Wealthy immigrants can invest way to visas

By Lornet Turnbull

Seattle Times staff reporter

KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Svetlana Anikeeva, a Russian immigrant living in Redmond, is seen in front of the Sodo building she and her husband invested in to get green cards. With developers struggling to find financing, use of EB-5 capital is expanding.

EB-5 visas

The EB-5 visa program, which Congress established in the early 1990s, grants green cards to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 or $1 million (depending on location) into a new American business and create at least 10 new jobs for legal U.S. workers.

For investments in enterprises in most parts of the U.S., a $1 million investment is required, but that drops to $500,000 for investments in rural areas or areas of high unemployment. Parts of Sodo and the University District are considered high-unemployment areas for purposes of the program.

Foreigners with an entrepreneurial spirit may start a business and directly create jobs for at least 10 new employees. For conditions to be removed and the green card made permanent, those jobs must be in place by the end of the first two years.

The more typical method is investing in what's known as a regional center — businesses, usually development operations, that have been certified by the U.S. government through a detailed, complex process. While regional centers are required to create 10 jobs per investor, they are permitted to use economic models to demonstrate the creation of jobs indirectly linked to each investment.

Foreigners who apply for the visa must prove the legitimate source of the money they are investing — by producing tax returns or other financial documents.

Typically within a year or so of first applying, investors receive a conditional green card. Within two years, if they can demonstrate job creation, the conditions will be removed.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

As his son moved through high school, Xiaohong Mu began researching the immigration policies of Western countries where he believed his boy would get the best education.

The owner of a petroleum-engineering firm in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu, Mu considered Australia and Canada before settling on the United States.

America, he believes, will not only prepare his son for future success, but he also thinks he can find new business opportunities here.

Mu and his family will move to Seattle this month under a little-known but increasingly popular visa program reserved for foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in an American enterprise.

It's a source of money that cash-starved developers across the U.S. are using to help fund any number of new projects — from ski resorts in Vermont to utility-line extensions for a new BMW plant in Moses Lake.

About $48 million in these investor funds will help finance the state of Washington's $4.6 billion replacement of the Highway 520 floating bridge.

The relative obscurity of the so-called EB-5 visa program has allowed it to escape scrutiny at a time debate over immigration in this country has raged.

As developers struggle to get traditional sources of funding for their projects, use of EB-5 capital is expanding and expected to total $1.2 billion nationally for 2011, up from $845 million last year.

The financiers are wealthy foreigners — primarily the Chinese — who see an opportunity to gain permanent U.S. residency without the long wait and complicated processing associated with family and work-related visas — if they can qualify for those visas at all.

"There's a kind of gold rush going on right now — developers trying to get projects going and a huge group of Chinese with money," said James Palmer, economic-development manager at the state Department of Commerce.

While the state is not directly involved in operating the EB-5 visa program, Palmer has made himself an expert of sorts, fielding frequent calls from area developers and would-be investors around the globe seeking information about the program. "It's a marriage made in heaven," he said.

Mu's investment is visible to anyone who has attended a game at Safeco Field: the second phase of a $155 million office complex going up just south of the stadium in Sodo.

"The first priority is securing the green card," Mu said through an interpreter. "Financial return of the capital is second."

Russian citizen Svetlana Anikeeva, along with her husband, invested $500,000 in an earlier phase of the same project. Now living in Redmond on a conditional green card she received about 16 months ago, Anikeeva can't help but feel a sense of pride when she drives past the building that her investment helped make possible.

"I tell people that being born in the U.S. itself is worth at least $500,000," she said.

Small-scale program

Capped at just 10,000 visas a year nationwide, the EB-5 visa program is relatively small, but offers one of the quickest paths to legal residency.

Overseen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is one of several visa-for-cash programs worldwide, including one in Canada.

Congress established the U.S. program 20 years ago to allow foreign investors from any country who could prove the lawful source of their money to obtain conditional green cards for themselves and immediate family members. For the green cards to become permanent, each investment must have created at least 10 new, full-time jobs for legal U.S. residents by the end of two years.

Typically, foreigners invest $500,000 through entities known as regional centers — usually development companies such as American Life, which owns the Sodo office complex that Mu and Anikeeva invested in.

These centers may also operate as investment companies, like the Washington Regional Center, which used EB-5 funds from 95 Chinese investors to purchase state bonds for the 520 bridge project.

