Significant investor visa numbers finally hit double figures as fund managers ramp up compliant offerings

While it could hardly be called “fast-tracked” the pace of signficant investor visas issued by the Department of Immigration appears to have picked up of late.

The department has now issued 10 so-called “golden ticket” visas which are available to wealthy offshore investors who are able to invest $5 million in compliant schemes including commonwealth and state bonds and managed investment schemes.

A spokesperson could not say where they have been issued but are likely to be in Victoria and NSW given the pattern of visa applications to date.

This is up from just two issued between the November 24 start of the SIV scheme and July this year – one to a Chinese toy manufacturer investing in Victorian state bonds and another to an Asian investor making compliant investments in Queensland.

Despite the issue of eight visas over the last month, the Department of Immigrations has more than 300 applications to assess and it could be months or even years before some are approved.

Between November 24 and June 30, the Department of Immigration has received 544 expressions of interest from offshore investors and has invited 409 investors to submit applications.

Of those invited to apply for the visa, 305 have lodged applications with NSW (138) and Victoria (129) getting the vast bulk of these followed by Queensland (24), WA (16) and three in South Australia.

In June, the Department of Immigration told Property Observer it would take between six to nine months to process applications under a "business as usual" scenario.

Direct property investment is not among the qualifying investments under the program, but indirect property investment is possible with the likes of property fund manager Centuria offering investment in its unlisted property trusts that are now compliant.

In addition, the wealthy individuals who qualify for visas are in the market for expensive prestige real estate in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane with reports that some are looking for waterfront homes in the $30 million plus price bracket.

In June Macquarie Bank launched a new investment fund specifically targeted at providing SIV-qualifying investment options.

Others to offer complying investments include financial services group IOOF.

Last month, the Financial Standard reported that fund manager Legg Mason was packaging its four Significant Investment Visa (SIV) complying funds as a ready-made solution for private wealth advice firms.