Changes to residency requirements for SIV applicants

Effective 1 July 2015, changes to residency requirements for Significant Investor Visa (SIV) applicants will take place where eligibility for permanent SIV will require the following conditions to be met:

  1. Primary applicant to reside in Australia for 40 days per year OR the secondary applicant (spouse) to reside in Australia for 180 days per year,
  2. No residency requirement for all secondary applicants,
  3. Residency requirement will be per year and calculated cumulatively over the four year period:
  • 160 days over four years for primary applicant or;
  • 720 days over four years for secondary applicant (spouse).

SIV statistics as of 31 December 2014, recorded a total number of 595 primary visas granted with 2001 Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted through SkillSelect and a total of AUD $2.975 billion invested in Complying Investments. More info, http://www.immi.gov.au/pub-res/Pages/statistics/significant-investor-visa-statistics.aspx