90% of Applicants for Aussie Investor Visa Plan from China

Nine out of 10 applicants for an Australian immigration scheme aimed at wealthy investors are from China and they have pumped a total of A$325 million (US$293.8 million) into their new country of residence in the first year since the launch of the plan.

Sixty-five “significant investor” visas have been granted to mainlanders and 91 per cent of the 545 applicants for the permits were Chinese nationals since the scheme began just over a year ago, according to figures from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

Paul Bernadou, a Hong Kong-based migration lawyer, said 90 per cent of his clients were mainlanders and Australia was their second choice after Hong Kong.

Read More in the South China Morning Post >>

The Canadian government recently cancelled its own investor visa program after finding that 45,000 of the 59,000 applications were from mainland Chinese. The Canadian program had been criticised for selling residency in the country too cheaply.