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POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES
OF THE QIIP EXTENSION
In the short term, this extension is good, since it will allow
more people to apply. This extra time will also lead to better
application quality since service providers don’t need to rush
to prepare applications. However, there could be a downside
to this. In October 2018, Quebec province elected, for this first
time in history, the Coalition Avenir Quebec. This new political
party has implemented its promise for a temporary reduction
of the new permanent residents in the province, in view of
better integrating these new immigrants. This reduction to
40,000 new permanent immigrants (representing 20 percent
to 25 percent compared to previous year) has had an impact
on the QIIP. Given the recent extension of the QIIP, one should
not be surprised if the program is then suspended for one
year or more.
SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT
HAVING A QIIP AFTER AUGUST 31, 2019?
There are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the
future of QIIP. Historically, the federal government of Canada
and the Quebec Immigrant Investor program have been
running side by side since 1986. However, when the federal
program was shut down in 2014 with the passing of Bill
C-31 on June 19, 2014, Quebec remained the only immigrant
program in Canada leading to permanent residency by
a passive investment. There has been strong bipartisan
support in the Quebec province for this program in the
past, as it created strong economic development for SMEs
throughout the province, thanks to the subsidies generated by
QIIP applicants’ passive investments. However, the Canadian
federal government that cancelled its own program has been
inviting Quebec to consider closing its own IIP. Considering
the intention of the newly elected government in Quebec to
temporarily reduce the number of new permanent residents,
there is not the same level of comfort that the QIIP will again
reopen in September of 2019.
Therefore, the time to apply for QIIP is now. It typically takes
two to four months to prepare a QIIP application. Applications
are then processed on a first-come, first-served basis, except
for the few French-speaking applicants who are fast-tracked
by Quebec. Typical processing times are about 12 months
for non-French speaking applicants, and two to four months
for French-speaking applicants. Given the uncertainty of the
future of the program, it’s not recommended that people
who consider applying to QIIP wait for the next round of
submissions, because there is no way to be sure the program
is coming back.
ADVANTAGES OF QIIP VERSUS EB-5
Many applicants interested in North America choose
between the U.S. EB-5 and the Quebec Immigrant Investor
Program. Both are programs that lead to permanent
residency by passive investment. Both lead to G7 countries
that offers lots of similarities, including strong economies,
“ 魁北克成为加拿大唯一一个设置了
被动投资换永久居住权的省份 ”
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