The investors have virtually no direct management involvement in the centers, which are authorized by Citizen and Immigration Services. The investors may live wherever they want in the U.S., regardless of the location of the project.

In 2007, there were just under 800 visa applicants and 11 regional centers nationwide. By the end of fiscal 2011, nearly five times that many foreigners had applied and 179 centers were operating — 11 in Washington state.

And new regional centers are coming onboard every day.

A virtual cottage industry has sprung up among marketing agents overseas who promote the centers while peddling U.S. residency to the wealthy.

The marketing frenzy is particularly prolific in China, where Mu said he is bombarded daily with sales pitches.

"There's no privacy protection here," he said. "If people know you have money, they'll contact you. Every day I still get calls, emails and text messages."

The program isn't without risk, and the U.S. government makes no guarantee to investors they'll get their money back and prohibits regional centers from making upfront promises about return of capital.

In the past, projects have failed and investors have lost their money. What's more, foreigners who've been allowed into the country through the program on a conditional green card face deportation if a project they invested in fails to meet the job-creation requirement after two years.

"Despite its many benefits and increasing popularity, the EB-5 program still presents serious risks," said Elizabeth Peng, a Mercer Island immigration attorney.

"I tell investors this is money they should be willing to lose, that if they can't afford the risk they shouldn't do it."

Doesn't mind risk

Svetlana Anikeeva understood the risks when she and her husband plunked down much of their savings two years ago in exchange for the chance to live in the U.S.

Since her first visit to America as an exchange student in 1995, Anikeeva said she knew this is where she wanted to live. Other types of visas were not available to her and her husband, who owns a car business in Japan. The EB-5, she said, was the perfect solution for the couple and their 11-year-old daughter.

She receives a monthly statement from American Life on the progress of the project and distributions of about $200.

"For us this was not a business opportunity, it's an immigration opportunity," Anikeeva said.

Immigration attorney-turned-developer Henry Liebman, chief executive of American Life, has raised about $700 million from more than 1,000 EB-5 investors and created about 15,000 jobs over the last dozen years.

In Sodo and across the U.S., his company — one of the country's oldest regional centers — has developed about 40 commercial projects by pooling foreign investments with other funding.

"It's not a huge source of capital, but it's still significant," Liebman said. "It's money that wouldn't otherwise be available in a time of limited liquidity."

Test ahead in Congress

The regional center EB-5 program, which has always operated as a pilot, is set to expire in September unless Congress renews it, as it has in the past.

At least two bills have been introduced to make it permanent, including one by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens.

David North, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates immigration enforcement, called it a "silly little program" with "extremely little effect" on the nation's economy.

Compared to total foreign investment in the U.S., he said, "it's pennies. If you talk to serious venture capitalists, they'll laugh at the idea of getting money in half-million chunks."

Seattle attorney Steve Miller said he steers clients away from the EB-5 program — both the regional-center track or a much smaller one that allows investors to set up and directly operate their own companies in the U.S. He says there are enough concerns to raise a "significant red flag."

Miller, for example, is working to remove conditions from the green card of a client who first obtained it more than 10 years ago.

That case dates back to the late 1990s, when uncertainty plagued the program. During that time, the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service discovered fraud, some of it resulting from ambiguity over the agency's own policies.

Some developers were taking investors' money without delivering projects and the jobs they promised, and some investors got green cards without making their full investments. As a result, hundreds of foreigners and their family members from that period still do not have permanent green cards.

Between the late 1990s and mid-2000s, participation in the program slowed. While the government has since clarified its policies regarding the program, Miller said he tries to explore other avenues for high-income clients willing to operate businesses in the U.S.

Wave of Chinese

As the number of wealthy Chinese has increased, so has their participation in the visa program. More than 40 percent of program investors are from China — far higher on the West Coast.

A recent study by China Merchants Bank and Bain & Co., a consulting firm, found almost 60 percent of China's "high net-worth individuals" — those with at least $1.5 million in assets — are either considering or completing emigration through investment programs.

Five years ago, it was Koreans, Taiwanese or people from across Europe, said Kim Foster, with the Aero-Space Port International Group, which established Washington's first regional center in Grant County.

