Recently, I was contacted by a Hungarian businessman regarding his eligiblity for a subclass 165 state sponsored investor visa. He flew to Dublin to take a meeting with me and by the end of the meeting we were both in agreement that he wouldn’t have any major issues satisfying the visa criteria for the subclass 165 visa.
During our meeting, there was a particular question that arose regarding the designated investment bond. This is a significant requirement of the subclass 165 visa application. Once the Department of Immigration case officer is satisfied the main visa applicant has satisfied the primary and secondary critieria (relating to business management or investment, net asset level and character/health requirements) they will then make a formal request that AU$750,000 be transferred to the Treasury Corporation of the state the applicant has been sponsored by. The bond is held for 4 years.
The question asked was whether or not an applicant once they had acquired the visa and were in Australia, could then rely on the designated investment bond as collateral for a acquiring a loan from an Australian bank to buy property .
After a bit of research and emailing several banks with this specific question, the general consensus was that the banks will not accept the designated investment bond as collateral or security to lend money. However showing the a designated investment bond of AU$750,000 as an asset in a loan application would give most banks confidence that loan would be repaid and the bank would also take a mortgage over the propery and it’s value and lend against that. Most banks will lend between 60 – 70% of the value of the property. The balance would be the deposit the applicant would need to put down. If the applicant was proposing to buy land to build a property, the banks would consider lending additional amount up to the value of the building contract.
For more information, contact the the NAB Migrant Banking Team.
