The “golden visa” program, which gave affluent wealthy investors the ability to reside in Australia, has been terminated by the government.
Jerrymusa.com reports that Australia terminated the special visa program intended to draw in foreign investment because it was “delivering poor economic outcomes,” according to the BBC.
Critics have previously claimed that the plan was being used to “park illicit funds” by “corrupt officials.”
More skilled worker visas would take the place of the immigration system’s long-desired scheme.
Since 2012, the program has awarded thousands of significant investor visas (SIV), with China accounting for 85% of the successful applicants.
The Program Has Fallen Short of it’s Main Goal
Aiming to stimulate international investment and innovation, the program required candidates to contribute a minimum of A$5 million (£2.6 million;$3.3 million) in Australia to be Eligible
The administration discovered after several evaluations that the program had fallen short of its main goals. It declared in a December policy statement that it will eliminate it and instead concentrate on granting more visas to “skilled migrants” who are able to “make outsized contributions to Australia.”
“It has been evident for years that this visa is not meeting the needs of our nation and economy,” said Clare O’Neil, the minister of home affairs, in a statement on Monday.
Chief executive of Transparency International Australia, Clancy Moore, praised the decision, telling the BBC: “For far too long, kleptocrats and corrupt officials have used golden visas as a vehicle to park their illicit funds in Australia and potentially hide their proceeds of crime. “The show had already been the subject of close examination due to its supposed “vulnerabilities” and “loopholes”. The Magnitsky Act, a US statute intended to hold individuals accountable for crimes done abroad, was allegedly created by Bill Browder, who is also credited with criticizing the plan.
In 2016, a government review highlighted worries that it had the “potential for money laundering and other nefarious activities”, while in 2022 The Australian newspaper revealed that representatives of Cambodia’s Hun Sen dictatorship were among the bad actors who had utilized the system.
The government investigation also discovered that while the visas provided tax breaks that the general public was paying for, they were allowing individuals to enter Australia who had “less business acumen” than would have otherwise arrived.
Certain fund managers have resisted those evaluations, contending that the SIV follow-on investment has turned out to be a substantial amount greater than the A$5 million buy-in.
Australia has now joined the UK, which abandoned a program in 2022 that would have granted super-rich people fast-track immigration because of worries over the influx of Russian money.
The so-called “golden visa” programs have also drawn criticism from Malta, which has been giving affluent non-EU citizens quick citizenship.
The EU had expressed alarm about the possibility of money laundering, tax evasion, and corruption; however, an inquiry in 2022 revealed that visas were being issued to individuals who had only been in the island nation for a few days.