Mercer Island immigration attorney Cletus Weber said his firm's Chinese clients tend to fall mostly into one of two categories: parents like Mu who want to move to the U.S. so their children can get a better education, or college students whose parents hand them $500,000 so they can set themselves up in the U.S.

Said his partner, attorney Peng: "As U.S. permanent residents, they have more doors open to them than if they came as foreign students."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com. On Twitter: @turnbull




Check the Canadian Immigration Options for Business People at http://nexuscanadaimmigration.com/BusinessInCanada.aspx 


Find out if you qualify for business immigration at https://ecan-canada.com/Assessment.aspx?cat=BU&cid=nexus

Foreign-trained workers expand Canada's options

By GERRY MACARTNEY, SPECIAL TO QMI AGENCY


CHAMBER VIEW: Their global experience and skill are invaluable assets as we go forward

Could there be any greater asset when trying to compete in the global marketplace than having an abundance of global experience and talent right in our own back yard?

The London Chamber of Commerce, and many chambers across Ontario, feel strongly that the foreign-trained professionals and skilled immigrants we have in our communities are indeed the kind of assets we will need to grow our economy and expand our connections to a wider array of business opportunities around the world.

These skilled individuals can enable our business base in London to have a real tangible global advantage in today's increasingly competitive and borderless business environment. How? By providing insight and knowledge about other business cultures that can often be the difference between success and failure when attempting to open up new global opportunities.

They can provide quicker access to international markets and connections that might take us years longer to develop.

And as was the case with the chamber's recent foray into China with the rest of Team London -- it was a foreign-trained professional and a member of the chamber that provided a critical advantage in language and translation skills and a better understanding of the technological and business nuances that vary widely from country to country.

It's been said that only by taking calculated risks and being open to learning from the experiences of immigrants will Canadian companies fully capitalize on the potential for innovation and growth.

And the truly great thing is that we don't have to go and look for them or lure them here -- they are already here.

The London Chamber, in partnership with the Ontario Chamber and the London Middlesex Immigrant Employment Council, is offering the first of its kind "global experience at work" program whose principle aim is to connect more chamber members with skilled immigrants here in our community through the following no-cost tools and resources:

• Search tools to access pre-screened local and province-wide talent.
• Mentoring programs that strengthen leadership, coaching and cross-cultural skills of employees,
• Screening support for evaluating international credential and language skills.
• Connections with other Chamber members who have successfully attracted and retained top newcomer talent.

We're all aware that our workforce is getting older and our emerging industries require more and more specialized skill sets.

We have many talented and well-educated internationally trained professionals in London that can add greatly to the strength of our city, economic region and local economy. We highly encourage you to arrange a consultation with a program representative at global@LMIEC.ca or by calling 519-663-0774 to learn more about how your company can connect to a qualified talent pool, free of charge. We also look forward to your participation in workshops throughout 2012 designed to support your company in attracting and retaining top newcomer talent.

Gerry Macartney is chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce. His e-mail address is gerry@londonchamber.com

Canada Escapes Recession's Grip

by BRIAN MANN


America's biggest trade partner, Canada, sailed through the economic downturn almost unscathed, with low unemployment, no mortgage crisis and not a single major bank failure. As part of WBEZ'sFront and Center series, Brian Mann reports on how Canada emerged as one of the world's most stable and prosperous economies.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

As Europe works to solve its financial problems, closer to home and with a little less fanfare, America's biggest trading partner is thriving. Canada has built an impressive track record throughout the recession. It's got low unemployment, little government debt and some of the healthiest economic growth in the industrialized world. Brian Mann traveled to Toronto for WBEZ's Chicago's Front and Center project and has this story.

BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: It's early morning and Toronto's central business district is in high gear with people crowding into street cars, heading to work.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

MANN: This city of five million people sits just a few hours' drive from America's rust belt - from Buffalo and Detroit. While those cities have shed population and are struggling to reinvent themselves, Toronto is on fire. Matthew Mendelson heads the Mowat Center for Policy Innovation.

MATTHEW MENDELSON: Our financial sector, our financial institutions are the healthiest in the world. And so that creates enormous opportunities.

MANN: Canada has some of the strictest banking rules in the world. While hundreds of banks failed in the U.S. during the recession, this country hasn't seen a single major bank failure - not one. In fact, banks here are posting record profits. There's also no mortgage crisis in Canada. And while U.S. politicians feud over government spending, Mendelson says political parties on this side of the border have done the hard work of balancing budgets.

