Provinces finding investor immigrant visa quotas too small
Two weeks ago, the Premier of British Columbia called for the Canadian immigration system to give more power to the provinces when it comes to selecting immigrant quotas. She said that currently, the Canadian federal government doesn’t get enough input from the individual provinces, and skilled or investor immigrants are unable to bring desired skills and economic stimulation to the provinces.
The Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, had this to say to the Vancouver Sun:
“Immigration is one of the most important economic levers the government has. The fact that responsibility and control for it resides almost solely in the hands of the central government doesn’t work very well. We (the provinces) are closer to the ground. We know the needs of the economy better and I think Canada will do a better job of shaping immigration policy of the provinces have a greater ability to impact that. It’s ridiculous that our investor-immigrant allowance fills up in a couple of hours – literally overnight. So we have all these investors that want to come and create jobs in British Columbia and we say, ‘No, sorry. You can’t come in.’ To me, that’s not just smart.”
However, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said such a move would be irresponsible in September.
“We do maintain that there is an important ongoing role for the national government and we’re not just going to contract out all of the immigration selection to the provinces. That would not be responsible,” he said.
President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
