Chinese high rollers swap investment for Irish residency – The Irish government has granted residency status to 55 wealthy foreigners in the past three years through its investment program, with the majority coming from China.
St. Kitts CBI Program Undergoing Major Changes – St. Kitts government has held a nation consultation with CBI stakeholders, stressing the importance of managing the program carefully and highlighting improvements already in place and those soon to be implemented.
Chinese millionaire migration to Canada is in a state of flux – Larry Wang, president of leading Chinese immigration consultancy Well Trend United, says he is not surprised by the failure of the IIVC program. Wang also suggests that new documentation rules for the Quebec IIP have put off potential investors.
Minister promotes Grenada across Europe and China – Alexandra Otway, Grenada’s Minister of Implementation, has traveled to London, Zurich, and several cities in China to promote the countries Citizenship by Investment program.
Number of Chinese investors applying for NZ residency jumps 48% over past year – The number of investor visa applications processed by Immigration New Zealand has increased 12-fold in the last five years, from 18 in 2009/10 to 218 in 2014/15. Research by PwC has found that applicants need to invest more than the NZ$1.5 million threshold to become eligible due to government limits on the number of approved visas.
SIV to raise $3.5bn annually: Basis Point – Business intelligence firm Basis Point, speaking at the third annual Significant Investor Visa conference, estimates that Australia’s Significant Investor Visa will attract A$3.5 billion per year through 700 successful applications.
New USCIS Data Shows Remarkable Growth for EB-5 Program – IIUSA analysis of USCIS data has found that the amount of investment in the first two quarters of FY2015 represented a $400 million increase compared to the first two quarters of FY2014 and a $1.1 billion increase compared to the first two quarters of FY2013.
Millionaire migration to Canada didn’t fall after investor scheme’s axing – it rose, new data reveals – Despite the closure of Canada’s federal IIP, the number of immigrant investors entering the country increased in 2014 dues to intake from Quebec’s program.
VC fund OneVenture says vetting investors too ‘burdensome’ – Australian venture capital firm OneVentures has called for the government to take over verification of wealthy immigrants coming to Australia under the Significant Investor Visa program because it is too “burdensome’’ for the funds receiving the money. Managing Director Paul Kelly says that funds do not have the resources or expertise to police the KYC and AML rules for such large numbers of applicants.
Canada’s new millionaire migration scheme gets just six applications, in snub from rich Chinese – Canada’s new Immigrant Investor Venture Capital program has received just six applications worldwide according to data obtained by the South China Morning Post. despite the government initially seeking 500 applications. Critics blame the lack of uptake on high cost and risk factors compared to its defunct predecessor.