Investor Immigration
Investor Immigration program applies for foreign investors from all around the world.
N.B.: This Program is currently frozen by the Federal Government of Canada, and no new applications are accepted under this program at the moment. The program is under review and is likely to be redesigned and launched again in the future.
Federal Immigrant Investor Program
Canadian Government has established new eligibility criteria for the Immigrant Investor Program in 2010. According to these new criteria, Immigrant Investors must:
- have a personal net worth of CDN$1.6 million
- make an investment of CDN$800,000 for a period of 5 years without interests (Canadian Financial Institutions may be able to provide financing for this amount)
Canadian Immigration Minister has indicated that these changes were required because “the requirements had not been increased in more than a decade and we need to keep pace with the changing economy.”
These new investment and net worth requirements have brought Canadian Immigrant Investor Program closer to other developed countries (e.g. USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand) with similar investor immigration programs.
Canadian Immigrant Investor Program offers several advantages in comparison to other Immigrant Investor Programs, such as granting of permanent resident status up front, as well as guaranteed repayment of the investment (in case if the immigrant investor does not use financing options through a Canadian Financial Institutions).
All new Immigrant Investor Applications received on or after 1 December 2010 will be processed alongside the old Immigrant Investor Applications. For this reason in the processing of new Immigrant Investor Applications will be considerably faster than processing of old Immigrant Investor Applications.
Qualified Immigrant Investor may be able to obtain financing through a Canadian Financial Institution by prepaying the cost of borrowing and interests (currently estimated by Canadian Financial Institutions to be approximately CDN$180,000). If a qualified Immigrant Investor chooses the financing option through an authorized Canadian Financial Institution, then such Canadian Financial Institution will make a deposit of CDN$800,000 to the Canadian Government on behalf of the Immigrant Investor, after receiving the prepaid cost of borrowing and interests from the Immigrant Investor.
Immigrant Investor applicants are in addition assessed according to the following selection criteria for Immigrant Investors:
- Business Experience: Maximum 35
- Age: Maximum 10
- Education: Maximum 25
- Official Languages (English and French): Maximum 24
- Adaptability: Maximum 6
TOTAL: Maximum 100
All Immigrant Investor Applicants are required to have at least 35 points out of 100 available points.
Quebec has its own Quebec Immigrant Investor Program that is similar to Federal Immigrant Investor Program. However, the quota for Quebec program has been filled and no new applications will be accepted under Quebec program until new announcement by the Quebec Government.
For advice and assistance, please contact our Canadian business immigration lawyer in Toronto, Ontario, Canada >