Millionaire immigrants in Quebec / Just 10% still there 5 years later

Just 10% of investor immigrants under provincial program still there 5 years later

The vast majority of millionaire immigrants who come to Canada through Quebec’s immigrant investor program do not stay in that province, allowing Quebec to keep millions in job creation dollars while other provinces carry the costs of settlement.

Numbers from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, obtained by a Vancouver immigration lawyer, show that 90 per cent of those immigrants are not living in Quebec when they re-apply for permanent resident visas five years later.

Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland says other provinces are bearing settlement costs for investor immigrants who arrive in Quebec and then move on, while that province gets the benefit of job creation funds. (CBC)

Richard Kurland said there has been anecdotal evidence for years that those millionaire immigrants instead go west to British Columbia.

He paid the federal government to search its own database to determine how many of those immigrants are still in Quebec. As it turns out, only around 10 per cent are still in the province.

Quebec is the only province to run its own immigrant investor program. It is identical to the federal one — which was suspended in June 2012 — in which an applicant pays $800,000 and must also demonstrate a net worth of more than $1 million.

The $800,000 is returned after five years, without interest, but in the meantime is invested in job creation.

Under the federal program, money is split evenly between Ottawa and the province of destination. But under its own program, Quebec keeps all of the money for job creation.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at 

via Millionaire immigrants invest in Quebec — and then move on – Politics – CBC News.