The new federal investment immigration law in Canada has been rapidly introduced and officially implemented on July 1st of this year. Within one year, the federal investment immigration program will only accept 700 applications globally. Once 700 applications are received, the federal immigration department will stop accepting applications, and any applications submitted thereafter will be returned. Applications can only be submitted again after the reopening on July 1, 2012. Additionally, the Hong Kong office will cease to accept new applications for a period of one year, and all investment immigration application materials must be submitted to the office of the federal immigration department located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The implementation of this new policy is believed by Worldway Immigration to have a significant impact on Chinese applicants.
Firstly, the global limit of 700 applications for federal investment immigration is exceedingly low, and the simplified application process is bound to result in a large number of submissions in a short period, which is expected to fill the quota quickly. The introduction of this new policy may lead some applicants to shift their immigration goals towards the Quebec investment immigration program in Canada, as well as the U.S. investment immigration program.
For clients who have already submitted applications, the implementation of the new policy is relatively favorable. Currently, there are 14,000 backlogged investment immigration cases from China. The federal immigration bureau has reduced the acceptance of new cases, which will allow them to focus on processing the backlog, potentially speeding up the review process. At the same time, the Canadian immigration bureau has also stated that a new immigration application limit will be set each year to reduce the previous backlog of immigration applications and ensure sufficient time for processing new applications.
Worldway Immigration believes that as the federal investment immigration program in Canada quickly reaches its limit, there will be a significant influx of investment immigration applications directed towards the Quebec investment immigration program and the U.S. investment immigration program. Although there are reports from the Quebec immigration bureau that they will increase staffing to handle the applications for Quebec investment immigration starting next year, expediting the processing of the backlog, the influx of new applications will likely slow down the processing speed for Quebec investment immigration. Quebec may even follow the federal example and impose limits on application quotas. The U.S. investment immigration program is expected to become even more "popular"; after Canada raised its investment threshold last year, the "price advantage" of the Canadian program has diminished. The tightening of federal quotas will prompt more clients to consider applying for the relatively stable U.S. program. With the increase in investment thresholds and tightened quotas for Canadian investment immigration, and the surge in applicants for U.S. investment immigration, it is inevitable that the U.S. will raise its immigration policy thresholds, and price increases are only a matter of time.
Additionally, Worldway Immigration has launched the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Student Program, offering a one-stop service for study and immigration. This program does not require investment; high school graduates and university students can apply for a green card after studying in Canada for 10 months. Upon success, they can also sponsor relatives within three generations to immigrate to Canada. This program is not subject to the quota restrictions of the new federal law. Families that meet this criterion can avoid the congestion of federal and Quebec applications and quickly immigrate to Canada through this program.