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Premium Investor program introduced: AUD15 million provisional entry and permanent pathway

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

CountryAustralia
Operative dateJuly 1, 2015
CategoryInvestment or business
Policy toolEntry and stay
Affected groupAustrade-nominated premium investor applicants and eligible family members

Policy effect

From July 1, 2015, Australia introduced the Premium Investor stream as one staged business-migration program: provisional subclass 188 followed by a conditional pathway to permanent subclass 888. A primary provisional applicant needed a written ministerial invitation, application within its stated period and nomination by the CEO of Austrade that had not been withdrawn. Applicants could apply in or outside Australia but not in immigration clearance; an applicant in Australia needed a substantive visa or Bridging A, B or C visa. On or after applying they had to make at least AUD15 million in a complying premium investment or approved philanthropic contribution, or a combination, provide compliance evidence and intend to hold the investment throughout the visa period, excluding the philanthropic part. The investor must be an individual investing personally, with a spouse or de facto partner, or through the wholly owned company or sole-trustee/sole-beneficiary structures specified in regulation 5.19D. Funds must be lawful, lawfully acquired, unencumbered and not used as security or collateral. Philanthropy requires written State or Territory government approval and can comprise the entire minimum amount. Permitted investments and their restrictions are those in Part 3 of IMMI15/100, including limits on residential property, derivatives and cash holdings, licensing or licensing-exemption requirements for fund operators, and management/conflict restrictions. Regulation 5.19D preserves compliance through investment switches of no more than 30 days; IMMI15/100 gives its specified cash-limit breaches up to ten business days to be remedied. Adult applicants must provide the Form1412 acknowledgement and release. Common criteria include acceptable business/investment history for the applicant and partner, public-interest and special-return criteria, and the applicable family requirements. Provisional applicants and accompanying family must meet health criterion4005; non-applicant family also must meet it unless requiring their assessment would be unreasonable. The visa permits travel, entry and stay for four years and three months; condition8557 requires maintaining the complying investment. Secondary family applicants have their own criteria; first-entry deadlines and possible condition8515 apply as specified. The permanent stage requires Austrade nomination not withdrawn, at least twelve continuous months holding a Premium subclass188 at application, maintenance of the complying investment throughout that holding period except the philanthropic portion, and evidence of compliance. For direct Australian proprietary-company investments the business must remain qualifying throughout, or the Minister must accept a genuine attempt if it could not operate as such. A qualifying business supplies goods/services for profit and is not primarily speculative or passive investment. Common permanent criteria additionally require a realistic commitment to Australian business/investment activity and satisfactory business-law compliance by the applicant and partner. Permanent applicants and family meet the specified public-interest criteria, including4007 with its limited health-waiver mechanism, and special-return criteria. Schedule1 also permits an application by a former or bereaved partner holding the specified secondary subclass188; this does not dispense with the Schedule2 grant criteria. The permanent visa carries five years of travel-entry permission. This is eligibility for a subsequent application, not automatic permanent residence after twelve months. Opening first-instalment charges were AUD8,410 for the provisional primary application, with additional adult/child charges of4,205/2,105, and AUD2,305 for permanent, with additional adult/child charges1,155/575. Adult applicants without functional English could owe a provisional second instalment of9,795 for primary or4,890 for secondary applicants unless already paid for a subclass188 application. At the permanent stage the4,890 second instalment applied only to qualifying secondary adults without functional English who had not paid it for subclass188; otherwise nil. General charge-component rules continue to apply. The regulation applies to visa applications made on or after July1. The provisional and permanent provisions are counted together as one new program, not two independent policy introductions.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: A primary provisional applicant needed a written ministerial invitation, application within its stated period and nomination by the CEO of Austrade that had not been withdrawn.; On or after applying they had to make at least AUD15 million in a complying premium investment or approved philanthropic contribution, or a combination, provide compliance evidence and intend to hold the investment throughout the visa period, excluding the philanthropic part.; The investor must be an individual investing personally, with a spouse or de facto partner, or through the wholly owned company or sole-trustee/sole-beneficiary structures specified in regulation 5.19D.; Funds must be lawful, lawfully acquired, unencumbered and not used as security or collateral.; Philanthropy requires written State or Territory government approval and can comprise the entire minimum amount.; IMMI15/100 gives its…

