Golden visas: Are wealthy foreigners taking advantage of Quebec's immigration program?

[Applause] [Music] high-end retailers casinos exclusive clubs luxury cars Singapore has become a playground for the offeror rich it has one of the highest concentration of multimillionaires on the planet the perfect venue for conference on global migration and wealth management strategies an industry where the world's wealthiest can buy visas or passports from various countries in return for investment our market with huge potential although the industries called investment migration is the reality is that most of the clients don't physically move but if they need to they can and having a European passport as the stereotype goes is the ultimate insurance policy dozens of countries including Caribbean islands and members of the European Union are competing to sell their citizenship or permanent resident status in return for investments in Canada and Quebec were the pioneers of the entire industry in Canada Divine Principle particular Doraemon Doraemon a strong fictional we can add our fiddle hard when you vote the cubix right only premier modern extra said components dumbest year for well I can't do vaginal commoner we still get a lot of inquiries about it in terms of relocation why do people do it education health care transport security and candidate six all the boxes but golden visa programs as they are called have become quite controversial in Europe reality program permit to criminally of hodor the blonde Sheila darshan deserve a fair in virginity a damn Portillo trust us and less passive Schengen in Canada the federal government's craft its immigration investor program in 2014 it wasn't seen beneficial enough Quebec became the only gateway to Canada via a golden visa in the past certainly you know we've seen criminals and you know high-profile fugitives have used these schemes to get into candidates I'm not saying that immigrant investors by and large are corrupt but what I would say is the corrupt by and large do tend to millionaire migration schemes what are the potential risks linked to the selection of these millionaire migrants and what are the real economic benefits of the program in Quebec government's of all stripes have touted the immigrant investor program since it was created in 1986 takayama key de genève song be savvy care for myself while politicians hail it as a success for Quebec Sakana me as an immigration program it's a whole different ballgame some pecans may also convey the pioneers of the industry says the failure to retain these millionaire migrants is well known those I could produce netiquette Loa thankful sauce you know produce which type of idea Cadillac Gainesville Sunday's all know that's the poetic [Music] yet the creation of business ties between Quebec Tunisia was one of the main goal of the program open vehicle ele shank excuse us support on the CW she knew Tomas Rafael this affair so to clear ideally a club a division he separated correct each other on charisma [Music] Hongkong quickly became their recruiting hub for those millionaire migrants although most of them had no real intention of moving to Quebec there is a lucrative Quebec immigration industry here for each successful applicant tens of thousands of dollars in commissions are shared by consultants lawyers and financial intermediaries to be eligible applicants must sign an agreement with a broker or a financial institution recognized by the Quebec government according to a 2011 study these actors shared 1/3 of the program's benefits [Music] this downtown Hong Kong tower is where the Quebec government was operating a business immigration office for years most of the program's applicants had to show up here for a screening interview Susanna Tia was assistant deputy minister of the Quebec Department of immigration in the mid-2000s of all the overseas office she oversaw the Hongkong one gave her the biggest headache especially when applicants were turned down we have a to do depression policy depress only consider the magnitude of the revision is it Avenue Bridget van Kui Tom Lee led the Hong Kong office from 2006 to 2009 Canton buho at Ulta reduce key key tread the Sun - ah you see important Sisu leonetti media nav operates a passive donk unit a paha cozy depression poor girl increase awareness a particularly with the vector who conceal it's the the brain fluency Donelson skill is entellus in 2005 Jean Francois Harvey pleaded guilty to five counts of illegally lobbying Quebec immigration officials for his wealthy clients don't know if this has created a lobbyist consequently our community in fact Jean Francois Harvey was fine more than three thousand dollars for these offenses buuck Valley City on hood and the suit procedure for malware is a legend is on the the plant because Jeremy a surplus in 2005 the director of the Quebec immigration office in Hong Kong faced corruption allegations he was the subject of an internal investigation that wasn't able to establish his guilt he was suspended and resigned after eleven months in office in light of allegations of corruption against the global golden visa industry we went to Hong Kong to see what consultants and lawyers who recruit candidates for the Quebec program really saved behind closed doors to approach them without drawing suspicion we created our own immigrant investor we named him mr. Chen in real life mr. Chen's a chef in Hong Kong but for the purposes of our mission we turned him into a multi-millionaire from mainland China