RICH businessmen are buying their way to the front of the queue to get into Australia with a controversial new $5 million investor visa.

At least 88 people have successfully gained Australian residency through the Abbott Government's controversial "significant investor visa", introduced last year.

Among those are 15 businessmen relocating to Victoria, including a Chinese toymaker who invested $5 million in Victorian Government bonds to bring his young family to Australia.

A further 600 wealthy foreigners are in line for the scheme, potentially injecting $2.6 billion into government coffers.

The scheme has upset asylum seeker advocates, who said millionaires were taking the place of women and children whose claims were being rejected by authorities.

Refugee Action collective spokesman Chris Breen hit out at the program, saying it was unfair.

"We are not opposed to anyone coming to Australia but we think it is obscene people can spend $5 million and buy their way in when refugees are being treated with such contempt,'' Mr Breen said.

"There are no visas being processed at the moment and these are refugees that are fleeing life-threatening situations.''

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said more than 85 per cent of applicants came from Asia.

"China has been the key source country for significant investor visa applications, with about 85.2 per cent of applications for the visa lodged by Chinese nationals.

"About 91 per cent of significant investor visa applicants indicate an intention to invest their funds either partly or wholly in government bonds."

The scheme was initially created by Labor to lure more entrepreneurs from China, India and the Middle East but the Coalition fast-tracked the policy in 2013.