My Take | Australia should keep ‘golden visa’ scheme for economic benefits even as finetuning is needed
- Chinese nationals eyeing a move to Australia are set to be disappointed over the pause in the ‘golden visas’ scheme for rich migrants
- Australian authorities should realise these migrants have generated benefits ranging from investments to higher tax revenue
The “pause” on “golden visa” applications by the Australian government this week amid a migration strategy overhaul would have left many eager Chinese migrants disappointed, especially those who have been stuck in a years-long approval backlog.
Wealthy Chinese applicants make up about 85 per cent of applicants.
But the way the pause was announced, or not announced for that matter, was odd. There was no statement from the government except a briefing to journalists, which did not read like the programme was formally axed.
Fund managers, migration agents and lawyers tell me this is the government’s way of testing if they should kill off the programme completely. It is sitting on the fence and no wonder - it wants “working” migrants as well as foreign capital.
When the government introduced it in 2012, it was just too much of a coincidence that it came at a time when many were leaving the Chinese mainland in droves and looking for overseas investments.