MENDELSON: The last decade has been one of Canada paying down debt, while it's been one of the United States ratcheting up debt. And so that creates much more flexibility for Canada to invest and make choices when a recession arises.

MANN: It's a huge turnabout for a country that in the 1990s was an economic basket case. In those days, the Canadian dollar was so weak that it was known as the northern peso. Now, Canada's dollar trades on par with American greenbacks and economic growth here is a third higher than in the U.S. Unemployment remained relatively low during the recession and people who do lose their jobs in Canada can expect to be out of work for half as long, compared with jobless workers in the U.S. Economists credit Canada's prosperity to a wide range of factors, including the rapid expansion of the country's oil industry and a very different approach to immigration.

MARIO CALA: We've instituted a managed, point-based immigration system.

MANN: That's Mario Cala, head of a nonprofit that runs a network of immigrant welcome centers for the Canadian government. While the U.S. grants most of its green cards on the basis of family connections, Cala says Canada actively seeks out immigrants who can bring money, high tech skills or new businesses to boost the economy.

CALA: Canadians understand that while these people coming from other countries may be very different from us, they're coming with great talents and skills.

MANN: As a consequence, Canadian cities have emerged rapidly as high tech international hubs with deep ties to China and India. Not everything here is perfect. Canada has seen government debt creep up during the recession, and there's a growing environmental debate here and in the U.S. over the impacts of Canada's booming oil industry. But many economists in Canada say their biggest economic vulnerability long-term may be an over-reliance on the United States, which now buys more than 70 percent of Canadian exports. Matthew Mendelson with the Mowat Center says Canada is racing to diversify.

MENDELSON: We are in the process of a historical pivot. Our future can not only be tied to exports to the United States. It also has to be tied to the emergence of Asian economies.

MANN: That pivot will take decades, and for now, Canadian exporters are watching nervously to see if the American economy and American consumers will continue to bounce back. For NPR News, I'm Brian Mann.

Feds to revoke thousands of citizenships in historic sweep

BY TOBI COHEN, POSTMEDIA NEWS DECEMBER 9, 2011

 

 

• STORY
• PHOTOS ( 3 )

 

 

More Images »

 

In what's being dubbed the biggest citizenship fraud sweep in Canadian history, the federal government is set to crack down on 4,700 more people believed to have obtained citizenship or permanent resident status illegally. Pictured, Jason Kenny, federal minister of immigration, speaks to the Chamber of Commerce in Calgary.

Photograph by: Grant Black, Calgary Herald

OTTAWA — In what's being dubbed the biggest citizenship fraud sweep in Canadian history, the federal government is set to crack down on 4,700 more people believed to have obtained citizenship or permanent resident status illegally.

The announcement comes six months after the government moved to strip 1,800 people of their Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status for the same reasons. Up until this year, Canada had revoked just 67 citizenships since the Citizenship Act came into force in 1947.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is expected to make the announcement that "Canadian citizenship is not for sale" on Friday, Postmedia News has learned.

He will unveil the details in Montreal where Nizar Zakka — an immigration consultant suspected of fraud — was arrested in 2009. Zakka is suspected of providing would-be Lebanese immigrants with false evidence — indicating that they were living in Quebec when they were not — to support their cases for permanent residency.

He's also accused of filing or contributing to the filing of 861 false tax returns for at least 380 clients between 2004 and 2007. The returns allegedly were then used to claim refunds for child care and property taxes as well as the provincial sales-tax credit.

The bulk of the citizenship fraud cases are said to be linked to Zakka as well as Halifax immigration consultant Hassan Al-Awaid, who was charged in March with more than 50 citizenship fraud-related offences.

The cases are also tied to a third consultant from Mississauga, Ont., west of Toronto, who remains under investigation, according to a government source who noted the others were brought to light thanks to the new citizenship fraud tip line.

Unveiled in September, the tip line already has fielded 5,366 calls.

Letters are currently being sent to the 6,500 people from 100 countries indicating that Canada is revoking their citizenship or permanent resident status due to fraud.

This comes following a lengthy investigation by the RCMP and the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.

Alleged fraudsters, the majority of whom are not currently living in Canada, have up to 60 days to appeal the decision in Federal Court before cabinet moves to void their passports and strip them of all rights and privileges.

