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Canada.

How Canada sells residence for investors (golden visa): 4 programmes, 1 of them open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.

23,899
numbers
57
prices and rules
33
events
27
documents and articles
Residence·Closed·1986–2014

Federal Immigrant Investor Program

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Canada federal Immigrant Investor Program (Investor class, Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations ss. 88-109)

Lowest price when it closed: C$800,000

C$800,000 interest-free loan to the federal government, repaid after 5 years (net worth C$1.6m; family included). These were the terms from 1 Dec 2010 until the law ended the programme on 19 Jun 2014. Intake had already stopped on 1 Jul 2012. It is a refundable loan, not a payment; most investors financed it through banks.

Notes from the research

Permanent residence (no conditions after arrival) for experienced business people who lent the federal government a fixed sum for five years without interest; the money was passed to participating provinces and territories and repaid. C$400,000 loan and C$800,000 net worth until 30 Nov 2010, then C$800,000 and C$1.6 million. Introduced 1986, redesigned 1 April 1999. Cap of 700 new applications a year from 1 July 2011; intake stopped 1 July 2012. Budget 2014 (11 Feb 2014) announced its end; section 87.5 IRPA (Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1, assent 19 June 2014) terminated every application not assessed before 11 Feb 2014 and ordered refunds (it did not apply to investors selected by Quebec). Ordinary naturalisation rules apply afterwards (no investor-specific route). The 2014 CIC evaluation found investor immigrants declared low incomes and paid little income tax, had the highest out-migration after 10 years, and that only about 30% of the loan money was actively invested.

Applications approved
05001k1.5k2k20072008200920102011

Prices and rules

Rules while it was open

What is measured

  • Golden visas issued594
  • Applicant share447
  • Share of programme investment by asset class or route23
  • Income of programme migrants21
  • Businesses receiving programme investment19
  • Government spending on running a CBI programme14
  • Programme grants as a share of all grants of the same status13
  • Investor-programme funds allocated to regional funds12
  • Average characteristic of programme migrants10
  • Programme migrants counted in a study9
  • Applications received8
  • Applications processed7
  • Investors approved, not counting family members7
  • Processing time7
  • Applications approved6
  • Application grant rate6
  • Applications turned down6
  • Applications withdrawn6
  • Investment by programme investors6
  • Applications pending5
  • Revenue of programme businesses (distribution)4
  • Intermediary fees charged per investor3
  • Government cost per application processed2
  • Programme share of a combined budget or cost2
  • Implied annual cost of investor capital2
  • People granted citizenship or residence through investor schemes1
  • Follow-on investment by programme investors1
  • Jobs created by programme investors1
Residence·Closed·2015–2015

Investor venture capital pilot

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Canada Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) pilot (Immigrant Investor Venture Capital class, ministerial instructions under IRPA s. 14.1)

Lowest price when it closed: C$2 million

C$2,000,000 into a venture capital fund, repayment not guaranteed (net worth C$10m). Intake ran 28 Jan-30 Dec 2015.

Notes from the research

Replacement pilot for the federal IIP: permanent residence for up to 60 investors with net worth of at least C$10 million who paid C$2 million, not guaranteed, into a venture capital fund (held about 15 years and managed mainly by BDC Capital, per CBC), plus language and education requirements and a due diligence report. Intake windows 28 Jan-11 Feb 2015 (max 500 applications), 13 Feb-15 Apr 2015 and 25 May-30 Dec 2015. IRCC told CBC only seven applications were in process when intake closed on 30 Dec 2015. IRCC declared the pilot closed and removed its instructions on 29 Jan 2021 after finalising the last files. Final admissions not found.

Prices and rules

Rules while it was open

What is measured

  • Applications pending3
  • Golden visas issued1
Residence·Status unclear·since 2014

Canada Prince Edward Island Provincial Nominee Program, investor stream

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Notes from the research

Provincial nomination route (leading to Canadian permanent residence) for people who invest in Prince Edward Island. According to the UK Migration Advisory Committee (Feb 2014, citing the agent website Investor Visa Canada), it opened in January 2014 with 400 places for 2014 and required net worth of at least C$600,000, management expertise, an investment of C$150,000 in a qualifying business and an intention to live in the province; the MAC adds that no further details were available and that the route resembles an entrepreneur route more than a passive investor route. No Prince Edward Island or federal document on the stream is stored, so whether January 2014 was its first opening, its later terms and its current status are not confirmed. No counts found: the stored IRCC provincial nominee tables give Prince Edward Island totals for all nominee streams together, and the 2014 CIC evaluation's Prince Edward Island figures concern the federal Immigrant Investor Program (can-iip).

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)

What is measured

No published numbers found for this programme. That is itself worth knowing: see the notes and the documents below.

Residence·Open

Quebec Investor Program

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Official name: Quebec Investor Program (Programme des investisseurs, Règlement sur l'immigration au Québec, art. 37 and following)

Lowest price for one person: C$1.2 million

Since 1 Jan 2024 both are required: a C$1,000,000 five-year placement with IQ Immigrants Investisseurs, refundable without interest (t-f7f008961c), plus a non-refundable C$200,000 contribution (t-34bd71f90b). The total outlay is C$1.2m. Before 2024 it was a C$1.2m placement alone (t-e5d8f200e2).

Notes from the research

Quebec selects the investor (selection certificate, CSQ) under the Canada-Quebec Accord; IRCC then grants permanent residence. Investors place a fixed sum for 5 years with IQ Immigrants Investisseurs (a subsidiary of Investissement Québec) through an authorised broker or trust company; the income funds grants to Quebec businesses. Placement of C$1,200,000 (net worth C$2 million) under the regulation in force from 2 August 2018 (the amount before then was not confirmed in a Quebec text in this pass); from 1 January 2024 a C$1,000,000 placement plus a non-refundable C$200,000 contribution, oral French level 7, a work permit and stays of at least 6 months each for the investor and spouse in Quebec (no stay required before). Receipt of applications was suspended 1 Apr-15 Aug 2018; capped at 1,900 (max 1,235 from China) for 10 Sep 2018-31 Aug 2019; suspended again 1 Nov 2019 to 1 Apr 2023. Under the new rules only C$1 million (2024-25) and C$3 million (Apr-Dec 2025) of placements were made. MIFI found only 15.5% of people admitted 2011-2020 still present in Quebec in January 2022. Launch year of the Quebec programme is not stated in the sources read (the federal investor class dates from 1986).

Golden visas issued
02k4k6k8k201620182020202220242026

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)

What is measured

  • Golden visas issued198
  • Investment by programme investors16
  • Licensed programme agents3
  • Donations paid into the government's fund3
  • Money credited to a CBI-financed account or fund3
  • Applications pending2
  • Applications received2
  • Income of programme intermediaries2
  • Share of programme investment by asset class or route1
  • Qualifying investments made (count)1
  • Investor residence status retained1
  • Estimated impact of a rule change on programme users1
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