Stories From The Shadows

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. Regarding foreign investments – which Australia needs – the programme was a no-brainer. Applicants across the various golden visa streams were investing between A$1.5 million to A$15 million a pop. When the government introduced it