According to Citizenship and Immigration, to maintain permanent resident status a person must reside in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period. Permanent residents seeking citizenship must show proof that they've lived in Canada for at least three of the last four years before applying.

At the time of Al-Awaid's arrest, Kenney said he was suspected of helping people "create the appearance they were residing in Canada in order to keep their permanent resident status, and ultimately attempt to acquire citizenship."

He said investigators had linked Al-Awaid to 1,100 applicants and their dependents, 76 of whom had obtained Canadian citizenship.

He noted that many people were prevented from "fraudulently obtaining citizenship" as a result of the investigation.

The government has been taking action against citizenship fraud for some time. The Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act, which imposes tough new penalties for immigration consultants convicted of fraud, including fines and/or prison, is now law in Canada.

tcohen(at)postmedia.com

Twitter.com/tobicohen

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

Lorne Gunter: Time to crack down on fraudulent immigrants

Canadians are generous people, but have no tolerance or patience for people who don’t play by the rules and who lie or cheat to become a Canadian citizen. The government will apply the full strength of Canadian law to those who have obtained citizenship fraudulently.”

With those blunt words, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Friday in Montreal that his department and the RCMP have gathered evidence on as many as 6,500 new citizens or permanent residents who acquired their immigration status fraudulently. Mr. Kenney intends to strip them of their status and deport them, if they are in the country. He added, “Canadian citizenship is not for sale.”

Mr. Kenney and the police allege that paid immigration consultants have been helping people pretend to meet the residency requirements needed to obtain citizenship or permanent-resident status. Before being accepted, an applicant must have lived full-time in Canada for three of the previous four years. To maintain their status, they must show proof they have lived here at least two out of every five years thereafter. Unscrupulous consultants, Mr. Kenney suspects, have been helping thousands of applicants produce fake evidence that they have been living in Canada.

Many of the case of suspected fraud revolve around two consultants, Nizar Zakka of Montreal, who was arrested in 2009, and Hassan Al-Awaid of Halifax, who was charged last March. Mr. Zakka is suspected of providing would-be immigrants with false evidence that they were living in Quebec. He was also accused of helping file nearly 900 false tax returns, allegedly so absentee citizens could qualify for tax credits for child care, property tax and provincial sales tax.

Related

• Thousands to be stripped of Canadian citizenship in historic fraud sweep

Not surprisingly, many of Mr. Zakka’s allegedly fraudulent clients are Lebanese who are suspected of never having lived in Canada long enough to acquire citizenship legitimately. Why is not surprising to me that so many Lebanese are suspected? Because of the way so many suddenly remembered their devotion to Canada when war broke out in their country between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

When the bullets began whizzing and the bombs and missiles began falling, hundreds of Canadian “citizens” who hadn’t lived here for a decade or more pulled their passports out of the drawers they’d stuffed them in and started waving them around like “Get out of Hell free” cards demanding Ottawa rescue them (at Ottawa’s expense).

Many of these Canadians of convenience had come here in the 1980s and 1990s, during Lebanon’s long civil war, only long enough to obtain citizenship, then the minute they qualified and the fighting back home subsided, they beetled off to Lebanon never again to live in Canada or contribute to Canadian society. Yet once they were caught in the crossfire between Israel and radical Islamists, they insisted Ottawa send ships and planes to ferry them to safety. Then they complained the rescue wasn’t happening fast enough and, finally, were indignant about the conditions on the ships that were sent.

That’s the kind of insincere citizen Mr. Kenney is targeting. He is right that Canadians are a generous lot. We already accept more immigrants per capita than any other developed nation – more than 250,000 a year, heading towards 300,000 a year over the coming decade. So it does not make us mean-spirited or xenophobic to revoke the citizenship or permanent-resident status of a few thousand applicants who, in his words, lied and cheated to get into Canada. Indeed, doing so preserves the value of Canadian citizenship not only for people born here, but also for those new Canadians who took the time to go through the proper procedures to come here legally – a process that can take up to seven years.

For far too long, Ottawa has been cavalier about granting citizenship, refugee status and permanent residency. It hasn’t screened visa applications adequately. It has accepted at face value too many bogus stories about persecution back home. It has made little effort to deport people ordered expelled by the courts, including hundreds of violent criminals. It has seldom prosecuted people smugglers and has permitted people granted refugee status to travel freely back and forth between Canada and the homelands in which they insisted their lives were in danger. Ottawa has even done a poor job of encouraging new Canadians to adopt this nation’s values. No longer.

