According to Zhao Pu, the Chinese Ambassador to Canada, the soon-to-be-terminated Federal Investor Immigration Program and the Federal Entrepreneur Immigration Program have attracted approximately 130,000 immigrants from China, bringing an investment amount to Canada of "billions of Canadian dollars."
Since 1986, Canada has launched the Federal Investor Immigration Program and the Federal Entrepreneur Immigration Program, commonly referred to as "investment immigration." This program requires applicants to have assets of 1.6 million Canadian dollars (approximately 8.82 million RMB) and to provide 400,000 Canadian dollars in assets to the Canadian government. In 2010, the required amount was increased to 800,000 Canadian dollars (approximately 4.41 million RMB).
According to Canadian media reports, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada currently has over 65,000 applications pending. Ambassador Zhao Pu stated that approximately 55,000 of these applications are from China.
Regarding how many Chinese people have immigrated to Canada through investment since 1986, Zhao Pu said, "We do not have detailed data, but it is estimated that there are about 130,000." He mentioned that each applicant usually brings 2 to 3 relatives, and there are currently 35,000 successful application cases. Since most successful cases occurred in the past few decades, their threshold is mostly 400,000 Canadian dollars. Therefore, "a rough estimate suggests that the investment scale may be in the billions of Canadian dollars." However, industry insiders estimate that this amount should have exceeded 10 billion Canadian dollars.
Zhao Pu stated that from an economic perspective, investment immigration should "ensure the development of the Canadian economy and create more job opportunities," but the reality is not so. Zhao Pu noted that after 20 years of observation and research, it was found that many investment immigrants do not reside in Canada, and their tax contributions are far lower than those of other immigrants, contributing almost nothing to the Canadian economy. Their language skills are also lower than those of other immigrants, and their level of integration into Canadian society is relatively low. All of these factors have diminished the value of Canadian citizenship.
Zhao Pu mentioned that since the new immigration bill has not yet been officially passed, applicants who are still waiting for results may be approved, but the government will not expedite the processing. "If the new law is passed, applications that are not approved will be automatically canceled. The application fees will be refunded to the applicants."
Regarding the new immigration policy, Zhao Pu stated that the new policy will encourage skilled individuals and those with entrepreneurial aspirations to come to Canada.