CEO of a fictitious company Jim Bao the golden leopard we provided him with an email address cell phone an assistant and a driver the finishing touch a Swiss watch in a luxury handbag to be eligible for the program mr. Chan will have to make a 1.2 million dollar interest-free loan to the Quebec government for five years mr. Chan wall has to demonstrate he has a fortune of at least two million dollars legally acquired and he must also pledge in writing to want to settle in Quebec but in our scenario mr. Chen will say he does not want to move to Quebec preferring to send his daughter to University in Toronto or Vancouver he will admit his wealth as dubious origins say he owns a plastic bag Factory but the administrative documents were destroyed by fire he will disclose that he's a loan shark and operates a pawn shop fueled by cash he'll acknowledge that a significant part of his wealth has not been declared to Chinese tax authorities we asked Montreal immigration lawyer huang lei for his thoughts on our fictitious character would he take mr. chen as a client my initial reaction would be sorry sir but I just can't represent you you have a side business that is not disclosed anywhere there's no way you can come up with the needed evidence to support an immigration application under the investor category Hong Kong is a magnet for the newly rich from mainland China who come here to shop in the numerous luxury brand stores many of them also shop here to get passports or golden visas to other countries how do immigration consultants and lawyers sell them the Quebec immigrant investor program that's what we hope to find out in our operation mr. Chen with the help of our fictitious millionaire and his team as we make our initial calls Consultants tell mr. Chen he can use the Quebec program to settle in Vancouver or Toronto but he must hide his true intentions during the selection interview it's true that Canadian law allows permanent residents to move freely once in Canada but when they apply to the Quebec program they must sign documents stating their firm intention to settle in the province if you don't abide by this intention it is possible to the person be subject to some form of in admissibility or a form of prosecution under the Immigration Act act under false representation we get an appointment at SEMA and associates lawyer Sebastian Jimmy has bad news for mr. Chandy me tells him he won't have to settle in Quebec but warrants him not to buy real estate in Vancouver before obtaining his permanent resident card it is only risky when you do it before you know PR can either give you the right to live anywhere so this is why here is super important to be careful mr. Chen's assistant asked if he will have to buy a house in Montreal on his arrival even if he won't live there a lot of people would he do is rent an apartment for three months in Quebec here and then you received a card than that do whatever you want but worst case you can always give our office address or something like this mm-hmm-hmm we tell their clients to rent an apartment because it looks better if you give the lawyers office they might question but we never got a problem and to be honest to rent an apartment for three months in material it's not a lot of money at this point they told me much always are well okay a homemade dough means that they don't have to actually lose okay he's even offering to use any zone Victor lawyers address so if in order to comply for the intent to resign you create you create addresses you create phony living arrangements then you do not meet the requirement of the initial intent to reside and also you're participating to the fabrication of evidence for the purpose of meeting the obligation to reside in an email CBS ng me responded that he followed the law he said someone's attention to live in Quebec could have changed by the time they came to Canada and his advice to rent that apartment that was just to have a mailing address to receive the permanent residency card in case the immigrant had to I back to China while waiting for it [Music] Quebec government officials who were tasked with selecting these immigrant investors at the Hong Kong office agreed to share their experience we conceal their identities and replace their voices because of the public service employees need for discretion [Music] kasumi Alan Taiana he owned my department within eight hours your Jamaican okay Beck the program requires candidates to disclose all their assets and prove they acquire their wealth legally with supporting documentation often quite voluminous files the Mike Honda they do see this room is not pili pili so you don't have a staff were assigned at seven hours per applicant the included reading summaries conducting interviews and writing reports lisman Dellavedova de salud SWA sans wasn't is Apostle in Hawaiian sapanta only vapors Donna but we did not release the confidence is not were pleased with the transaction box yahoo member que c'est pas plus cassette doctor do see these official who worked at the Hong Kong office between 2010 and 2017 said that many applicants submitted dubious files lady item of edifice on Geneva drew directly the second post on LeDoux she carton a guardian of a book would question beaucoup de terre gaseume today Giacomo Dubois release it the Phenom oblong she definitely missed the C program he searched in situ an entire book in many cases the applicants responses during the interview raised serious doubts with his officials can you goose tell us of