The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has released an update on the Significant Investor Visa application (Subclass 188).
Since the Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program commenced on 24 November 2012, until 31 July 2014, there have been a total of 1,582 Expression of Interests (EOI) submitted through SkillSelect.
Of these, 1,312 applicants were invited to apply for the visa, after being nominated by an Australian State/Territory Government.
The table below shows the number of applications lodged for Subclass 188/888 up until 31 July 2014, and number of visas that have been granted. Source: DIBP.
| Item | Total |
| Primary applications lodged | 1095 |
| Primary visas granted | 343 |
As can be shown, there are still many applications yet to be approved. This is due to the stringent immigration criteria, checks and verifications that must be carried out.
The state of Victoria is the most popular state for migration. This is followed by the state of NSW. We expect more SIV applicants to choose NSW in the near future, as the NSW Government is removing the requirement for 30% of the investment to be invested in NSW Government Waratah Bonds.
The following table shows the number of applications lodged, and visas granted, for each state in Australia, since the program started on 24 November 2012 untli 31 July 2014. (Source: DIBP)
| State | Applications lodged | Visas granted | ||
| Any | N/A | N/A | ||
| ACT | 0 | 0 | ||
| NSW | 352 | 126 | ||
| NT | 0 | 0 | ||
| Qld | 61 | 21 | ||
| SA | 24 | 9 | ||
| Tas. | 1 | 0 | ||
| Vic. | 620 | 171 | ||
| WA | 37 | 16 | ||
| Total | 1095 | 343 |
China continues to be the most interested country for the Significant Investor Visa, representing almost 91% of all Significant Investor Visa Subclass 188 applicants, as shown in this table. (Source: DIBP)
| Applicants for top five source countries | Percentage of total visa applications | Grants for top five source countries | Percentage of total visas granted |
| China | 90.8 | China | 87.4 |
| Hong Kong | 3.1 | Hong Kong | 2.6 |
| Malaysia | 0.9 | South Africa | 1,7 |
| South Africa | 0.7 | Japan | 1.4 |
| United Kingdom | 0.6 | Malaysia | 1.2 |