Serious concerns raised over $5 million ‘golden ticket’ visas

More than 7000 Chinese citizens have bought a pathway into Australian citizenship through “golden ticket” visas, but it has emerged that not a single applicant has been rejected under the character test in the 10 years the visa scheme has operated.

The Significant Investor Visa Scheme scheme allows those who invest $5 million in Australian to receive citizenship.

Most Western countries offering similar visas have shut them down to stop foreign criminals parking their wealth overseas.

But Australia’s character requirement designed to exclude criminals has not been utilised.

Former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi says the visa scheme has “a long and chequered history”.

The first iteration of the visa was introduced in the ’80s and abolished in the early ’90s after a parliamentary report criticised the scheme.

But it returned in 2009.

Mr Rizvi says ending the scheme won’t be simple.

“There is a backlog of over 30,000 applications in this visa. What do you do about them? They have a legal right to have their visa processed,” he told Ross and Russel.

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