Under Mr. Kenney and the Tories, the visa-screening process is to be beefed up, the refugee determination system is being streamlined to help better sort true refugees from sob-story applicants, the immigration consultant industry is being cleaned up and citizenship training has been changed to emphasize the importance in Canada of the rule of law, equality between the sexes and social tolerance. This is not proof of bigotry and vindictiveness by the Tories. Rather it is, finally, a recognition that if Canadian citizenship is to mean anything, it cannot be given away like Halloween candy.

National Post

Follow Lorne on Twitter @lornegunter

B.C. panel to review how to attract skilled workers, investors

Premier Christy Clark announced this week the creation of a task force to review the system under which skilled immigrants and foreign investors come to B.C. and Canada.

Led by Richmond-Steveston MLA John Yap, the nine-member group will consist of community and business leaders and will review the Provincial Nominee Program, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Canadian Experience Class, and the Federal Immigrant Investor Program.

The task force will assess the efficiency of each program, and look at how to improve the federal government's responsiveness to immigration needs throughout Western Canada, the premier said in Vancouver Thursday.

"We've laid out an ambitious plan to create jobs in the BC Jobs Plan and we will need skilled immigrants to help fill more than one million job openings expected over the next decade," Clark said, noting that current B.C. residents are expected to account for only two-thirds of those positions.

"We don't know yet how we're going to fill those jobs," she said.

The goal of the task force is to assess the current system and find ways to attract more skilled workers every year.

To do that, task force members will meet with employers, industry and sector associations, settlement service providers, community associations and other relevant groups, Clark said.

"This is a province and a country that was built on immigration, and that hasn't changed."

Clark said she'd like to see the elimination of federal caps on the Provincial Nominee Program, which channels educated, experienced, skilled workers swiftly into the economy and accelerates the process to secure permanent residency.

The group's first meeting is scheduled for next week, Yap said.

"They're going to be busy over the next couple of months."

He said members of the team, which also includes former MP Stockwell Day, are participating on a volunteer basis and the government will cover the incidental costs of the initiative, which aren't expected to exceed $100,000.

A final public report will be submitted to the premier by March 31, 2012.

CONFIRMED MEMBERS OF TASK FORCE

. John Yap, chair - Richmond-Steveston MLA.

. Tung Chan (Richmond) - Former CEO SUCCESS/Chinese community leader.

. Stockwell Day (Penticton) - Government relations consultant/former minister/MP.

. Yuen Pau Woo (North Vancouver) - CEO Asia Pacific Foundation.

. Grace Wong (Vancouver) - Assistant dean, UBC/vice-chair SUCCESS.

. Tim McEwan (Prince George) - CEO, Initiatives Prince George.

. Suki Badh (Richmond) - College instructor/South Asian community leader.

. Michael Hwang (New Westminster) - Principal lawyer of Hwang & Company/founder and partner of Amicus Lawyers.

. Narindarpal Singh Kang (Vancouver) - Founder, Kang and Company Law Firm, specializing in immigration law.

Evan Duggan, Vancouver Sun

eduggan@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/panel+review+attract+skilled+workers+investors/5841528/story.html#ixzz1gCktCQbr

Canada Immigration Visas Available for Physiotherapists, Psychologists & Many Other Occupations.

Canadian Government continues to accept applications under its popular Federal Skilled Worker program (FSWP) currently in 25 of the 29 occupations listed in current Ministerial Instructions. Quotas for some of the open occupations are filling up faster than others.

The Federal Skilled Worker program (FSWP) is the most popular Canadian immigration program since many years, as it provides permanent residence visas to skilled professionals from across the world, based on their skills in factors like education, occupation, language abilities, etc. The program is referred to as 'Points system' among many groups, as the selection is based on the points score in each of the 6 factors and their ability to achieve the minimum pass marks (points) - set at 67 out of possible 100.

Canada has been a popular destination for immigrants from all parts of the world, so much so that it receives many times more applications than it can process or accept in any year. Canada has accepted about 250 - 280,000 immigrants annually since past many years, and the backlog grew to over a million in 2008. The resulting backlog of applications, led to increased processing time ranging from a few months to 7 years in some countries.

