On February 11, Ottawa announced the closure of the Immigrant Investor Program, which had been in operation for 28 years. This news has attracted widespread attention in the immigration industry. Guy Saint-Jacques, the Canadian Ambassador to China, stated that the Immigrant Investor Program had previously seen little fluctuation, but between 2010 and 2011, the number of applications surged dramatically, triggering a review of the program by the Canadian government.
It is reported that in recent years, the number of applications for Canada's Immigrant Investor Program has seen explosive growth, jumping from the original 2,000–3,000 applications per year to over 50,000, with almost all coming from China. Investigations by Citizenship and Immigration Canada found that the program was particularly popular among wealthy Chinese individuals, who often used it to settle their families in Canada while continuing to conduct business in Asia. Consequently, the federal government decided to cancel the program.
Paying less tax than live-in caregivers, poor language skills
On Thursday, the Vancouver Sun published an article titled "Wealthy Immigrant Investors Pay Little Tax, 'Struggle' with Official Languages."
The article stated that according to a statement by Sonia Lesage, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, over the past two decades, immigrant investors have paid an average of 200,000 Canadian dollars less in taxes to the Canadian government than skilled immigrants, and nearly 100,000 Canadian dollars less than live-in caregivers.
Additionally, the ability of immigrant investors to speak one of Canada's official languages is generally lower than that of refugees.
Program abused, residency fraud exists
Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander also stated in a release that the program had been "abused."
The statement said, "Canadian citizenship and permanent residency are not for sale. There has been widespread 'abuse' of the Immigrant Investor Program. Some people pay for fraudulent proof of residence, claiming to live in Canada to meet residency requirements, while in reality, they are not in Canada at all—this is a widespread occurrence."
These are the reasons that led the federal government to decide to cancel the Immigrant Investor Program.
Value underestimated
There is also evidence that Canada has significantly underestimated the value of Canadian permanent resident status.
Canada's Immigrant Investor Program required applicants to "loan" 800,000 Canadian dollars to the government for five years. The federal government would transfer this money to the provincial government where the applicant intended to settle, to be used for creating local jobs. After five years, the money would be returned to the investor without interest. Such a low-threshold investment immigration policy was primarily intended to attract foreign investment, create domestic jobs, and increase tax revenue. If the policy could not achieve these three goals, it was considered flawed and even produced negative effects. For example, many wealthy immigrant investors from mainland China immigrated solely for the sake of immigration; in fact, it was not even a purchase of residency rights in Canada, but rather providing an interest-free loan to Canada in exchange for Canadian citizenship. This is why there have been widespread outcries that Canadian citizenship is being sold cheaply. After obtaining Canadian citizenship by providing an interest-free loan, they contributed little in taxes and failed to create jobs, while simultaneously enjoying Canada's comprehensive social security and welfare benefits.
Following Canada's termination of the Immigrant Investor Program, nearly 60,000 Chinese applicants were forced to "hit the brakes" and halt their plans; the United States and Europe have become even more popular. Many Chinese families who had planned to apply to Canada have turned to the U.S. EB-5 program, European property investment immigration programs, and the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme. Worldway immigration experts suggest that the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong each have their own advantages and characteristics, and investors should choose a professional and capable immigration agency to handle their family's immigration affairs based on their own objective needs.