Here’s how many South Africans became ‘permanent Australians’ last year
According to a recent Sydney Morning
Herald article, Australia has
brought in billions of dollars in investment by attracting
millionaires through its Significant Investor
visa (SIV) programme.
When looking at applicants who applied for the Business
Innovation and Investment visa from 2012-2018, the report found
that Chinese nationals accounted for 86.5% of all citizens
buying into the programme.
By comparison Hong Kong residents made up 3.2%, Malaysia
1.4%, South Africa 1.3%, and Vietnam 0.9% over the same time
period.
According to data supplied to BusinessTech by Australia’s
Department of Home Affairs (DOHA), these investments equated to
around AUD$9.870 billion over this 1 July 2017 –
31 March 2018 period.
Looking at South Africa specifically, Australia’s DOHA
estimated that South Africans made up around 26 of the 1,974
SIV visas granted.
While no data is available on exactly how much these South
Africans invested, one of the key requirements of the SIV, is
that holders are required to invest AUD$5 million (R49.9
million) into complying significant investments for a minimum
of four years before being eligible to apply for a permanent
visa.
South Africans leaving
While Australia’s SIV is one of the more expensive ways of
leaving the country, data provided to BusinessTech shows that a
much higher amount of South Africans are emigrating to
Australia through other visa options.
The data focuses on the
‘permanent additions’ to Australia’s resident population in the
2016-2017 financial year.
This includes the number of people who have obtained a
permanent visa onshore, the number of settler arrivals
during a given time period, and the number of people who have
been granted a permanent protection visa onshore.
Combined this added to a total of 5,397 South Africans over
this time period. The ‘skill stream‘ is by
far the most popular way for South Africans to move to the
country, with a total of 4,419 South African applicants on this
visa type.
By comparison a total of 672 applicants were on the
‘family stream‘ and
288 on ‘non-programme migration’.
Read: Rich South Africans are paying
big money to move to Australia
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