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Sep 17
1

Proposed amendments to SIV significant investor visa and 457 skilled work visa programs

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During an address to the National Press Club held in Canberra last Wednesday, 10 September 2014, the Hon. Scott Morrison provided an update on the Government’s position in relation to the 457 skilled work visa and 188/888 significant investor visa programmes.

Below are some key points from Minister Morrison’s address.

Significant Investor Visa Program

The Government will be supporting proposals to prevent the ‘recycling’ of investment funds by requiring complying investments to remain unencumbered during the 4 year period in which a visa applicant is required to hold the complying investment. Whether there will be any exceptions to this rule and whether the rule will have retrospective application to existing SIV visa holders remain to be seen. It is expected that the Government will release further details about this proposal and other comments on the SIV programme in the weeks ahead.

In the interim, managers of current complying managed investment scheme products that allow visa applicants to leverage from the investment made in the scheme may be required to undertake a review of their offering in light of Minister Morrison’s latest comments.

457 Visa Program

Minister Morrison provided the Government’s thoughts on the just released report by the panel conducting the Independent Review into Integrity in the Subclass 457 programme. Minister Morrison said the report of 22 recommendations was ‘balanced and measured’ but did not specifically provide any details on the implementation of the recommendations. The key recommendations arising from the review were:

  • the abolishment of labour market testing;
  • a reduction to the market salary rate exemption threshold from $250,000 to $180,000;
  • freezing the temporary skilled migration income threshold at $53,900 p.a. for at least 2 years with the possibility of a 10% reduction to the threshold;
  • English language requirement to be relaxed by requiring an average IELTS score of 5 (currently, applicants are required to score at least 5 across all four competencies); and
  • more robust compliance requirements and banning employees from paying employers to sponsor them.

For Minister Morrison’s full address please see http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm217736.htm

Sep 15
1

A warm welcome to our new legal practitioner director, Shirley Ip

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The Evolve Team is excited to announce the addition of Shirley Ip as a director and lawyer of our practice.

Shirley is an experienced corporate lawyer having practised as a finance lawyer in various Australian top-tier and national mid-tier law firms specialising in project financing, property financing and general corporate finance. Prior to life as a lawyer, she held roles in Australia’s ‘big 4’ accounting firms as a chartered accountant and tax consultant.

Shirley’s depth of experience in tax and finance enables her to provide robust and tax effective structuring advice for clients looking to establish, operate or invest in a business or investment structure across a range of industries including energy and resources, primary production and property development. She has a keen interest on assisting intending business and investment migrants to Australia with the structuring of their Australian investments and businesses.

Shirley is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin and is also a registered migration agent (MARN 1387902).

If any of you would like to get in touch with Shirley, her email is sip@evolvelawyers.com.au

Jul 14
1

Significant Investor Visa Forum – Wanda Sofitel Hotel in Beijing on the 24th of June.

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The Evolve Team visited China for two weeks during the month of June to attend the Australia – China Trade and Investment Expo and to also take part in the Significant Investor Visa Forum hosted by the Migration Institute of Australia at the Wanda Sofitel Hotel in Beijing (SIV Forum).

The SIV Forum was well attended by various industry professionals,  representatives from Australian State and Territory Governments and representatives from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP)  in Hong Kong.

Erica Biddle (Consul, Immigration) presented on behalf of the DIBP in Hong Kong (being the DIBP office responsible for processing SIV/188C visas for applicants in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan). Ms Biddle shared some valuable insights from her experience in dealing with SIV applications received by the DIBP in Hong Kong. Particularly, the following statistics are of note:

  • the current processing time standard is 9 months and this has generally been met in practice;
  • 873 SIV applications have been received by the Hong Kong office with 327 applications finalised;
  • of the 327 finalised applications, 225 visas were granted, 32 applications refused and 70 applications withdrawn. This represents a success rate of roughly 90%; and
  • as at 31 May 2014:
    • 90.4% of SIV applicants were from mainland China and 85.5% of visa grants were to Chinese nationals;
    • 1446 expressions of interest have been submitted; and
    • a total of $1.275 billion have been invested in Australia by way of SIV complying investments

The trip also gave members of the Evolve Team the opportunity to meet existing clients and further develop relationships with key industry stakeholders across various Chinese cities including Chong Qing, Hang Zhou, Ning Bo, Xiang Shan and Beijing.

Until next time – the Evolve Team

Jun 05
1

ACBC Panel Discussion – Australia’s Significant Investor Visa Program

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On Friday 30 May, the Australia China Business Council’s (ACBC) presented a forum and panel discussion on Australia’s significant investor visa (SIV) program. We attended as guests of ANZ.

The event was attended by relevant government body representatives (including The Hon Scott Morrison (Federal Minister for Immigration and Border Protection)), domestic and international lawyers, migration agents, fund managers, financial institutions and venture capital companies. An update on recent statistics relating to the SIV program provided some valuable insights into the development of the program since the visa class was introduced. Namely: Read More

May 22
1

Welcome to Evolve Lawyers

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Welcome to our first blog post and the launch of our website.

Evolve Lawyers was established with a desire to assist our clients through each phase of their business’ development. From the establishment of an appropriate business or investment structure through to providing sound legal advice to facilitate a growth or exit strategy; our aim is to ultimately work towards the success of our clients’ business. Read More

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