南华早报：内地巨富移民潮压垮加国移民计划

Harry's view（我们这儿已经满了，你们有考虑过移民火星吗）

网易教育讯 香港《南华早报》2月7日报道，原题：内地巨富们如何压垮加拿大移民计划

《南华早报》独家调查揭露，成千上万的中国百万富翁如何取道香港，获得加投资移民资格。这股中国内地富人移民潮已迫使加拿大政府暂停受理投资移民计划，以清理早前积压的申请。

根据该政策，申请人须拥有至少160万加币的净资产，并向政府提供80万加币的无息贷款，为期5年，即可移民。该政策一直饱受批评，被称作允许富人买路移民到加拿大，对加经济并无多少长远助益。

投资移民计划从2012年7月起暂停接受申请，加方表示“正在检讨该计划”，但并未披露绝大部分申请人来自中国内地。移民局2013年1月的文件显示，来自香港的投资移民申请共有53580例，占全球申请量七成以上，其中98%至99%来自中国内地。很少有内地移民通过北京提申请，2009年到2011年只有252例，香港同一时期有63796例。

加拿大联邦投资移民项目是迄今为止最受中国富人欢迎的移民计划。2010年香港的内地申请人数超过美英澳3国投资移民申请总和。2011年申请投资移民计划者因申请门槛提高而有所缓减，但仍超出当年的可受理能力。加前驻华大使DavidMulroney表示，大批来自中国内地富人的移民潮发生时，并未被视为“政治问题”。但他怀疑投资者计划和财富限制是否是找到好公民的最佳途径。温哥华移民律师李克伦表示，“这项移民计划(的申请标准)被严重低估。如同将值5美元的甜派以50美分贱卖”。

英国广播公司2月7日报道，原题：加拿大提议改变有关公民身份的规定　加拿大政府已提议对其有关公民资格的规定进行全面改革。按照计划，入籍申请人须通过知识考试，并熟练掌握英语或法语。其他建议还包括，新的入籍申请人须等待6年而非现行的4年。对即将获得加国籍者而言，需在过去6年中在加住满4年，并声明“有意(在加)定居”。

建议还包括对移民欺诈行为采取更严厉的惩罚措施。但加政府也承诺简化相关程序，以清理目前积压的大量申请。“我们的政府正加强加拿大公民身份的价值”，加移民部长亚历山大说，“加拿大人明白，这不应只是一本图方便的护照，而是一种相互的责任承诺，以及对植根于我们历史的价值观的共同承诺。”

英文原文>>

Applications by tens of thousands of mainland millionaires flooded Canada's consulate in Hong Kong and overwhelmed the country's investor immigrant programme, an investigation by the South China Morning Post has revealed.

Canadian immigration department spreadsheets obtained by the Post show how the huge number of applications forced the government in Ottawa to freeze the world's most popular wealth-based migration scheme. One document, dated January 8 last year, showed there was a backlog of 53,580 Hong Kong-based applications for Canadian federal investor visas.

That represented more than 70 per cent of the global backlog.

And attempts by Ottawa in 2010 to tighten access to the coveted visas by doubling the wealth criteria had the effect of increasing Chinese domination.

In 2011, applications sent to the Hong Kong consulate made up 86 per cent of the global total.

Analysis of arrival data suggests that about 99 per cent of applications in Hong Kong were lodged by mainlanders. Under the scheme's current limits, applicants worth at least C$1.6 million (HK$11.2 million) receive residency if they "invest" C$800,000 in the form of a five-year interest-free loan to Canada.

The applications in the Hong Kong consulate's queue in January last year represented potential "investment" of C$7.5 billion.

The queue was revealed when Ottawa halted new applications to deal with the backlog in 2012.

What was not revealed was that the vast majority were applications by mainland Chinese which swamped a single consular office in Hong Kong.

Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland obtained the spreadsheets after making freedom of information requests, then shared them with thePost.

He said: "The scheme has not been handled properly. The programme is dramatically underpriced."

The spreadsheets do not distinguish between mainlanders and Hongkongers. But the Post's analysis of provincial arrival data suggests nearly all applications pending in Hong Kong were lodged by mainlanders.

This was confirmed by internal Canadian immigration data.

In British Columbia, preferred destination of most Chinese investors, mainland arrivals outstripped those of Hongkongers by 95 to one. Yet few applications were lodged in Beijing - only 252 from 2009 to 2011, compared to 63,796 in Hong Kong.

Former Canadian ambassador David Mulroney, who served in Beijing from 2009 to 2012, said he was aware at the time of the huge number of applications in Hong Kong compared to those in Beijing, but could not explain the disparity. "There might have been a technical reason," he said.

There were 3,643 investor visa approvals worldwide in 2012. The investigation shows applications received in Hong Kong soared from 520 in 2002 to 34,427 in 2010 - more than 81 per cent of the world total. The figure fell in 2011 as the rise in the wealth criteria took full effect, but still exceeded the processing capacity.

Canada's programme was by far the most popular such scheme among rich Chinese. By 2010, applications at the Hong Kong consulate surpassed the combined number received for investor migration schemes run by the US, the UK and Australia.