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

Migration Amendment (Investor Visas) Regulation 2015 Select Legislative Instrument No. 102, 2015 I, General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Ret’d), Governor ‑ General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, make the following regulation. Dated 25 June 2015 Peter Cosgrove Governor ‑ General By His Excellency’s Command Michaelia Cash Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Contents 1 Name 2 Commencement 3 Authority 4 Schedules Schedule 1—Amendments Migration Regulations 1994 1 Name This is the Migration Amendment (Investor Visas) Regulation 2015 . 2 Commencement (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms. Commencement information Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Provisions Commencement Date/Details 1. The whole of this instrument 1 July 2015. 1 July 2015 Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument. (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument. 3 Authority This instrument is made under the Migration Act 1958. 4 Schedules Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms. Schedule 1 — Amendments Migration Regulations 1994 1 Regulation 1.03 Insert: CEO of Austrade means the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Trade Commission referred to in section 7B of the Australian Trade Commission Act 1985 . 2 Regulation 1.03 Insert: complying premium investment : see regulation 5.19D. 3 Regulation 1.03 Insert: complying significant investment : see regulation 5.19C. 4 Regulation 5.19B (note) Repeal the note. 5 At the end of Division 5.3 Add: 5.19C Complying significant investment Definition (1) An investment by a person (the investor ) is a complying significant investment if all of the requirements of this regulation are met. (2) If an investment (the overall investment ) is based on one or more other investments, this regulation (and any instrument under subregulation (6)) applies equally to the overall investment and each investment on which the overall investment is based. Investment requirements (3) All funds used to make the investment must be unencumbered and lawfully acquired. (4) The investment: (a) must be lawful; and (b) must not form the basis for security or collateral for a loan. (5) The investment, and the means by which the investment is made: (a) must be of a kind permitted by the requirements specified in an instrument under … and (b) must comply with any requirements specified in an instrument under subregulation (6). (6) The Minister may, by legislative instrument, specify requirements for the purposes of subregulation (5). Investment switching periods (7) Subregulation (8) applies in relation to a period (the switching period ): (a) beginning when the investor withdraws funds from the investment, or cancels the investment; and (b) ending when the investor reinvests the withdrawn funds, or the funds used to make the cancelled investment. (8) If the switching period is of no more than 30 days duration, the investment is taken not to have ceased to be a complying significant investment during the switching period only because of the event mentioned in paragraph (7)(a). Investor requirements (9) The investor must be an individual. (10) The investor must make the investment: (a) personally; or (b) with the investor’s spouse or de facto partner; or (c) by means of a company that has issued shares and in which: (i) the investor holds all of the issued shares; or (ii) the investor and the investor’s spouse or de facto partner hold all of the issued shares; or (d) by means of a trust to which the following applies: (i) the trust is lawfully established; (ii) the investor is the sole trustee or the investor and the investor’s spouse or de facto partner are the sole trustees; (iii) the investor is the sole beneficiary or the investor and the investor’s spouse or de facto partner are the sole beneficiaries. 5.19D Complying premium investment Definition (1) An investment or a philanthropic contribution, or a combined investment and philanthropic contribution, by a person (the investor ) is a complying premium investment if all of the requirements of this regulation are met. (2) If an investment (the overall investment ) is based on one or more other investments, this regulation (and any instrument under subregulation (8)) applies equally to the overall investment and each investment on which the overall investment is based. (3) If a philanthropic contribution (the overall contribution ) is based on one or more other philanthropic contributions, this regulation applies equally to the overall contribution and each philanthropic contribution on which the overall contribution is based. Investment and philanthropic contribution requirements (4) All funds used to make an investment or philanthropic contribution (or both) must be unencumbered and lawfully acquired. (5) An investment or philanthropic contribution (or both): (a) must be lawful; and (b) must not form the basis for security or collateral for a loan. Philanthropic contribution requirement (6) A philanthropic contribution must be approved for this regulation, in writing, by a State or Territory government agency. Investment requirements (7) An investment, and the means by which an investment is made: (a) must be of a kind permitted by the requirements specified in an instrument under subregulation (8); and (b) must com …
Australian Federal Register of LegislationMigration Amendment (Investor Visas) Regulation 2015, section2 and Schedule1; Migration Regulations 1994 July1 compilation, items1104BA/1202B, subdivisions188.21/188.27/888.21/888.25, regulation5.19D; IMMI15/100Open official source
Retrieved from https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2015L00963/asmade

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Other Australia changes operative in 2015