Australia's visa overhaul leaves Chinese millionaires in limbo

In 2018 Paul Wang left his home in Beijing to start a new life in Australia, investing A$1 million ($680,000) in a food processing business in the hopes of qualifying for permanent residency under the country's investment visa scheme.

Five years on, his hopes for his family of three remain on hold as the government has put the controversial "Golden Visa" programme on the back burner, causing processing times to blow out, leaving wealthy migrants like Wang in limbo.

"We were not expecting it would take this long," said Wang, 44. "And our life is a mess because of that. We simply cannot plan ahead with all of the uncertainty."

When Australia introduced the Business Innovation and Investment Programme (BIIP) in 2012, the hope was that wealthy business owners, investors and entrepreneurs would boost the economy by bringing in capital and driving innovation.