In late 2012 there were rumours circulating that Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney was planning on scrapping the Immigrant Investor Program and was thinking of legislating away the large backlog of applications similar to what he did with the Federal Skilled Worker Program.
However, Postmedia News is reporting that the Minister does not expect to cancel the program, although he is debating what to do about the backlog. Critics are still concerned that legislating away the backlog, as what was done with the Federal Skilled Worker Program, could still be an option.
Last summer, the Immigrant Investor Program was suspended as there were 85,500 applications waiting to be processed, which was made up of about 27,000 applications for immigrant investors and then the applications for their family members.
Currently, there are about 25,000 applications waiting to be processed, and in December the Minister was quoted as saying he wants to make changes to the program that would have investor immigrants paying more money and having a more active role in the investment portion of the process.
Could new Immigrant Investor Program rules mean fast-tracked applications?
Postmedia News also reports that the government is thinking about asking the approximately 25,000 applicants who are waiting to have their applications processed if they would consider submitting to or qualifying under the new changes if they were to be implemented, and any applicants who agree to these terms may have their applications bumped ahead and processed faster.
The Immigrant Investor Program is expected to be re-launched in the first half of 2013.
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.