our Alexis come on is only this Tina's not her please come on is honesty not in poverty sweetie you didn't really did on this Cody can see that can about the chemo see bakudo docume for seppuku just wanted to PS lawyers often suavely recognizes the existence of a false documents problem but puts the blame on the Quebec government and its strict document requirements okay Becca come outside to see the sousaphone so the funky depafit did was in a bouquet give that tough and I said because of him up since I had a clear quarter acre it totally the false document as you know several officials we spoke to said that they were being pressured to accept more applicants even in cases where there were suspicions of corruption the phantom a dulce kita fizzy a mossy inoculate the cocoa bean year consider additional credits ratio or model Romani casa de las que existe su Quebec usually but that won't be primo loosen interpretation of a fire the knowledge enlisted deform the convent by to see excision prescaler corruption on cinema Civic wait wait voila dogs an avid book who Chaka downtown's Intel shows these former officials say they were pressured to increase their approval rate to help balance the department's books every immigrant investor pays 15 thousand dollars in processing fees with about 1900 files accepted per year that's over 28 million dollars in the government's pocket says exactly programs with a lavish allege Wednesday also possible to place your system exit people's work a public defenders of the 15 allele on me the Quebec Immigration Department admits there may have been an acceptance rate target in the past but it's no longer the case it says it's screening process is efficient and contributes to the integrity of the program in 2017 the Quebec government closed its Hong Kong immigration office due to cutbacks Chinese immigrant investors can still be called in for an interview but in Montreal and those cases are much more rare according to data obtained under Freedom of Information the rate of applicants accepted without interviews as risen steeply in recent years from 14 percent to 75 percent the Quebec Minister of Immigration declined our request for an interview by email his spokesperson said having the selection process entirely based in Montreal has allowed the department to ensure greater consistency in processing applications and to increase quality control but we spoke to former officials who believe the opposite is happening ji-sook on accepted wisdom in hockey available John Jellicoe lives on to leak him free now see possible Cesar Chavez ostrich mana we cut hold on [Music] how far our immigration consultants and lawyers ready to go to sell the Quebec immigrant investor program we continue our hidden-camera investigation in Hong Kong with fictitious Chinese millionaire mr. Chen and his team [Music] our next appointment is with globe visa group this immigration consulting firm based in Hong Kong is one of the top recruiters of millionaires for the Quebec investor program once again mr. Chen is advised not to reveal to Canadian authorities that his real intention is to settle outside the province of Quebec when asked about the origin of his wealth our fictitious millionaire admits he's not in good standing with Chinese tax authorities the consultant tells mr. Chen not to declare all his assets when applying to the Quebec program she advises him to transfer problematic assets to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands a tax haven they almost even know how at home ad mortem hyah oh ho ttat mattress tips I'll say samples I solve if he's hungry said she look I hired mr. Chen also admits his wealth has dubious origins he tells her he's a loan shark and he operates a pawn shop the consultant offers a ready-made solution for difficult cases the creation of a second identity okay come on Gary would you die would you pay hyah hyah for some fun don't only that they are messy when I jump up these hanging don't pay about the hair sometime don't think I don't kill they see a lot don't know why you're lazy long it's something that how many all deal with Holly together because that's happening it's definitely a clear suggestion to defraud the system so here we're creating a second or a third identity in order to avoid this closing information that could very well hide so many things so many things and you have as good as an image an imagination than I can I have to see what can be behind this in a letter blow visa representatives say that mr. Chen would have had virtually no chance of being selected as their client who visa says major Caribbean citizenship program do not include a change of identity but the firm's own website boldly offers to provide clients and new identity to the Caribbean island of st. Kitts and Nevis [Music] the last stop of our Hong Kong investigation is at the Harvey Law Group firm founded by Quebec lawyer chef Francois Harvey the meet sue Gaeta who has reassuring words for mr. chan when mr. Chen says he does not intend to settle in Quebec the Harvey Law Group rep tells him that all he needs is a residential address in that province we show this hidden-camera footage to the owner of the firm Jean Francois Harvey so I prefer Pomeroy build Maxo operate this pko key on the valve on it assume there is du Quebec so it's a goose Tamara grabs some digitizing your commerce when you say support our category no less that nothing since I'm paralegal when our fictitious millionaire says he doesn't wish to declare all his assets to the