Migration and Business Expansion Option for Indian Entrepreneurs

October 25, 2013

Migration and Business Expansion Option for Indian Entrepreneurs

The new Coalition government in Australia feels strongly that the Significant Investment Visa program rules are poorly targeted and application processing is slow and arduous.

Based on the these complaints, Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on Oct 21st said the Significant Investor Visa program will be considerably modified, to attract capital investments for small and medium businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups in the country.

Ideal opportunity for Indian Entrepreneurs

Australia is all set to revamp its Significant Investor Visa program in an effort to boost capital investments into the country. With the program, aimed to bring in substantial new investments into innovation sector, it could be an ideal option for Indian entrepreneurial and small businessmen seeking to expand business and migrate.

What is the Significant Investor Visa program?

The Significant Investor Visa program was introduced last November as a new stream under the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) (Subclass 188) visa and the Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) (Subclass 888) visa. Its purpose is to boost investments into the Australian economy and to effectively attract high net worth individuals seeking investment related migration.

Under its provisions, those seeking permanent migration to Australia are required to make an investment of AUD 5 million for a minimum of four years before being eligible to apply for a permanent visa.

The Significant Investor Visa program has already attracted a potential pipeline of more than $2 billion investors into Australia.

Proposed modifications

Experts feel that the investment provisions under the present program are confusing and are open to exploitation. Often investors park their money in managed fund with no direct benefit for the community. Fears have also been expressed that investments under the present scheme lead to distortion in the real estate market.

The government is looking to modify the investment criteria under the program to make it more flexible and ensure that capital is attracted for innovation-driven start-ups and the small and medium business sector.

Suitable for Indian entrepreneurs seeking to expand and migrate

Since its implementation, the Significant Investor Visa program has received an overwhelming interest among Asian applicants particularly Chinese. However, with the modifications, the Australian government is seeking to further expand its footprints in other large Asian economies like India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The target will be to attract investors who would otherwise pick western cities particularly in UK or North America for migration.

Importantly for potential Indian migrants, Australia’s attempt with the program is to attract investors with a keen interest in innovation in the small and medium businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups.

In India, economic reforms over the past two decades, has created new wealth opportunities for entrepreneurs in high innovation and growth sectors such as IT, bio-technology and research-intensive businesses. Having achieved the thrust, these businesses, are now seeking to expand operations into new markets and countries and Australia’s Significant Investor Visa provides an ideal opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to look at investment opportunities Down Under.

 

 

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