07/11/23

AUSTRALIA: Australia’s ‘Golden Visa’ Under Scrutiny for Money Laundering Vulnerabilities

As published on: visaguide.world, Tuesday 7 November, 2023.

Australia’s Business Innovation and Investment visa subclass 888 has raised concerns over its involvement in irregular affairs such as corruption and money laundering.

The 888 subclass, which is equal to the Golden Visa program, offers foreigners the opportunity to acquire residency and citizenship in this territory if they make a financial contribution to this territory, VisaGuide.World reports.

The program was launched in 2012 by Chris Bowen, requiring investments of either $5 million or $15 million. However, the program was exposed by the Productivity Commission, according to a report from ABC News.

The same source revealed that so far, a total of 26,000 have been granted permanent access to Australia; of them, 20,000 were Chinese nationals, while revealing that few visas have been rejected and only 11 investigations have been opened into golden visa applications in over ten years.

It stressed that back in 2016, it found these significant investor visas may have crowded out other providers of venture capital that, perversely, they may have arrived and made a trivial impact, accounting for one-fifth of one percent of total international investment.

The visa permits holders of a Business Innovation and Investment visa (subclass 188) in the Business Innovation stream or the Business Innovation Extension stream, or holders of a (subclass 444) or certain holders of a long stay visa (subclass 457) to stay permanently in Australia.

In order to benefit from such a program, applicants must apply online, hold a subclass 188 in the business innovation stream, subclass 444 visa, or certain holders of subclass 457 visa, and also be eligible to show ongoing business involvement.

Investment programs such as Residency by Investment and Citizenship by Investments that permit foreigners to acquire residency and citizenship if they make a specific contribution is often criticized for permitting several illicit acts to happen, in spite of the fact that they significantly contribute to the economies of countries that run such schemes.

Some European countries have abolished such programs after being connected to corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion.

In February this year, Ireland abolished its Golden Visa Scheme. The decision was confirmed by the country’s Minister of Justice, Simon Harris, mentioning several reports and findings by the European Commission, Council of Europe, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that were taken into account before announcing its abolishment.

A report from Al Jazeera, known as the Cyprus Papers, led authorities in Cyprus to terminate the program after it was linked to several irregular affairs.

At the same time, Portugal applied new changes to this scheme, among which was abolishing real estate investment options through this scheme.

Tags

Australia Golden Visa Money Laundering AML