With a view to overcome the challenges posed by the increasing processing period, one of the new measures introduced by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) in 2008 was Ministerial Instructions (MI). The MI, among other things limited the number of applications to be accepted for processing each year, by restricting the occupations eligible for processing. This meant that, Applicant with experience in a certain limited number of occupations were able to apply under the FSWP. Exemption was made for people already in Canada as Students or Workers and for applicants with Arranged Employment Opinion.

The first set of MI (MI-1) was introduced on November 28, 2008 (effective from February 27, 2008). The current set of MI (MI-3) introduced on July 1, 2011 carries substantial changes from MI-1, e.g. it allows only 29 occupations to apply under FSWP. Moreover, there are caps (quotas) for no. of applications to be accepted for processing overall (10,000) and in each occupation (500). It should be noted that the above applicants do have to score sufficient points to qualify.

Note: A subsequent MI-4 allowed international Ph.D. students to apply for permanent residence under FSWP, but left the other aspects of the FSWP unchanged.

It has been observed that some of occupations fill up faster than others. As of December 8, 2011, caps were reached for 4 of the 29 occupations. This means that applicants in these occupations can no longer apply under the FSWP, till the cap is re-set in July, 2012.

However, the other 25 occupations are open as of now. Some of them like Physicians and Dentists are likely to be the next, with 350 applications already accepted by CIC. Applicants in these occupations should act promptly to ensure a position in the processing lot for this year.

Some of the other open occupations include:
Managers: Oilfields, Gas fields, Mine/ Quarry, Forestry, Fishing operations, etc.
Healthcare Professionals: Physiotherapists, Psychologists, Radiation Technologists, Dental professionals, Practical Nurses, etc.
Others: Architects, Biologists, Social Workers, Cooks/ Chefs, Electricians, Plumbers, Welders, etc.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/12/10/prweb9027033.DTL#ixzz1gCjlaw1n

Many Rich Chinese Consider Leaving

BEIJING—More than half of China's millionaires are either considering emigrating or have already taken steps to do so, according to a survey that builds on similar findings earlier this year, highlighting worries among the business elite about their quality of life and financial prospects, despite the country's fast-paced growth.

The U.S. is the most popular emigration destination, according to the survey of 980 Chinese people with assets of more than 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) published on Saturday by Bank of China and wealth researcher Hurun Report.

While growth has slowed, China's economic performance is still the envy of the Western world: It registered annual gross domestic product growth of 9.1% in the third quarter, and the International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of 9.5% for all of 2011.

Enlarge Image

Concerns are mounting, however, that China's growth could be derailed by a raft of problems, including high inflation, a bubbly real-estate sector and a sharp slowdown in external demand.

Many Chinese who have profited most from the country's growth also express increasing concerns in private about social issues such as China's one-child policy, food safety, pollution, corruption, poor schooling, and a weak legal system.

Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder and publisher of Hurun Report, said the most common reason cited by respondents who were emigrating was their children's education, followed by a desire for better medical treatment, and the fear of pollution in China.

Mark Ralston/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

A man walks past an advertising display at a luxury mall in Shanghai. Thousands of rich Shanghai residents have turned China's most cosmopolitan city into the luxury capital of a country that is expected to become the world's largest market for the sector between 2012 and 2015.

"There's also an element of insurance being taken out here," he said, citing concerns about the economic and political environment.

He cautioned, though, that it was unclear if the survey results signaled capital flight as many high-net-worth individuals who were emigrating also said they were keeping much of their money invested in China.

China maintains capital controls that make it hard for rich Chinese to move their money out of the country, but there are substantial loopholes in the system.

Some economists say they have detected signs of large capital outflows in recent months, likely driven by a decline in global risk appetite and expectations of slower yuan appreciation.

A research report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch's strategy team in Hong Kong last month cited "hot-money outflows" as one of four systemic risks that could lead to a hard landing for China's economy. It said that a sign of such outflows were record gambling revenue in the gambling enclave of Macau, a former Portuguese colony near Hong Kong, where many mainland Chinese go to gamble.

In another indication of the jittery mood among China's rich, several Western embassies have also noted a marked increase this year in the number of applications for investment visas, a category that allows people to immigrate if they invest a certain amount of money, according to diplomats.

