Immigration Series: All About moving to Australia

Australian Parliament House in Canberra.

Annually, Australia attracts more than 1.8 lakh applicants (including businesspeople, skilled migrants, students, etc.) through its different migration programs. The country’s Business Innovation and Investor Program and the Australia Global Talent program account for less than 20% of that figure.

Also read: 62% increase in enquiries for investment migration programs from Indians in 2020: Nirbhay Handa of Henley & Partners

“We have been seeing strong interest for Australia, but particularly from the United States, India and more recently, out of the Middle East. Our inquiry rate has gone up by 250% in the last 18 months. And that's because people are looking at Australia and how it dealt with Covid-19. Unlike some other countries, Australia has also kept its migration programs open. Countries such as Canada and New Zealand, which have also dealt well with the pandemic, were not processing applications for investment migration for a period of time,” says Tony Le Nevez, Managing Partner at Henley & Partners, Australia.

“The Global Talent Independent (GTI) program in particular is popular for a few key reasons. It is a direct route to permanent residence, i.e., no provisional visa stage. There's also no requirement for applicants to make an investment into Australia, and these applications get priority processing. Even during the pandemic, we’ve seen applications fully processed by the government in as little as six weeks. Successful applicants for the Business Innovation Investor program and the GTI program are not subject to the current travel restrictions, meaning they can enter Australia at any time if they are granted one of these visas, which is really an attractive proposition,” Le Nevez added.

Know the country

Official name: Commonwealth of Australia

Total area: 7,692 024 square km

Population: 25.69 million

Capital: Canberra

Official language: English (de facto)

Currency: Australian Dollar (A$) (AUD). 1AUD = 54.97 INR

Passport Power: 8th in the world (184 visa-free destinations)

Safety Index: 11th safest country in the world (Global Finance Safety Index)

Peace Index: 16th most peaceful country in the world (Global Peace Index)

Cost of Living: Average monthly cost for a couple (including rent, utilities, groceries, transportation and entertainment): EUR 2,322. According to internationalliving.com, monthly rent for a 2BHK in Sydney is A$2,600.

Read more: Where does India stand in world's powerful passports list?

Australia Residence by Investment

Business Innovation and Investment Program

Non-Australian citizens can apply for provisional residence under any one of the Business Innovation and Investment Program’s streams, namely: Business Innovation Stream, Investor Stream, Significant Investor Stream, Entrepreneur Stream. The provisional visas offer a direct pathway to permanent residence after three years, subject to meeting certain residence and investment or business turnover requirements. The initial visa will be valid for five years.

Also read: 9 Countries that are offering Citizenship by Investment

The Global Talent Independent Program

The Global Talent Independent Program is a streamlined pathway to permanent residence for highly skilled executives, businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and professionals. It is designed to help grow Australia’s innovation and tech economies and create opportunities for Australians by transferring skills, promoting innovation, and creating jobs. The Australian government is seeking the best and brightest global talent in 10 future-focused sectors.

Key Benefits

• High standard of living, with a multicultural society
• Political, social, and economic stability
• Objective, merits-based immigration system with predictable outcomes
• Pathway to citizenship after four to five years
• A child born in Australia to an Australian permanent resident parent will automatically be entitled to Australian citizenship

Business Innovation and Investment Program

- The Business Innovation Stream: Individuals must pass a points test, have a successful business career with a business turnover of at least AUD 750,000, and have net assets of AUD 1.25 million.

- The Investor Stream: Individuals must pass a points test and commit AUD 2.5 million into a complying Australian-managed investment fund for the duration of the provisional visa validity.

- The Significant Investor Stream: Individuals must commit at least AUD 5 million to a complying Australian-managed investment fund for the duration of the provisional visa validity.

- The Entrepreneur Stream: Individuals must receive endorsement by a state or territory government.

The Global Talent Independent Program

- There is no required investment for applicants.

- Applicants must be internationally recognised, currently prominent in their field, and able to provide evidence of outstanding achievements over their career.

- They must also provide evidence that they would be an asset to Australia in their area of expertise and have no difficulty obtaining employment in the country or becoming established in their field.

Top 5 Cities:

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide

Median house price in Australia

Sydney’s median house price is about $1.41 million, while Melbourne and Canberra's medians have both cracked $1 million. During the pandemic, house prices in Brisbane hit a new high of $678,000. With a median house price of $872,000, Perth is more expensive than Western Australia where the median house price is $490,000. Median property prices over the last year range from $720,000 for houses to $442,000 for units.

You can check your immigration eligibility instantly here.

Read more articles in the Moneycontrol Immigration Series.