Quebec authorities the law firms rep doesn't see any problem she too suggests using Caribbean islands to hide part of his assets thus hiding them from both Quebec and Chinese authorities as for mr. Chen's Haiti assets a clear advice don't even declare them so it's tough it's muggy I'm not very convenient to disclose I'm sorry whether you know it's normal we have a little plans like that it's actually really normal conceding those money by like five and she you know yeah yeah it's not I'm not a tax efficient ORS present come Ibaka Oh absence is he is he is he called Nevada we're getting a signal so she was a bit of a Pawnee Missouri of a sow's ear a duet Zeke published when the to declare beyond pure she'll Township the magazine - really she was even coming okay yeah it was conceived away past the middle Katya position we oversee circular I am and Ibaka we're now a coma supposes Hindu see Turgenev every deed will undo see after our interview Sugata was fired from the Harvey Law Group lawyer Atlanta also teaches immigration law they would be illegal or it could be found in legal what she's suggesting yes he says jean-francois they could be held accountable for his employees remarks according to the Quebec Bar Association code of ethics which is under the authority of the the law firm she must abide by the rules and the regulation the Quebec bars but you cannot and certainly cannot suggest a commission of something that is wrong like avoiding to disclose assets that needs to be disclosed here are the results of our Hong Kong investigation of the lawyers and consultants we contacted all except one advised our fictitious millionaire to lie about his intention to settle outside Quebec in nearly half recommended not disclosing dubious assets well we're we have an immigration program here that is faulty the immigration program that needs some serious redress maybe Quebec government should have done what the federal government has done back in 2014 when it abolished the program so you think the Quebec government should maybe just pull the plug on it absolutely absolutely there's too many people being deceived by this program [Laughter] what are the actual economic benefits for Quebec of the immigrant investor program we went to visit lemmas or fate a manufacturer of oil and condiments in Quebec City the growing company is purchasing new equipment grants from the immigrant investor program our funding 5% of the modernization project my family that wants Victor's diligence to cut Anita and stop the pain is coming to our songs mainly which institutions acumen fixie a bomb when a load of our website please try connect only download them and that was on my sony marta namizo fee is the example chosen by financial intermediaries to highlight the success of the immigrant investor program before a parliamentary committee in 2011 at the same table one of Quebec most renowned economists Kia Forte he also praises the program sadhana mr. Darcy my job ready dude yeah the tool is immigrant visa Kyoto Canada so actually power the parlor Quebec in a series of studies PFF a rights that it is immigration that pays off with spectacular rate of return for Quebec that allow us to create jobs at low cost in short it's a godsend here's how it works the immigrant investor makes an interest-free loan of 1.2 million dollars to the Quebec government which is entirely refunded to him after five years in the meantime Quebec places those funds so they grow at market rates the interest generated is redistributed in part to small and medium sized Quebec businesses through AFSC small Quebec the provinces investment arm since the year 2000 these businesses have received 695 million dollars but the program is also a goldmine for financial intermediaries who submit immigrant investor files during the same period the government paid them 605 million in professional fees almost as much as what was given in grants to gentlemen COC financial intermediaries including National Bank in the job they funded PF often studies of immigrant investors mr. Fattah has declined our request for an interview because he says that he has not worked on this subject for years he referred us to the study's co-author economist Pierre Emmanuel paths Markovic pounded cap meal on Prabhu total like he saw ye director man I think was in the shoulder but when we took a closer look at the data we noticed something surprising investees Marquis Beck doesn't finance more than 10 percent of a project but the figures publish in its annual reports count a hundred percent of the jobs as if they were created or saved by these projects the impact on job creation appears ten times higher than it actually is FST smokey Beck tells us this is its standard operating procedure but that it does not count all these jobs as attributable to its involvement this is not what economists pierre manual pad I was led to believe you so galaxy said to be allowed if they're calculating it this way by accounting for all the jobs of course it inflates the job creation numbers by 10 times its yeah we yeah it's not it's not the right way to do it no madam miss you know so and according to Quebec saw deter general a vistas monkey bag does not follow up to ensure that jobs promised have actually been created who back a place that needs dynamic people who are eager to contribute to its growth find out more about Quebec and its immigrant investor program these immigrant investors could bring new blood to the Quebec business community but in reality very few immigrant