The SIV fund was introduced by the Australian government. And this fund comes under the Business Innovation and Investment VISA in the provisional Subclass 188 and the permanent Subclass 888. This was created to improve the economy of the country and attract individuals who have a high net worth to the country in search of investment migration.
SIV or Significant Investor VISA commenced in the year 2012 and there is no upper age limit for the applicants who are interested in this. However, the applicant should be over 18 years of age to become eligible. The applicants are required to invest an amount of 5 million dollars over a minimum period of four years to become eligible for a permanent VISA. The innovation points test is not required for this.
And there is no threshold requirement for proficiency in the English language for the applicants of this VISA. If the applicant has a lot of difficulties when it comes to demonstrating functional use of the English language, there is an additional instalment that will be required for the VISA application. There are different complying investments that are eligible for SIV such as investing directly into Australian owned companies, Commonwealth bonds, State bonds and funds managed by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). The applicants for the VISA can invest in one of the companies or more. Depending on the state, there are different requirements that are applicable for the investments.
You can change between complying investments when you have an SIV but you will have to invest the same or more than the amount that you have withdrawn from one investment. There is a 30 day period that is provided for the SIV holder to reinvest into another complying investment. The requirements when it comes to the composition of complying investment will change from state to state.
You can choose the investment scheme when it comes to ASIC regulated managed funds. You can either choose a retail scheme or a wholesale scheme. These are also called registered and unregistered schemes. The ASIC regulated scheme should be limited to specific investment times in order for it to qualify as a complying investment. Some of the categories qualified are infrastructure projects that are carried out in the country, bonds issued by the Commonwealth or the state, bonds issued by Australian institutions, Australian agribusiness and real estate in Australia.
The managed fund has to declare on Form 13 that the services they offer are only limited to the categories that are deemed qualified for the complying investment specifications. This is what will serve as proof.
The responsibility of making sure that the managed fund you have invested in meets all criteria for a complying investment falls onto the SIV applicant. When you are directly investing in a business, you need to have an ownership interest in the company which means having interests as a shareholder in the company. And the company should be a qualifying business that has an Australian Business Number.
