加拿大停止移民计划 中国富人选择其他国家

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.

在当下中国的富豪阶层中存在着千千万万寻求移民的富人们——但是他们得注意了，坏消息表明，加拿大政府最近决定终结一项外国百万富翁通过在5年中不间断地为加拿大本国提供80万加元（略微比73万美元少一点点）的贷款而换取永久居留权的政策。渥太华方面对这项移民投资政策的废除意味着六万五千名移民申请案件将被遗弃搁置。这些尚未处理的签证大部分都是来自中国本土。

那么这些可怜的中国富人们现在该怎么办呢？中国报刊将加拿大的政策取消措施冠名为“不公平”的称呼。但是北京移民机构，连同他们地处中央商业地段的豪华办公楼正在寻求其他的移民途径。

其中一个选择便是位于加拿大边境以南的国家。中国投资商只要在美国任意地方——不论是郊区还是繁华都市出资50万美元并雇佣10名员工便能享受EB-5型的投资移民通行证，这便为最终获得绿卡奠定了道路。北京的两大移民顾问公司——Globe Visa和Cansine Immigration在继加拿大投资移民之路破灭之后正大力推荐美国投资的道路。

此外目前经济发展迟缓的欧盟国家正为经济紧急救助而苦苦寻求帮助，因此他们便以10万美元的价格向中国富豪们出售居民权。参与这项政策的国家包括拉脱维亚，希腊，葡萄牙以及塞浦路斯。用这些只能在北京郊区买下一套小房子的价钱，中国投资商们能够在欧洲地区获得居民身份，以及无需签证便可游览欧盟国家大部分地区的自由权。

即使昂贵的旅游目的地仍然具有极大的吸引力。一位凯胜移民顾问公司代表表示英国是今年最受移民欢迎的国家，连同有着严格移民限制的澳大利亚。根据凯胜公司提供的资料，申请英国永久居民权的申请人们必须向英国投资100万英镑（约合170万美元），80%的资产将投向国债，其余的便以房地产或本地储蓄的形式呈现。那么后续情况会是如何呢？项目参与者必须至少在英国生活半年才可以：相反拉脱维亚只需要在一年中留在本国一天便能保留居住权。凯胜公司刘建平表示："申请移民客户中大部分都会选择英国，原因便在于申请程序很简单，从英国政府获得许可只需要很短的一段时间。”

同样还有一些小国家希望能够从他们的国家地位中获益：圣基茨岛，尼维斯，瓦努阿图共和国，安提瓜以及巴布达都将目标定位于中国投资商上。但是最终，还是不要忽略了加拿大。在最近的财政预算报告中，加拿大财政大臣表示：“也有一些迹象表明投资移民阶层在对加拿大维系两国关系以及对本国经济的积极贡献上是有一些作用的。”由此看来，根据之前的政策规定，加拿大方面可能还会出台一项新政策来吸引意向投资者们在加进行投资，而非仅仅提供五年的零利率贷款。北京“走遍加拿大移民中心”（Go-to-Canada)的屈波在本周末对于加拿大新移民政策的解读中表示“我们还是有能力帮助中国人移民至加拿大的。”

但是，任何的移民都包含着风险。他们中不乏有忽视法律的秘密操纵者。美国证监会去年查处了一项为芝加哥会议中心项目投资而获取EB-5签证的案件，这个政府机构试图从250人中诈取超过15亿6000万的投资资产和费用，这些投资商中大部分是中国人。幸运的是，投资金额被保存在了委托付款服务中。但是依然有一亿一千万美元的资产伴随着中国人期待能够在美国定居的美梦一起消失得无影无踪。