Report calls for enhanced Canadian immigration investment programmes
March 26 2010 by Liam Clifford
Experts have recommended that Canada issue more Canada visas for immigrant investors.
The Immigrant Investor Program was launched in 1986
and granted Canadian visas to enable wealthy individuals to relocate their
families – and their resources – to Canada. A new study by economists Pierre
Fortin and Roger Ware shows that each family that have been issued Canadian
visas under the programme has contributed between $770,000 and $800,000 to
Canada’s economy. In total, $2 billion a year is generated for the country as a
result of the programme.
The authors of the study have urged Canadian
immigration officials to speed up the processing time of the Canada visas issued under the scheme. It takes 31 months to secure a Canadian investor visa,
compared with 12 months for investors looking to move to Australia and just 14
weeks for those moving to the UK.
The other issue is retaining the
investors who arrive in Canada through the programme. Many investors do not
settle in Canada permanently, and move on to other countries after being
accepted into the scheme. Most investors are over the age of 45 and remain
active in their country of origin. They do, however, tend to bring their
families with them. "Integration is achieved largely by the second generation,"
said Fortin, who is an economics professor at the University du Quebec a
Montreal.
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