Canada still a favorite despite suspension of investor program
Print Edition
Despite Canada’s suspension of its immigrant investor program (IIP), the country remains near the top of a list of most desirable relocation spots for rich Chinese.
In a poll on Sina Weibo, 70 percent of 64,191 voters would choose to invest in and migrate to Canada if they could.
IIP allowed foreigners with assets of at least C$1.6 million (US$1.45 million) to gain residency, or even citizenship, by providing an interest-free loan of C$800,000 over five years. More than 130,000 people have migrated to Canada through the scheme since 1986.
The Canadian move has riled Chinese media and public alike. Many see it as a direct attempt to stop newly wealthy Chinese swarming in to the vast, empty polar nation.
Li, a Beijing businesswoman, submitted her application two years ago but she is now one of an estimated 65,000 applicants affected by the suspension. “The news was a blow,” Li said.
She wants to immigrate as it will benefit her trading business and her child’s education.
“This does not change my decision. Canada remains my top choice. The United States and Australia are also good options,” she said.
Rapid economic growth over the past decades has created tens of thousands of millionaires in China and immigration to countries such as Canada and the US is increasingly popular among the rich.
Jiang, a native of Nanjing in east China, received a “maple leaf card,” which represents Canadian permanent residence, last year.
“I decided to immigrate for my son who is in secondary school,” Jiang said.
Zhao, a 32-year-old mother who lives in north China’s Tianjin City, said she will move abroad for her son’s education. She is a human resources manager in a private company, but has never been abroad herself.
“My son is six years old now and will go to school soon. But the domestic education environment gives me a headache,” she said.
Wang Jin, general manager of the Oxbridge Immigration Company (Tianjin), said some of his clients tell him they will sell their home in China and live off government benefits abroad.
“I think these immigrants should be stopped because foreign countries are not paradise and it would be hard for them to survive,” Wang said.
However, Wang said most Chinese immigrants were rational. They knew which country they wanted to go and planned accordingly.
“Education, business and the environment are the top three reasons for Chinese wanting to immigrate,” Wang said.
Guan Xinping, director of the department of social work and social policy at Nankai University in Tianjin, said it is easier for people to go abroad nowadays.
Guan said many Chinese people have enough wealth or other qualifications to meet the needs of developed countries.
Rational people who really plan to immigrate abroad will not be stopped by the tightening of policies, Guan added.
Canada said that 99 percent of applications submitted to the Canadian Immigration Office in Hong Kong originated in the Chinese mainland.
In the Sunday edition of the Beijing Youth Daily, Sonia Lesage, spokeswomen for the Canadian immigration authority, blamed the poor contribution of immigrants to the Canadian economy rather than the number of applicants for the suspension.
“Except for the C$800,000 interest-free loans, immigrants from the investor program contributed little to the economy,” Lesage was quoted as saying. They did not earn and paid few taxes, she told the paper. Over 20 years, an investor immigrant paid C$200,000 less in taxes than a technical immigrant.
The suspension will clear the vast backlog of applications and pave the way for new schemes including a start-up visa, which should be better for the Canadian economy, she said.
If the program had continued, it would have taken six years for immigration authorities to digest the applications on the waiting list, Lesage told the newspaper.
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