There is evidence, too, of an uptick in the number of Chinese people buying high-end properties in major Western cities, especially London, Sydney and New York, according to property analysts.

Another survey published in April by China Merchants Bank and Bain & Co. showed that almost 60% of high-net-worth individuals in China had either arranged for, or were considering emigration. Of those, more than 20% had already completed their immigration applications, or made the decision to apply, according to that survey, which covered 2,600 high-net-worth individuals.

China Merchants Bank and Bain estimated that in 2010 there were 500,000 people in China with "individual investable" assets valued at 10 million yuan and 20,000 people with 100 million yuan or more.

Bank of China and Hurun estimated there were 960,000 people with "personal assets" of at least 10 million yuan, and 60,000 people with 100 million yuan or more.

Their survey, conducted in May to September, covered 18 major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, Dalian and Suzhou, and interviewed respondents with an average age of 42 and average personal assets of 60 million yuan.

The survey showed that 46% of respondents were considering emigrating, while an additional 14% had either already emigrated or filed immigration applications.

Mr. Hoogewerf said respondents with assets of 100 million or more were even more inclined to emigrate, with 55% considering leaving China, and 21% already living overseas or having filed applications.

The top destination among those emigrating was the U.S., accounting for 40%, followed by Canada with 37%, Singapore with 14% and Europe with 11%, the survey showed.

One-third of respondents said they had assets overseas, and an additional 28% said they planned to invest abroad in the next three years. Half of those with overseas assets listed their children's education as the reason, while 32% cited emigration.

The U.S. was the most popular destination for their investments, accounting for 42%, and property was the most popular type of investment, accounting for 51%, according to the survey.

—Tom Orlik contributed to this article.

Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com

Super Visa out of reach for many Canadians

By NOUMAN KHALIL

 

Print this article
Email this article

As the new Parent and Grandparent Super Visa kicked off Dec 1, its simple but 'out-of-reach' and expensive criteria are beginning to worry many Canadians seeking to invite parents and grandparents.Putting a two-year temporary pause on receiving fresh parental and grandparental sponsorship applications, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney last month introduced the 10-year multiple Super Visa to reduce the backlog.
The procedure is simple and applicants can get the Super Visa in as short a period as eight weeks. However, it's expensive and out of reach for the average Canadian.
To get this 10-year multiple entry pass, an applicant has to be a parent or grandparent of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident; provide a written commitment of financial support from their child or grandchild in Canada, including the requisite proof; undergo the Immigration medical examination; submit proof they have purchased comprehensive Canadian medical insurance, valid for at least one year; and satisfy the visa officer that they meet all other standard admissibility criteria.
Of all conditions, the current skyrocketing premiums of medical insurance, especially in Ontario, worries Canadians the most.
"Yes, it (higher premiums) is a concern, but at this time the best remedy is to go for a larger deductible," Suresh Gupta, the GTA's famous immigration consultant, told Focus.
Gupta said the sole purpose of the Super Visa is to protect the Canadian healthcare system.
"A large portion of our provincial budget goes towards healthcare and the leaders need to balance it out. They don't mind people coming in as long as they have their own health coverage.
"If you're asking me 'it's fair'. Personally, as a Canadian, I believe it is fair," said Gupta.
The Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is one element of Phase I of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification.

Pre-existing whammy
Insurance companies also do not cover any pre-existing health conditions such as blood pressure, diabetes or emergencies related to those conditions - yet another concern for people seeking to invite their elders.
Announcing the details in November, Kenney said the action was taken to cut the backlog, reduce wait times and ensure the parents and grandparents program is sustainable over the long run.
He said in 2012 the government will admit 25,000 parents and grandparents to Canada, a 60 per cent increase as compared to 15,500 in 2010.
Asked to comment on current wait times, particularly in Chandigarh, New Delhi and Islamabad, Gupta said: "Things are moving very fast (in Mississauga office). Even those who have applied in 2009 are getting responses to submit further documentations.
"The minister is testing the waters," Gupta added. "This is going to be a new direction to parental and grandparental cases."
Analysts add that while on the one hand the government is trying to save on the healthcare of seniors, on the other hand it will be losing in the form of seniors' liquidated assets that they usually bring to Canada as immigrants.
They add it will be interesting to see how fast the new measure can reduce the backlog.