China's rich pay way to new home Wealthy Chinese immigrants are buying their way into Australia with 90 per cent of the 435 applications for a $5 million minimum investment visa taken up by Chinese nationals. So far two visas have been granted. The first was to a Chinese national. The Department of Immigration refused to reveal the nationality of the second. A spokesman from the department said there was an expectation that most of the applications would be from China. "It's been like 90 per cent Chinese," the spokesman said. Permanent residency for the super wealthy under the significant investor visa was announced in November. Of the 435 expressions of interest, 279 have been invited to make a formal application. Of those, 171 have made formal applications worth more than $855 million. Investment in NSW and Victoria has been the most popular with 115 applications for NSW and 116 for Victoria. There were 30 for Queensland, 17 for Western Australia and four for South Australia. A separate business skills visa is for those seeking to start and operate a business, or invest, in Australia. Applications for these visas were predominantly from China followed by South Korea, South Africa and Britain. More than a quarter of visa holders opened accommodation or cafes and restaurants.