Following the announcement by Citizenship and Immigration Canada on June 24, 2011, to cap the number of immigrant investor applications at 700 per year, the Quebec Immigration Bureau has instead extended a warm welcome to immigrant investors. On June 27, 2011, it decided to add 15 immigration officers to its investment immigration offices in Hong Kong and Montreal, which is expected to increase processing capacity by approximately 50%. According to statistics, Quebec reviewed 1,660 applications between January and May of this year.
The current investment amount for the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program is the same as the federal program, requiring a full investment of 800,000 Canadian dollars. Quebec's processing speed for immigrant investors has historically been faster than the federal government's, which has long attracted a large number of Chinese immigrant investors. Last week, the federal immigration department announced that it would only accept 700 applications for the entire year starting July 1. Just days later, Quebec announced an increase in staff to handle applications, which is bound to attract more Chinese immigrant investor applicants.
According to statistics, from January to May of this year, Quebec received a total of 719 immigrant investor applications, 60% of which (437 applications) came from Asia, with 90% of those being Chinese applicants. Regarding interview requirements, the exemption rate for applicants from Asia is 19%.
Regarding completed reviews, Quebec processed 1,660 applications from January to May of this year, 51 of which were applications under the increased investment amount of 800,000 Canadian dollars.
In addition, the Quebec Immigration Bureau announced that starting this autumn, it will make some changes to the application process, including requiring applicants to pay a deposit to a financial intermediary before submitting their application, currently set at a minimum of 10,000 Canadian dollars.
(This article is written by: Worldway senior immigration expert George)
