Increase in Applications Following Economic Recovery
Affected by the financial crisis, European and American countries have protected their domestic labor markets, leading to varying degrees of tightening for skilled immigration, and a slight decline in the number of Chinese capital immigration applications.
However, with the improvement of the domestic economic situation and the fact that some countries have even relaxed their immigration policies, the number of investment immigration applications has begun to show signs of recovery.
Currently, the number of domestic investment immigration applications is relatively stable. For Qiaowai Immigration, the number of successful Canadian and American immigration cases handled annually is around 500 families.
Changes in Foreign Immigration Policies
Investment Immigration Relaxed, Skilled Immigration Tightened
Affected by the financial crisis, European and American countries have tightened skilled immigration to varying degrees to protect their domestic labor markets, while investment immigration has remained basically stable, with some countries even relaxing the conditions for investment immigration.
United States: Obtaining a Green Card in Just 5 Months
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in the first half of this year that it aims to accelerate the processing time for major categories of immigration applications by 20% for the 2009 fiscal year. It is reported that the time from submitting the application to obtaining an immigration visa and finally landing in the United States to receive a green card is only about 5 months. Since the U.S. immigration authorities switched from paper files to electronic files this year and sent them to the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, the application time has been greatly shortened.
Due to the high success rate and fast approval speed, U.S. investment immigration has become a hot topic this year. In recent years, the number of people applying for investment immigration to the United States has increased significantly. Taking last year as an example, the latest data from the U.S. Department of State shows that in 2008, the number of applications for U.S. naturalization increased by 56% compared to 2007. The United States issued a total of 1,099 investment immigration green cards, with 293 issued to Chinese applicants, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total, an increase of four times compared to 2006.
Canada: Simplifying Approval Procedures
As a major global immigration country, Canada's immigration program has a history of more than 20 years. Moreover, the government-guaranteed funds paid during the application can be refunded, which is why it is known as the "most stable and mature immigration program."
According to reports, the processing progress of Canada's federal investment immigration has significantly accelerated, by about half a year. By compressing and simplifying the application procedures, the total time has been reduced by about half compared to the original. In addition, the province of Quebec amended its immigration regulations on February 2 this year, lowering the threshold for investment immigration and relaxing the requirements for years of management experience. Figures show that Chinese applicants currently account for 70% of the total number of investment immigration applications in Quebec.
Australia: Immigration Policy Continues to Tighten
Since the beginning of this year, Australia's immigration policy has shown a trend of continuous tightening: the IELTS English score requirement for skilled immigration has been raised; the state of Victoria, favored by Chinese immigrants, has taken the lead in restricting spouses from fulfilling "residency requirements" on behalf of the applicant, requiring the main applicant for a temporary visa to be the same person as the main applicant for an Australian green card four years later. This has greatly restricted many business people whose work and career focus are in China. Recently, there has been news that the waiting period for general skilled immigration will be as long as 2 to 3 years.