investors actually start businesses here in Canada if they simply come in and then go through the paperwork give us some money for small businesses and then leave we much of the economic impact is lost and of their social impact too and so this is something that really means I think addressing number one also the program's revenues have gone down significantly because they depend on interest rate which have hit historic lows during the last decade to counter this the government recently increased the amount of the loan immigrant investors must provide but according to Pierre manual parody this won't be enough one of the defenders of the program now believes a major reform is needed Canada has a lot to offer a lot to offer in terms of quality society strong economy peaceful country and we have the right to asked for a sizable contribution in return let's get the contribution that we deserve and we should have making sure that we prioritize families were going to stay in Quebec etc the majority of Chinese millionaires who entered Canada using the Quebec immigrant investor program settle on the west coast in Vancouver the program has received negative media coverage here because it's been blamed for contributing in part to the sky-high real estate prices Quebec program has been the biggest component of median emigration wealth migration here in Vancouver and in Canada and that's a huge component of what's propelling property prices you look at properties that are worth you know five six million dollars you know that's not to do with local incomes that's to do with foreign wealth and foreign incomes and a big component of that is the Quebec immigrant investor program Ian Young is the vancouver-based correspondent of the South China Morning Post a daily publish in Hong Kong he's been investigating these millionaire migrants for years and the role of the Quebec immigrant investor program I think the Quebec immigrant investor program is a scam from start to finish I think that everyone who's involved in the program knows that you know I think that that includes policymakers the people who facilitate it and the immigrants themselves I mean they know that it it doesn't serve the purpose that it is supposed to serve just one example beijing millionaire jokingly was granted permanent residency through the quebec program when she and her family got their official landing in canada in 2006 they didn't even bother flying to quebec what they wrought here is here in vancouver and only ten days after they arrived they left you know and then after that you know for the next six or seven or eight years their actual presence in canada was minimal then jokingly returned to Vancouver in 2014 for sons to be educated in Canada her husband stayed in China to keep his law practice going this is commonly known as a satellite family she bought this five million dollar property in West Vancouver a five bedroom seven washroom house for her and her two sons it's a problem way of Hawking your money the the lot of a lot of these in great investors simply want to get money out of out of China they want to put in some way that is not in a bank account that is easily traceable she bought two luxury cars Vancouver has become the North American capital of luxury cars because of the demand from the Asian millionaire market last year jokingly had to appear before the Immigration and Refugee Board because she did not live in the country long enough to renew her permanent resident status she was asked why she did not settle in Quebec as she should have she told the board about a short visit to Montreal in that not knowing French it would have been too difficult for her to live in Quebec she mentioned going into a gas station being appalled that the people spoke French and they couldn't communicate with her in English now you'd think that that would be you know reasonably common knowledge amongst people that if you're going to move to Quebec for the people in Quebec do in fact speak French in 2016 jokingly paid only 69 dollars in income tax today her home is worth nearly 8 million dollars we tried to contact her several times but she declined our request for an interview one of the most ridiculous things about the Quebec immigrant investor program and me and a migration in general is how little money these people are declaring once they get here to Canada and how little income tax they're paying they're paying less income tax in many cases and refugees one of the main reasons the federal government scrapped its own immigration investor program in 2014 the very low income tax revenues collected from these migrants in the end BC on Ontario have to foot much of the bill for the expenses related to these migrants but without any of the financial benefits received by Quebec upon their arrival while a Quebec is taking the money it's it's it's Vancouver that's footing the bill for these ancillary costs like gum you know the cost of it patient health you know roads and things like that Penelope some delay yeah ESCA second SIA major Parker two months away in certain orders everything fukiko a specific portion support ample collision rest [Music] british columbia's taken steps to try to reduce the influence of foreign capital on the vancouver real estate market while montreal see a similar phenomenon one day early signs suggest that property speculators in mainland China are already starting to take more of an interest in Quebec SLAR gist city [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: CBC News

