or critical shortage areas like housing. He noted the current government’s migration review criticized other streams in the Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP), making the return of the 188/888 visas in their previous form unlikely.

International Competition and Local Challenges

Australia’s delay in reintroducing an investment visa has allowed other countries to attract wealthy migrants, says Hall, pointing to New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus visa as a competitor with a smaller but successful application volume. He says that “New Zealand is pleased with the program’s outcomes” and “plans to announce more flexible reforms on March 10th.”

Meanwhile, Australia faces challenges with its existing visa backlog. Hall observed that current applications in the queue are unlikely to receive priority, based on historical precedent.

He expects processing to “probably continue slowly,” adding that the government could even refund some applications if the backlog remains unmanageable—a strategy it used in the past.

For now, Dutton has remained noncommittal about whether the visa will form a central plank of the Liberal Party’s campaign platform. The federal election is scheduled for May 2025 and polls are showing strong public confidence in Dutton’s chances.