On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, the Canadian parliament moved to eliminate investor visas which previously allowed foreign investors to apply for permanent residency in Canada if they had a minimum net worth of 1.6 million Canadian dollars and invested 800,000 Canadian dollars in an interest-free loan to the government. With the abolition of this visa, an estimated 65,000 applications which have been pending, will now be considered defunct.
The elimination of Canada’s investor visa program paves the way for increased relationships with Chinese investors who may instead seek to reside lawfully in the United States. USCIS administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5, a visa that provides a method of obtaining permanent residency in the United States for foreign nationals who invest money in the United States. Essentially, the program allows foreigners to invest $500,000 – $1,000,000 (USD) in exchange for a green card.
The Shulman Law Group, LLC has a long-standing history of assisting foreign investors from China and other countries to successfully obtain EB-5 visas in the United States. The firm, located in Paterson, New Jersey, has been featured in both Newsweek and Time magazines, earning a national reputation for assisting foreign, high-net-worth investors in obtaining U.S. residency.