Chinese 'investor immigrants' inject big bucks in Canada as numbers keep rising

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Billions of yuan may be transferred to Canadian banks every year from China after the media reported that Chinese are now the top seekers of permanent residency in the North American nation.

In 2009 alone, Canada admitted more than 25,000 permanent residents from the Chinese mainland. Around 2,000 applicants moved there after being wooed by Canada's immigration policies for overseas investors, which require a minimum net personal worth of C$800,000 ($771,395) and investment of C$400,000.

Both before and after arrival in Canada, applicants can transfer at least C$500,000 to Canadian banks for living expenses, according to sources familiar with the immigration industry.

Total yuan deposits in Canada may reach 6.7 billion yuan this year if another 2,000 Chinese investor immigrants enter Canada in 2010.

"This is a conservative estimate because when applicants declare they have C$800,000 (5.33 million yuan) in net assets, they may actually have more than 10 million yuan," said Gary Cai, the former China chief representative of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

Cai said some Chinese applicants are on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest individuals, and estimating their net transfers out of China would not be easy.

Five major Canadian banks, including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal, have established personal banking departments in China since 2000, providing services devoted to investor immigrants.

"It's an open secret that banks always love the rich and despise the poor," Cai said. "In the China-based offices of those Canadian banks, business with investor immigrants is always the most important."

The number of investor immigrants going to Canada is rising every year, from 5 percent of total applicants in 2000 to around 25 percent now, Cai added.

In order to track and contact more potential clients, Canadian banks take part in promotional fairs held by immigration agencies.

Cai, who was involved in Canada's personal banking business between 2005 and 2009, said he spent more than 30 weekends a year attending promotional fairs.

Besides receiving processing fees to transfer assets abroad, Canadian banks often aim to find more profitable long-term businesses.

"Banks pay a lot of attention to the period after investor immigrants have successfully landed in Canada," Charles Qi, chairman of Beijing Entry and Exit Service Association, said.

When Chinese investor immigrants arrive, they may deposit money in local banks, purchase loans to buy new houses and cars, and ask banks to take care of their assets. These services create considerable profits for Canadian banks.

Hu Lin, manager of a Beijing-based rack manufacturer, plans to become an investor immigrant in Canada this year.

"I will choose Canadian banks while my immigration is being processed. Firstly, if you use them to transfer money, they charge lower fees than domestic banks - probably 20 percent lower. Secondly, once you arrive in Canada and have a local bank account, it is a lot more convenient because of their network of branches," Hu said.

Source:China Daily

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Chinese Paving the Road to Freedom With Cash

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By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

Published: August 5, 2010

BEIJING — “They’re all millionaires. They’ve made it,” said Mikael Charette of the thousands of wealthy Chinese — his clients — who apply to emigrate to Canada every year on that country’s investment immigration program.
As part of his job, Mr. Charette, a lawyer from Montreal, scrutinizes clients’ financial records. Back in 2005, when he began working at Harvey Law Group in Beijing, he was struck by how often a family’s wealth began with the transfer of the assets of state-owned enterprises to private ownership in the 1990s. Over the course of about eight years, he estimates, those factories became fully profitable.
“Now, I look back over a decade of records, and I see that the factory is running itself. The money of the family is in the second generation, and the children are often already overseas-educated, and they, too, own real estate here,” he said.
But regardless of how wealthy they become, China’s new rich simply don’t feel secure.
“I’ve had rich businessmen say to me, ‘You can be a tiger, but there is always a hunter somewhere,”’ he said.
So they come to Mr. Charette, who specializes in investment immigration to his home province of Quebec. Or they go to other lawyers dealing in immigration to major destinations like the United States, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Unsolicited text messages from immigration firms have become a standard feature of life for Beijing’s upper-middle classes.
“Zero-risk emigration to America: Invest in an Idaho gold mine. For the first time in Beijing the governor himself will explain how, officially,” ran one, supplying a time and date for the meeting. “Emigrate to Australia for $200,000, 95 percent success rate, free education, generous welfare,” ran another.
In just over three decades, China has gone from being one of the poorest countries in the world to its third-biggest economy. Per capita gross domestic product in 1975 was $410. In 2009, it was $6,567, according to the World Bank.
The Hurun Rich List, based in Shanghai, says there are now 875,000 known dollar millionaires in China, an increase of 6.1 percent from a year ago.
Yet even as China grows richer, the number of its rich choosing to emigrate is rising. Many want to maintain two homes, merging their money-making abilities in China with what they perceive as the greater security and ease of international travel offered by a foreign passport or permanent residency.
Last year, for the first time, Chinese citizens became the largest group of immigrants to Australia, displacing the traditional sources of Britain and New Zealand. From July to December 2009, 13,371 Chinese became “permanent additions” (gaining or entitled to permanent residency) to Australia, overtaking Britain’s 13,037 and New Zealand’s 7,342.
While most immigrants are admitted on the basis of sought-after skills or to reunite families, investment immigration, in which applicants make a minimum financial investment or create jobs in their destination, is also booming. So much so that Canada, excluding Quebec, temporarily halted its program in June in order to double the amount that would-be immigrants must invest to qualify. Whereas before applicants required a net worth of 800,000 Canadian dollars, or about $790,000, and a 400,000-dollar investment, in the future they will need 1.6 million dollars and an investment of 800,000 dollars.
“All these changes are because we are overloaded,” Mr. Charette said. “This is a huge, sophisticated market.”
The result for Mr. Charette has been gratifying — a surge in applications to Quebec. He estimates that the window of opportunity will last until October, when Quebec, too, will adjust its policies. In February, 233 people from around Asia applied to the program, he said. In June, the month the national program closed, the number was 519. Chinese constitute up to 85 percent of applicants.
On June 26, the same day the rest of Canada temporarily closed doors, Mr. Charette addressed about 40 would-be investment immigrants in Beijing. The middle-aged men and women listened intently, most taking notes.
The looming higher rates “shouldn’t be a problem for my friends,” murmured Ms. Hou, who did not want to be identified by her full name and said she was with the People’s Liberation Army, representing rich property developers from the city of Xinxiang, in the central province of Henan.
Would she also emigrate, if she could? “Yes,” she said immediately.
Why? After all, China’s living standard is rising as the rest of the world watches the apparent success of the so-called “Beijing Model” — authoritarian politics plus fast economic growth.
Her answers mirrored those given by other would-be emigrants: Better education for the children; a pollution-free environment; better medical care; a safer food supply; bigger and cheaper housing. Added up, they are what psychologists and sociologists dub Q.O.L., or quality of life issues, factors not measured by G.D.P.
“Education is very important,” offered another woman at the seminar. “It’s different over there, and it produces different values.”
Did the current economic crisis in the West put her off?
“Not really,” she said. “They talk about it in the papers here, but I don’t know if they’re telling the truth. I trust my friends, and my friends say things aren’t that bad.”
Joy Xi emigrated to Canada nearly a decade ago. When I asked why people leave, despite rising prosperity in China, her answer was swift: “Sanlu,” the company notorious for producing melamine-laced milk powder that killed six babies and sickened hundreds of thousands more in 2008. Few believe the problem is over.
Also, said Ms. Xi, China is growing richer, but it’s also growing more unequal, and that makes the rich feel unsafe.
Summing up how many Chinese think, she cited a widespread saying: “Life in China is too risky. Consider carefully where you want to be reborn in your next life.”

