Quebec Immigration Investor Program | CICS News – Canada's immigration news source

The Parliament of Quebec in Quebec City. Quebec Immigration announced new rules for Quebec Skilled Worker and Investor applicants requiring applicants to have either permission from Citizenship and Immigration Canada or a connection to the province of Quebec in order to apply for either program

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said last week that his department wanted to put an end to foreign nationals immigrating to Canada through the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, but settling in Vancouver or Toronto.

At a press conference on March 26st, Kenney said that immigrant investors who apply for permanent residence through the Quebec program but intend to settle in a city outside Quebec are committing fraud.

“If you are sitting somewhere today hoping to apply for the Quebec investor program but you expect to go and live in Vancouver or Toronto, that is fraud. It’s misrepresentation under the Immigration Act. It doesn’t matter what agents and recruitment people tell you and we intend to begin cracking down on the fraud being committed,” said Kenney.

According to Kenney, 90 percent of Quebec Immigrant Investor Program immigrants settle in Vancouver or Toronto. Last year, speaking on the same subject, he said that this large inflow of immigrant investors into Vancouver and Toronto pushes up housing prices in these metropolitan regions, making it more difficult for other residents to afford to buy property in those cities.

The Quebec Investor Program is expected to start accepting applications on July 31st, after a more than one year moratorium on acceptance of new applications, and Kenney says his department would take efforts to stop the practice of immigrants using it as a means to settle in the two immigrant magnet cities.

New rules for the Quebec Investor and Skilled Worker programs, announced last week after Kenney’s statements, require that applicants either receive permission from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to apply for the Quebec programs, or have some prior or existing connection to the province.

A connection would constitute any one of several situations, including an offer of employment by a Quebec employer and a diploma treated as a Quebec diploma.

Canadian citizenship ceremony (Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada)

In a meeting with the editorial board of the Montreal Gazette, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said that 2,300 people are to have their citizenship revoked for providing fake proof of residency, with 6,000 additional cases under investigation, after a two year RCMP investigation into the issue.

Mr. Kenney said that most of the offending individuals are clients of particular immigration citizenship consultants who offer to fabricate proof of residency.

The Immigration Minister also talked about the Quebec Investor program in the meeting, criticizing the fact that only one out of ten immigrants accepted through the provincial program end up settling in Quebec.

He said most end up going to Vancouver or Toronto, and this can create problems for those cities:

“Here’s what often happens. Quebec will get the $800,000 for five years. B.C. will get the social services costs for health care and everything else for the dependents who have been brought to Vancouver.

People in Vancouver are always asking me why are we facilitating this because it is leading to inflation of real estate prices. Which is great if you are well-established and you have paid down your mortgage. But if you are a young family starting out, good luck being able to afford a house in Vancouver. A lot of people who aren’t rooted in Vancouver are inflating the costs.”

Permanent residents taking their oath of citizenship (Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada)

Mr. Kenney added that the federal government is planning on increasing the price that immigration applicants would have to pay to qualify for the Federal Immigrant Investor Program, given the large number of wealthy individuals looking to immigrate to Canada.

He also said the Ministry would like to change the Investor Program requirement of loaning the government money without interest to making a more active investment, so that Investor class immigrants become financially more committed to Canada.