Recently, the Minister of Immigration of Canada stated that although there is no timeline for reopening the Federal Investment Immigration Program, new developments are expected within a few months. Regarding the Quebec Investment Immigration Program, he mentioned that "there is still room for improvement," and the federal quota for Quebec this year remains similar to last year. Due to the previous investment immigration program not meeting its targets, the Canadian side hopes that both investors and funds will stay in Canada, rather than having the funds in place while the immigrants leave. Therefore, a plan will be developed to ensure that investment immigrants actually remain in Canada, with hopes for new progress within a few months.
Currently, while the Canadian federal government has frozen the investment immigration program, the quota for the $800,000 investment immigration in Quebec is still determined by lottery. Regarding the immigration quota given to Quebec by the federal government this year, the official expects it to be similar to last year, when the immigration department provided Quebec with a quota of 2,400 cases for investment immigration. On the issue of citizenship applicants waiting for two years, the official stated that there is a shortage of citizenship judges, with 20% of positions unfilled, and due to the large volume of applications, new measures have been implemented, with expectations to shorten the waiting time starting in 2014.
