Canada To Remove Inefficient Entrepreneur And Investor Programs

12 Feb 2014

Chris Alexander, the Citizenship and Immigration Minister of Canada welcomed measures in EAP (Economic Action Plan) 2014 to build a more flexible and faster Canadian immigration system that makes positive contributions to the longstanding prosperity of Canada.

EAP 2014 announced the intent of the Canadian government to discontinue the federal Entrepreneur (EN) Program and the federal Immigrant Investor Program (IIP), remove a longstanding and large backlog of applications, and carve the path for new pilot programs that will truly meet the economic and labor market needs of Canada.

Canada has limited economic benefit from the present IIP. According to a research, immigrant investors are less inclined to live in Canada over the medium- to long-term period. Also, compared to other economic immigrants, immigrant investors pay less in taxes, and generally lack the skills to integrate into the Canadian society.

Eliminating the EN and IIP programs – and the backlog of applications associated with them – will allow the Canadian government to focus on raising investment capital and attracting experienced business people, which are of utmost benefit to the economy of Canada.

These programs will be replaced with more effective and focused pilot programs by the Canadian government. The new programs will be crafted to ensure that people who are migrating to Canada deliver significant benefits to the economy of Canada. The Start-Up Visa Program (SUV) from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will be complemented by this and will facilitate Canada to stay competitive in the global economy. In the coming months, the new pilot program details will be announced.