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Canada high on list for Chinese planning to travel, invest abroad

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by Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Only a few weeks after finalizing its Approved Destination Status (ADS), Canada has already ranked the third most popular tourist destination among Chinese looking to travel abroad, according to a survey released Monday.
In a telephone poll of 1,080 people living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the "Research Report on China's Outbound Tourism Market" found Australia the most desired destination of prospective Chinese travelers, followed by Singapore and Canada.
The report was conducted jointly by the Vancouver-based SUCCESS Foundation, EMR International and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,
Japan ranked fourth, just ahead of the United States, South Korea and New Zealand. Europe (16 percent), currently the most popular Western destination with Chinese travelers after Asia (67 percent) according to the Chinese Tourism News Association, surprisingly ranked 11th on the list of 13 countries and regions. The Middle East was last with only about 2 percent showing interest in visiting the region.
Unlike Australia which has had ADS since 1999, Canada, which only had its status finalized late last month during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the country ahead of the G20 summit in Toronto, was a desired destination of about 13 percent of travelers. Last year, Canada received 160,833 Chinese visitors out of the 47.6 million who traveled abroad.
Historically, countries that have been granted ADS, a designation which allows Chinese tourists to visit in organized, pre-sold tourist groups, have experienced a 40-percent jump in Chinese visitors the first year, increasing to more than 50 percent after two years.
With China forecast to have 100 million outbound tourists by 2020, Yuen Pau Woo, head of the Asia Pacific Foundation, said Canada was uniquely positioned to capitalize on the increasing number of travelers because of the "deep and profound" relationship shared by the two countries.
Currently, Canada and China are marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.
"It is this unique connection that we have because of immigration, because of tourists, because of students, because of business ties, that puts Canada, I think, in a unique competitive position to build stronger relations with China. If we have more tourism traffic and Chinese visitors have a better understanding of Canada, in turn Canadians have a better understanding of China and Chinese visitors, suspicions go down, trust goes up," he said.
Other findings listed Canada as the most popular place for emigration among Beijingers, while Shanghai and Guangzhou residents both preferred Australia. Overall, Australia was the most popular destination for emigration among those polled, just ahead of Canada, the United States, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
While America was the unanimous choice for studying abroad among all three cities polled, Canada ranked first (22 percent) as the favorite country or region for investment. the United States was second (18 percent), followed by Australia (13 percent).
Tung Chan, head of SUCCESS, a non-profit group which helps new immigrants start their lives in Canada, said Chinese investors liked the country for its political stability and that it was seen as a "comfort zone" for its large Chinese community numbering about 1.4 million people.
The survey also found Chinese perceived Canada as a place to lead a relaxed life with its beautiful scenery, fresh air, skiing and maple syrup. About 15 percent of respondents said they would like to travel to the country to ski, while another 15 percent wanted to go for the food and wine.
Last year was historic in terms of Chinese tourism as it was the first time in 30 years the country had a trade deficit. Chinese tourist spent more abroad than what foreign visitors spent in China.

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