Peter Dutton plans on reviving the visa, although he didn’t share a detailed plan. James Hall isn’t sure if this is true or a publicity stunt
Henry Fan’s inbox flooded: 300+ govt emails reveal unexpected twists for Australian visa hopefuls amid BIIP shutdown.
Henry Fan: “It seems the Australian government would rather give back the money than approve the [BIIP] applications.”
Conflicting media reports about whether Australia’s BIIP is closed or still open have confounded the market. James Hall clears up the confusion.
Australia is closing down its entire suite of investor and entrepreneur programs, citing insufficient fiscal benefits and dubious applicants.
The decision to de-prioritize BIIP visa processing has seen wait times extend from a few months to many years. Applicants feel short-changed.
“The future of the BIIP is uncertain,” writes James Hall, pointing to new planning levels that will exacerbate the already huge backlog.
Hoping to reduce 30-month processing times for business investor visas, Australia’s government is drastically restricting new applications.
Vietnamese, Iranian, South African, Indian, and British applicants all saw approvals far above historical norms, even adjusting for the higher quota.
The total investment amount for the Investor Visa will rise from AUD 1.5 to AUD 2.5 million on July 1st.
Australia expects the majority of approved BIIP applications this year will come from the 24,000-strong backlog of cases.
Processing capacity has tumbled since the onset of the pandemic, but Australia has plans to make up for lost investment this year.
Australia is bringing wide-ranging changes to its extremely popular BIIP, cutting five categories and raising capital requirements.
The Ministry is targeting “those who are going to grow Australian businesses, create Australian jobs and supercharge our economic recovery.”
Capped at 6,862 applications a year, Australia’s BIIP is invariably oversubscribed. This, says the government, leaves room for significant price increases.
The program’s largest fund manager says that, thanks to non-SIV follow-up investments, total FDI arising from the program may be close to A$50 billion.
Close to 80,000 investor migrants and dependents have obtained Australian visas under the BIIP, but 18,682 applicants are “in the pipeline”.
