Australia to red carpet for millionaire migrants

Australia plans to lay a red carpet to lure millionaire migrants offering them a fast-rack residency provided they invest around USD 5 million. "This new permanent visa will be available to people from countries on a non-discriminatory basis, but I expect considerable interest from across Asia, and China in particular," Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said while outlining the new visa scheme. Bowen said the move was aimed to address shortages of skills and capital and boost job-creation in the country. Billing the step as an 'investment' visa, the Minister said, "people who are willing to make a significant investment in Australia through various investments will receive concessional treatment when it comes to permanent residency." The minister said that Canberra expects to hand out 7,000 new investment visas through this fast track system. The new visa system is likely to come into force as early as July and would be issued to people who invest money in either State and territory bonds, Australian Security Investment regulated managed funds or directly into Australian companies. "I think we can attract people, particularly people who want to innovate, who want to take risks, who want to invest in areas which might have trouble attracting capital in Australia but which high net wealth individuals from overseas are happy to take a risk on Australia and help us create jobs and help us create growth," the minister said.