The review of business skills visas, including the Significant Investor visa (SIV), which is one of five different visa streams of the Subclass 188 – Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa that leads to the Subclass 888 - Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa is yet to be finalised, however, pressure is mounting on the program and especially SIVs as reports of rorting and non-compliance emerge. Indicators also suggest an increase in the complying investments required for a SIV will increase from $5 million.

The Business Innovation and Investment Program (BIIP) is not a large portion of Australia’s permanent migration program in terms of the number of visas granted in comparison to other skilled and non-skilled programs. Consisting of 6,862 places of the 160,000 total permanent migration visas allocated this program year (subject to change), business visas represent only 4.29 per cent of the program. Despite this, it is a program the government continues to fine-tune as the economic benefits to Australia is disproportionately larger than the number of visas allocated. Major benefits are increasing employment opportunities for Australian citizens or permanent residents and generating tax revenue.

Examples of previous adjustments to the program include adding a Premium Investor Visa stream, and an Entrepreneur stream to the 188/888 visa.

The result of these two additions has been mixed. While its popularity was never expected to take off, a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows only 38 Entrepreneurial visa stream visas were approved in the last two financial years (up to 31 May 2020). These numbers include secondary applicants (partners and children) of the primary entrepreneur visa applicant.

Even more dire are the numbers for the Premium Investor Visa (PIV). The only known statistics on this stream shows a number between 1 and 5 have been lodged and approved.

More popular has been the blue-ribbon Significant Investor visa (SIV) stream. This visa requires investment into complying investments for at least four years as the holder of the provisional 188 visa to qualify for the permanent 888 visa. Three years after the visa was rolled out stricter regulations were implemented to tighten the criteria of what constitutes a complying investment as well as requiring any funds used towards these complying investments to be unencumbered, that is, the money cannot be loaned back.

As the BIIP program review has not yet been finalised, recent media reports do not paint the SIV in a good light. No less than the Western Australian government identified integrity risks in not just the SIV program but also the Subclass 132 – Business Talent (Permanent) visa under the Venture Capital Entrepreneur stream.

A further damning article that alleges a Ponzi scheme had been run through the complying investment framework even when all complying investments must pass the scrutiny of an Australian Financial Services Licensed (AFSL) manager. These concerns only add to the conclusion of a 2016 Productivity Commission report which stated that their analysis of the SIV/PIV is inconclusive as to whether it meets the objectives of attracting high-quality business migrants given the passive nature of investing (at page 655).

What may also be on the horizon is a lifting of the minimum investment amount for SIVs. The discussion paper released by the Department of Home Affairs states that given the high demand for this visa, an increase in the investment threshold is unlikely to deter potential applicants. Simply put, Home Affairs proposes that:

An increase in investment thresholds for investor visas is one way therefore to maximise returns to Australia’s economy.

Given the reported problems, it may be that the SIV’s threshold increases, and possibly more government oversight may be required to ensure complying investments are, well, compliant.