加拿大停止移民計劃 中國富人選擇其他國家大綱

Wealthy Chinese looking for an escape route from their native land — and there are hundreds of thousands in this class — received bad news last week: the Canadian government decided to terminate a deal that essentially allowed foreign millionaires to loan 800,000 Canadian dollars (or a little less than $730,000) to the Canadian state for five years in exchange for permanent residency. Ottawa’s cancellation of the immigrant-investor program means that 65,000 pending applications will be left unprocessed. The majority of these unprocessed visa appeals are from mainland Chinese.

So what’s a poor rich Chinese to do now? The China Daily, the government’s English-language mouthpiece, described Canada’s cancelation as “unfair” in a Feb. 17 headline. But immigration agencies in Beijing, with their plush offices in the central business district, are hawking plenty of alternatives.

One option lies just south of the Canadian border. Chinese who invest as little as $500,000 and employ 10 people in a rural or struggling part of the US can secure EB-5 investor visa, which can lead to green cards. Two major emigration consultancies in Beijing, Globe Visa and Cansine Immigration, are recommending the US now that Canada’s immigrant-investor option has shuttered.

Then there are the financial laggards of the EU that are so desperate for a bailout that they are basically selling residency to cash-endowed Chinese for as little as $100,000. Count nations like Latvia, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus in this distressed category. With less cash than it takes to buy a tiny apartment in the outskirts of Beijing, Chinese investors can acquire residency in one European locale, as well as eventual freedom to roam most of the E.U. without a visa.

Even pricier destinations hold allure. A Cansine representative noted that Britain is proving fashionable this year, especially as nations like Australia tighten immigration restrictions. Applicants for British permanent residency must invest £1 million ($1.7 million), 80% of which in treasury bonds and the remainder in either real estate or in a local savings account, according to Cansine. The catch? Program participants must spend at least half the year in Britain; Latvia, by contrast, requires just one day a year in the country to maintain residency. “Britain is very popular among our clients,” says Cansine’s Liu Jianping, “because the process is easy and it takes only a short time to get approval from the British government.”

There are also the teeny countries that may be hoping to profit from their very nationhood: St. Kitts and Nevis, Vanuatu, Antigua and Barbuda — all are targeting Chinese investors. Finally, don’t forget Canada either. In its latest budget report, Canada’s Ministry of Finance noted: “There is also little evidence that immigrant investors as a class are maintaining ties to Canada or making a positive economic contribution to the country.” Instead, a new scheme may well require would-be immigrants to fully invest in Canada, as opposed to simply providing a zero-interest loan for five years, as the previous program mandated. “We can still help Chinese get to Canada,” says Qu Bo, from the aptly named Go-to-Canada immigration agency in Beijing, which is offering lectures on the new Canadian policy this weekend.

Still, any emigration involves risks. Among them are shady brokers who operate with little legal oversight. Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission busted an EB-5 scheme for investment in a Chicago convention center that the government agency says tried to defraud more than $156 million in investments and fees from 250 people, many of whom were Chinese. Luckily, the investment money had been preserved in escrow. But $11 million in fees vanished — along with scores of Chinese hopes for resettling in America.在當下中國的富豪階層中存在着千千萬萬尋求移民的富人們——但是他們得注意了，壞消息表明，加拿大政府最近決定終結一項外國百萬富翁通過在5年中不間斷地爲加拿大本國提供80萬加元（略微比73萬美元少一點點）的貸款而換取永久居留權的政策。渥太華方面對這項移民投資政策的廢除意味着六萬五千名移民申請案件將被遺棄擱置。這些尚未處理的簽證大部分都是來自中國本土。

那麼這些可憐的中國富人們現在該怎麼辦呢？中國報刊將加拿大的政策取消措施冠名爲“不公平”的稱呼。但是北京移民機構，連同他們地處中央商業地段的豪華辦公樓正在尋求其他的移民途徑。

其中一個選擇便是位於加拿大邊境以南的國家。中國投資商只要在美國任意地方——不論是郊區還是繁華都市出資50萬美元並僱傭10名員工便能享受EB-5型的投資移民通行證，這便爲最終獲得綠卡奠定了道路。北京的兩大移民顧問公司——Globe Visa和Cansine Immigration在繼加拿大投資移民之路破滅之後正大力推薦美國投資的道路。

此外目前經濟發展遲緩的歐盟國家正爲經濟緊急救助而苦苦尋求幫助，因此他們便以10萬美元的價格向中國富豪們出售居民權。參與這項政策的國家包括拉脫維亞，希臘，葡萄牙以及塞浦路斯。用這些只能在北京郊區買下一套小房子的價錢，中國投資商們能夠在歐洲地區獲得居民身份，以及無需簽證便可遊覽歐盟國家大部分地區的自由權。

即使昂貴的旅遊目的地仍然具有極大的吸引力。一位凱勝移民顧問公司代表表示英國是今年最受移民歡迎的國家，連同有着嚴格移民限制的澳大利亞。根據凱勝公司提供的資料，申請英國永久居民權的申請人們必須向英國投資100萬英鎊（約合170萬美元），80%的資產將投向國債，其餘的便以房地產或本地儲蓄的形式呈現。那麼後續情況會是如何呢？項目參與者必須至少在英國生活半年纔可以：相反拉脫維亞只需要在一年中留在本國一天便能保留居住權。凱勝公司劉建平表示："申請移民客戶中大部分都會選擇英國，原因便在於申請程序很簡單，從英國政府獲得許可只需要很短的一段時間。”

同樣還有一些小國家希望能夠從他們的國家地位中獲益：聖基茨島，尼維斯，瓦努阿圖共和國，安提瓜以及巴布達都將目標定位於中國投資商上。但是最終，還是不要忽略了加拿大。在最近的財政預算報告中，加拿大財政大臣表示：“也有一些跡象表明投資移民階層在對加拿大維繫兩國關係以及對本國經濟的積極貢獻上是有一些作用的。”由此看來，根據之前的政策規定，加拿大方面可能還會出臺一項新政策來吸引意向投資者們在加進行投資，而非僅僅提供五年的零利率貸款。北京“走遍加拿大移民中心”（Go-to-Canada)的屈波在本週末對於加拿大新移民政策的解讀中表示“我們還是有能力幫助中國人移民至加拿大的。”

但是，任何的移民都包含着風險。他們中不乏有忽視法律的祕密操縱者。美國證監會去年查處了一項爲芝加哥會議中心項目投資而獲取EB-5簽證的案件，這個政府機構試圖從250人中詐取超過15億6000萬的投資資產和費用，這些投資商中大部分是中國人。幸運的是，投資金額被保存在了委託付款服務中。但是依然有一億一千萬美元的資產伴隨着中國人期待能夠在美國定居的美夢一起消失得無影無蹤。