AFR Chanticleer's Tony Boyd says old SIV remains a potential $10 billion rort
Overdue reforms to the Federal Government significant investor visa program leave about $10 billion in foreign investment capital at the risk of being rorted, the authoritative Australian Financial Review Chanticleer columnist Tony Boyd has written.
The SIV program was intended to encourage immigrants to make complying investments of $5 million-plus in assets as a stepping stone to acquiring permanent residency, but the rorting through "loan back" arrangements sees migrants borrow against these assets and then put the money wherever they pleased.
The complying investments under the original program included fixed interest investments, so the $5 million could become a $10 million investment in Australia without any control over where the extra borrowed funds were invested.
"The loan back schemes were clearly rorting of the program which was designed to attract capital flows to stimulate economic activity," Boyd advised.
"It was not designed to allow migrants to "buy" a visa, borrow against the invested assets and take the money back to their home country or invest in residential real estate."
Boyd also writes promoters of the SIV program in Hong Kong created trust structures which were specifically sold as avenues for buying Australian residential property.
It is legal as the Department of Immigration and Border Protection circulated questions and answers included the following:
"Can a migrant investor use any part of the complying investment as security to borrow further funds?"
The answer said, in part: "As the holder of a provisional Significant Investor visa, migrant investors may use any part of the complying investment as security to borrow further funds after they make the complying investment and provided they maintain it for the duration of their visa."
At the end of March this year there were 751 primary visas issued under the SIV program and another 544 active applications in the system, as the government announced on April 9, the temporary suspension of the SIV program from April 24 which triggered a rush to get in before loan backs and residential mortgage investment was outlawed.
Boyd writes about 1000 applications were made in that short period before the suspension came into force, with about 90 per cent of all applications from mainland China.
The old rules have been grandfathered because the Immigration Department was concerned that it could be sued by the SIV applicants or those already holding SIV visas.
The new rules, which come into force from July 1, require a minimum mandatory investment of $500,000 in an Australian venture capital limited partnership, managed by a licensed fund manger and there will also be a minimum investment of $1.5 million in emerging companies.
The new rules allow for a balancing investment in a range of liquid assets including real estate investment trusts, ordinary equity, preferred equity, convertible bonds, corporate bonds, real commercial property and managed funds.
The rules specifically prohibit loan back arrangements and direct investment in residential real estate.
Indirect investment in residential real estate is restricted to 10% of the assets of the investment vehicles.
