Australia scraps its 'golden visa' system
Australia has scrapped its "golden visa" program, which allowed wealthy foreign investors to live in the country.
Designed to attract foreign businesses, the scheme was scrapped as part of a review of immigration legislation after the government found it “
produced poor economic results
”.
The city of Sydney in Australia (Illustrative image) © Steve Christo / AFP
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The
"golden visa"
required a minimum investment of 5 million Australian dollars in the country, or around 3 million euros, in exchange for automatic permanent residency.
Besides the lack of an age limit, holders of this visa were not required to learn or speak English.
Thousands of significant investor visas have been granted under the program since 2012, and 85% of successful applicants come from China, according to government data.
The government decided to abolish this system designed to attract foreign companies, because the results were not up to par.
Those who opposed this type of visa claim that it was used by “
corrupt officials
” to “
park illicit funds
.”
The move was welcomed by Clancy Moore, chief executive of Transparency International Australia, who told
the BBC
: "
For too long, corrupt officials and kleptocrats have used golden visas as a way to bring their illicit funds into Australia and arguably to hide their profits from crime
.”
The program had already revealed numerous flaws.
In 2016, a government investigation raised concerns about the “
potential for money laundering and other nefarious activities
.”
In 2022,
The Australian
newspaper reported that members of Hun Sen's Cambodian regime were among the bad actors who exploited the system, the BBC also reports.
The golden visa is abolished, but is replaced by the creation of additional visas for “
skilled migrants
” capable of “
making significant contributions to Australia
”.
Australia thus joins the United Kingdom, which abolished an accelerated residency program for the wealthy in 2022, due to concerns over the influx of illicit Russian money.
Read alsoAustralia unveils plan to halve immigration
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