Ottawa will accept up to 500 applications, but only 60 millionaires can make the cut — for now.
Immigration Minister Chris
Alexander says Canada will start accepting applications from millionaire
immigrant investors on Wednesday under a pilot program to attract
international investors to give the Canadian economy a boost.
Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press
Canada will start accepting applications from millionaire immigrant
investors and their families on Wednesday under a revamped version of a
program critics once denounced as "cash for citizenship."
The government announced in December it would give permanent
residency to international investors who can invest $2 million in
Canada, in an effort to attract experienced business people who
could give the Canadian economy a boost.
The new Immigrant Investor Venture Capital program will open on
Jan. 28 to Feb. 11 or until a maximum of 500 applications are
received, the government quietly announced before MPs returned to Ottawa
this week.
"This pilot program is designed to attract immigrant investors who
will significantly benefit the Canadian economy and better integrate
into our society, which will contribute to our long-term prosperity and
economic growth," Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said in a written
statement.
While the government will accept up to 500 applications, it will only
give permanent resident visas to a maximum of 60 applicants — at least
for now.
"The original 60 is to be able to evaluate if the new pilot program
is achieving its goals and to ensure that it is also working in the best
interest of Canada’s economy," a senior government source told CBC News
on Tuesday.
"It could be expanded after the review of this first step."
Each investor will be required to make a non-guaranteed investment of
$2 million over approximately 15 years into a fund managed principally
by BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of
Canada.
The government said the fund "will invest in innovative Canadian startups with high growth potential."
Proceeds from the fund will be distributed to the investors periodically.
The details of the program along with the selection criteria to apply
appear in the latest ministerial instructions published in a government
publication over the weekend.
Investors contributed 'little'
The government is hoping to have better luck with this program than it did with the last one.
"Under the former Immigrant Investor Program (IIP), immigrant
investors had to invest $800,000 in Canada’s economy in the form of a
repayable loan, without meeting skills and abilities requirements of
most of Canada’s economic immigration programs," the government
acknowledged in a public statement before MPs returned to Ottawa this
week.
"Research indicated that immigrant investors under the previous
program were less likely than other immigrants to stay in Canada over
the medium to long term. Also, they contributed relatively little to the
Canadian economy, earning very little income and paying very little
tax."
The pilot immigrant investor program comes after the government
said it scrapped the old program — which critics had described as "cash
for citizenship" — because it had been riddled with fraud.
The program had also been put on hold in 2012 because of a huge backlog of applications.
Thousands of millionaires who had been waiting for permanent
residency under the program sued the federal government after it wiped
out the backlog of applications.
A Federal Court judge ruled against the more than 1,000 would-be investor immigrants last June.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/1.2932616