Views: 629,284

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Keywords: golden visa, golden visa canada, golden visa quebec, quebec, Canadian residency, Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, Enquête, Frédéric Zalac, foreigners, Radio-Canada, China, immigration canada, Hong Kong, Immigraation to Canada from China, wealth foreign investors canada, immigration officials, Vancouver, foreign investors Quebec, residency visa, permanent resident canada, tax havens, st kitts and nevis, European Union, EU, CBC News, CBC

Id: kFZSkSBnFBY

Length: 39min 3sec (2343 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ThinkOutTheBox]

Yes.

[u/Hawkeye077]

How over 46,000 wealthy immigrants took a back door into Vancouver and Toronto’s housing markets

There are more Quebec Immigrant Investors living in Richmond, BC than there are living in Quebec.

Nearly 28,000 of them (48.3 per cent) were living in B.C., while almost 22,000 (37.9 per cent) were in Ontario.

Only 6,050 investor immigrants who came through Quebec (10.4 per cent) were living in the province at that time.

leaving Quebec with their investments, other provinces with their health care bills, and cities with flows of foreign capital that have been linked to soaring home prices.

[u/StartingVortex]

Here's an idea: Shut down this program, and assign the spots to political and ethnic refugees fleeing China:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-september-13-2018-1.4821663/uighurs-in-canada-fear-deportation-after-china-s-crackdown-on-turkic-muslims-1.4821690

[u/CallmeishmaelSancho]

Foreigners aren’t taking advantage of Quebec, Quebec is taking advantage BC by taking the cash and giving them a free pass to move to BC and use our services.

[u/Mister_Me_Seeks]

Yes

[u/[deleted]]

One of my rich Chinese friends said he had to visit Quebec to get residents or a passport... Forgot which one... Then 20 more Chinese friends from China did the same. (FYI... They are all rich). Maybe they were doing this scheme I didn't know about. Fucking loopholes that drove up real estate and inflation is real.

[u/[deleted]]

That’s not closed yet??

[u/[deleted]]

No. Because Canada/Quebec are not enforcing it and because those are the rules we set. It’s not an advantage using the rules as set. It would be like telling a company to not claim a tax credit because it’s taking advantage. If the rules let them, they can do it.

‘We’ (Canadian) made the rules, we can change the rules. But we really can’t blame others for our lack of enforcement or not changing the rules.

[u/pbgswd]

If they want to come to Quebec, then they should live in Quebec. It makes sense. Why do they have a problem staying there?