Rich and American? Australia Wants You

An anonymous reader writes: Following the success of a millionaire visa program to attract wealthy Chinese, Australia has launched an invite-only visa program that promises citizenship to rich American entrepreneurs. To meet the requirements of the Premium Investment Visa plan Americans must first invest around 15 million Australian dollars. Reuters reports: "Investment advisors who have been briefed on the plan by government officials expressed doubts about the wisdom of targeting Americans, with several telling Reuters the more obvious place to start was Australia's Asian neighbors. After all, why would a successful U.S. entrepreneur want to invest a large chunk of cash in Australia — a country very similar to the United States, just further away from everything — in exchange for a passport that carries few additional benefits to their own? 'The U.S. has some problems that Australia doesn't have. It's got a lot more racial crimes, it's got a lot more gun-related crimes, but I don't think that is going to drive a whole bunch of ultra-rich Americans out of their country,' said Bill Fuggle, a partner at law firm Baker & McKenzie who advises wealthy Chinese migrating to Australia."

Comments

Aussie freedoms are inferior

[Karmashock]

... Don't take it the wrong way... but I like the bill of rights. Put something in place that forbids the government from overstepping its bounds to any extent and Australia will be very interesting.

Short of that... you're an interesting vacation destination. A nice place to visit but I need something like the Bill of Rights to call a country home.

Too many people died to institute and then preserve that... and far more will die in futures to come.

Australia does things all the time that just casually violate what I consider to be sacred rights. They just ban things... for the children. I can't have that. The gun thing is also important. I'm not a gun nut... but I believe I have a right to be dangerous in my own country and in my home. Not for hunting... not even for self defense... to be DANGEROUS. I feel that is an important check on anyone that would try to intimidate the people. If they understand that the people can and will turn on them with an instant militia of millions. That forces the elites to be careful.

I know my views are incomprehensible to many. And that's fine. Its what I need to immigrate. Without that... I refuse. You're not offering me real citizenship in my opinion if you don't offer me a reasonable set of iron clad rights in the package.

Re:Aussie freedoms are inferior

[thegarbz]

Put something in place that forbids the government from overstepping its bounds to any extent and Australia will be very interesting.

And how well has that been working for you Americans recently?

You have declared "constitution free zones".
You detain and torture people in prisons with little to no judicial oversight or recourse.
Your own president has executed a citizen under the guise of terrorism overseas by air-strike without any due process.
Your idea of due process when you think you get it happens behind closed doors in secret courts.
And even when someone in power occasionally has an idea that is positive to your freedoms it gets struck down in congress, in the white house, or better yet just simply gets done anyway without oversight by a three letter agency.

10 years ago I would have agreed with you, but quite frankly your bill of rights these days holds about as much weight as the old parchment it is written on. The only thing that the government truly understands is that the instant militia is too busy watching Fox News and Lip Sync Battle to care about attacking their government, and even if they did your small militia is up against the might of the government's own army, the mightiest in the world, unless you can get them to disagree with their own leaders in which case you have a coup which history has shown always works out really well (/sarcasm).

Re:Aussie freedoms are inferior

[MrKaos]

A nice place to visit but I need something like the Bill of Rights to call a country home.

Many locals would agree and it is a long sort over goal for the country. When the country was presented an opportunity for its own Bill of Right in the 1980s many of the shock jock radio announcers lobbied heavily against it and it was defeated.

I hope that some day one of those radio announcers are on the business end of not having those rights. As for the many morons who voted against the Bill it just shows how sadly apathetic many Australians have become, largely due to Murdoch and the News empire that grew up in Australia before becoming an American company.

Faux News is the enemy of freedom in the land of the free.

Australia does things all the time that just casually violate what I consider to be sacred rights.

Yes, and many times it happens to promote American interests because our politicians are too spineless to stand up for themselves. No one likes it and the Trans Pacific Partnership is a fine example. We are not even allowed to see the text of a bill that is to be passed into law.

They are things that everyday Australians object to and I'm certain everyday Americans would find it offensive too.

I know my views are incomprehensible to many.

No they are not and many reasonable educated Australians would agree with you. We need a Bill of Rights more than ever. If you are prepared to make your views known to Australian politicians it would be most welcome.

Re: Sounds like a good deal!

[therufus]

Don't bother. We're full. We have a housing crisis and the cost of living in a major city is criminal.

I pay $450/wk rent for a two bedroom unit 40 mins from Sydney. Young people growing up here have no chance of owning a house because we have an influx of Asians who have moved over and bought all our property, paid for by their rich parents.

He's right. It's a trap!

What a load of horse shit

[O('_')O_Bush]

" a country very similar to the United States... The U.S. has some problems that Australia doesn't have. It's got a lot more racial crimes, it's got a lot more gun-related crimes"

Australia has twice the burglary rate and a higher rape rate. Australia has a ban happy nanny-state government. Australia has a lot of race crimes against Aborigines that just aren't reported in their pop media. Australia's cost of living is almost twice what it is in the U.S. Australia still has a fucking queen.

Australia is like the U.S. except with the fun and awesome parts removed, and instead replaced with the U.K.

Re:What a load of horse shit

[chihowa]

However, Australia has almost no guns, or gun deaths. This is a good thing or a bad thing depending on your point of view.

You guys seem to fixate on the lack of gun deaths like it's some sort of magnificent selling point, but it just isn't a relevant factor for the vast majority of Americans.

Most Americans never face any sort of gun-related violence at all. I don't know anybody who's ever been shot or has shot anybody in the US. Gun violence in the US is largely perpetrated by the urban poor against other urban poor. Nobody else in the US, besides professional worriers, lives their life in fear of being shot.

I notice that the poor, who are responsible for nearly all of the gun deaths in the US, are conspicuously absent from your invitation to immigrate to Australia, by the way.

Australian citizenship

[Intrepid imaginaut]

I tried applying for Australian citizenship once but they turned me down as I didn't have a criminal record.

Guns

[roninmagus]

I don't understand why guns always come up when non-Americans talk about America. I have lived here my entire 30 years, IN THE SOUTH, and have not seen a single gun in public except in the hands of a police officer. I own guns and most of my family do as well. But I've never seen them in public.

Re:Detroitland

[cayenne8]

This synopsis says :

'The U.S. has some problems that Australia doesn't have. It's got a lot more racial crimes,

Seriously? C'mon, there aren't that many racial crimes in the US (I'm guessing a racial crime means white on black crime?).

We've just had a few cases that have been blown up by the 24/7 news media. It isn't like we're over here beating each other up when we see someone different walking across the street. Geez.

I'd dare say most people in the US couldn't give a fuck about what their fellow citizens are doing. Most of us are way too busy trying to support OUR own families and get ahead in life and enjoy life a bit.

Most of us here don't have the time to go out of our way to suppress or commit crimes against another race different than ourselves.

It isn't even on most of our citizens' daily life radar.