Federal immigrant investor scheme draws only six applicants

At least there’s no backlog to deal with.

Canada’s newest immigration scheme for wealthy international investors has proven so popular that just six – count ‘em, six -- people have signed up for it since it was launched in late January.

The Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program was supposed to draw 60 well-heeled newcomers to Canada out of a pool of up to 500 eligible applicants. But an access to information request by a Vancouver immigration lawyer revealed only six applications had been received by June 8, even with repeated extensions of the original deadline first set for mid-February.

Poor design is the reason for the collective yawn from potential applicants, says Richard Kurland, the lawyer who made the request at the urging of Jean-Francois Harvey, a fellow immigration lawyer now based in Asia.

Ottawa policymakers, “built a mousetrap that doesn’t catch mice – and for good reason,” Kurland told Yahoo Canada. “It’s designed so that immigrants have a good chance of losing all their money. Considering the alternative, it’s a foolish business bet.”

When it was launched, immigration minister Chris Alexander said the program was intended to attract “investors who can make a significant investment and who have the education and proven business or investment experience necessary to achieve success in Canada.”

Their funds would be invested in “innovative Canadian start-ups with high growth potential.”

The new program is restricted to applicants with at least a $10 million net worth and requires them to put up $2 million towards Canadian companies for 15 years with no guarantees.

Its predecessor, the Immigrant Investor Program – now closed – required only an $800,000 interest-free loan which participants got back after five years and a net worth of $1.6 million. Most applicants to that program came from China. The Canadian government shut it down in the wake of a large backlog and concerns about fraud and a lack of real contribution to the country’s economy.

The new program meanwhile faces competition from other countries where better incentives are offered, critics have said.

In a written response, Canada’s citizenship and immigration department denied the program has been a flop but declined to confirm exactly how many applications it had received. “It is important to continue testing demand because we know that the IIVC Pilot Program serves the best interest of Canadians and our country,” the department wrote in its statement.

Still, nobody should fear Canada is losing out on the chance to bring in some of the world’s deep-pocketed immigrants, Kurland said. The world’s wealthy are still being admitted into the country under individual province’s programs, such as those in Quebec and a new program in British Columbia. And his figures show Canada granted permanent residency to 175 applicants in its business category in the first two months of 2015 alone, with hundreds more ready to be granted the same -- holdovers from the old investor program, he says.

“There is an inventory of old cases being processed and millionaire visas are heading out the door daily,” Kurland said. “The welcome mat is firmly outside Canada’s door for millionaires to come in.”