This year marks a significant shift in immigration policies. From April to October, countries such as Australia, the United States, Canada, and Singapore, as well as Hong Kong, which announced policy changes on the 13th, are all adjusting their policies and raising the thresholds for investment immigration. Industry insiders indicate that the primary reasons for these adjustments are the oversubscription of applicants leading to insufficient quotas and the need to protect national interests. Such adjustments will result in structural changes between different immigration projects within the immigration countries and the countries themselves, leading to a reshuffle.
Investment immigration policies are changing across various regions.
On April 19, Australia adjusted its immigration policies, raising asset requirements and equity ratios while eliminating the 163B executive category. On June 8, the U.S. Employment Development Loan Center announced that it would allocate $3 billion from the $800 billion federal bailout fund as loan guarantees to launch a new EB5 investment immigration program targeting small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States. Ordinary Chinese citizens can provide a total personal investment of $500,000 through EB5 to U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises as a low-interest loan for five years, and will legally obtain a U.S. green card in about three years. This move is also seen as the only new immigration method that can match the speed of marrying a U.S. citizen.
On June 26, Canada announced a halt to federal immigration applications, with new regulations requiring the investment amount to increase from CAD 400,000 to CAD 800,000, and the net asset requirement to rise from CAD 800,000 to CAD 1.6 million, with the new regulations set to take effect in November. Additionally, Quebec's investment immigration program will stop accepting applications on October 15.
Singapore will require, starting October 1, that the annual turnover of the applicant's business be no less than SGD 30 million, and from January 1, 2011, the investment requirement will increase from SGD 1.5 million to SGD 2.5 million.
As of the end of September 2010, Hong Kong had received 14,102 applications, attracting over HKD 57 billion in investments. Just last week, on October 13, the Hong Kong government announced that the investment amount for investment immigration would increase from HKD 6.5 million to HKD 10 million, and real estate would no longer be included in the Hong Kong investment immigration category. The new policy officially took effect on the 14th. It is reported that on the day the new policy was announced, the Special Administrative Region government received over 200 investment immigration applications, compared to an average of about 30 applications per day previously.
Applicant conditions and immigration thresholds are rising.
The continuous introduction of new immigration policies this year is primarily due to the improvement of the economic situation in China and the significant increase in personal wealth among Chinese citizens. More people wish to go abroad to enjoy better living and educational environments. Experts state, "This year's global statistics show that the personal wealth of Chinese individuals ranks third in the world, following the United States and Japan."
Senior immigration consultants indicate that the surge in investment immigration applicants has placed immense pressure on mainstream immigration countries. The backlog of cases at the Canadian immigration bureau is nearly 20 times the annual immigration quota, meaning that even if the immigration bureau stops accepting new applications, the backlog would take 20 years to clear. They note that most of these immigration applicants come from Asian countries, particularly China, where many can easily meet the CAD 800,000 asset requirement through stocks and real estate.
Although developed countries still verbally uphold free immigration policies, they have introduced various measures to restrict immigration, such as lowering quotas, raising entry thresholds, strengthening border patrols, and even forcibly deporting illegal immigrants. Moreover, as the overall strength of immigration applicants increases, the conditions for immigration are also rising. The adjustments in policies and the continuously increasing asset requirements have blocked the immigration paths for some individuals.
Traditional immigration destinations will undergo a reshuffle.
Traditional immigration destinations include Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong. This year's changes in immigration policies have significantly altered the immigration landscape. Experts indicate that after Canada raised its prices, a considerable portion of applicants may shift to the United States and Hong Kong, and with Hong Kong's cancellation of real estate investment immigration, the number of applicants is also expected to decline. If Singapore's investment amount rises from SGD 1.5 million to SGD 2.5 million, its attractiveness will decrease, leading to a significant reduction in the number of immigrants.
In the near future, immigration policies are expected to enter a relatively stable period, creating a "double guarantee" situation for investment immigration. On one hand, the new policies will ensure that other countries attract more potential high-quality immigration applicants to meet their economic recovery needs. On the other hand, the new policies will also guarantee the processing time for applicants' cases. For most financially capable clients, facing changes in immigration policies, they may initially be unprepared and require an adaptation period, but after two to three months, they should have adjusted to these changes without significant issues.
There will undoubtedly be structural changes between immigration countries and among various immigration projects within those countries. After Canada raised its prices, the investment cost advantage of U.S. immigration has become more apparent, and it is expected that many individuals will shift their focus to U.S. projects.
