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Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

economist.com

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Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#91

Post by thatfrenchguy »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #4

> But Canada closed its federal programme in 2014 (some provincial schemes, such as Quebec’s, continue). Only mentioned as an aside, but for Vancouverites, this has been very painful. Uniquely Quebec manages its own immigration (let's not get into it) and they have an investor immigration scheme that essentially sells citizenship for a pittance. Of course since persons have freedom of movement there's nothing stoppin…

> Uniquely Quebec manages its own immigration (let's not get into it) and they have an investor immigration scheme that essentially sells citizenship for a pittance

Their website say 1.2M$ ? That’s a pittance ?

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#92

Post by CatThe »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #91
Tiktaalik wrote: post #4

> But Canada closed its federal programme in 2014 (some provincial schemes, such as Quebec’s, continue). Only mentioned as an aside, but for Vancouverites, this has been very painful. Uniquely Quebec manages its own immigration (let's not get into it) and they have an investor immigration scheme that essentially sells citizenship for a pittance. Of course since persons have freedom of movement there's nothing stoppin…

> Uniquely Quebec manages its own immigration (let's not get into it) and they have an investor immigration scheme that essentially sells citizenship for a pittance Their website say 1.2M$ ? That’s a pittance ?

In other words, If you buy one house you can have citizenship.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#93

Post by jlawson »

roywiggins wrote: post #80
jlawson wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to know what that "invoking" sentence actually means. What exactly did Kushner actually say? Either he did something possibly illegal, or the media is attempting to leave the reader believing a damaging lie without actually saying something they can get called out on. We'd need the original quotes to know which. Until then, we can of course each just assume the reality confirms our prior beliefs.

> Meyer, the sister of Jared Kushner, was speaking at an event in which she was trying to attract wealthy Chinese investors to the 1 Journal Square project. > During the presentation, Meyer reminded investors of her brother's recent role in American politics: "In 2008, my brother Jared Kushner joined the family company as CEO," Meyer told a crowd, adding he "recently moved to Washington to join the administration." >…

Okay, so an innocuous display of generalized status. No indication Kushner would do anything (through any kind of back channel or otherwise) to use his position to aid these investors. No indication he has done anything of the sort.

Pretty much as I expected; media telling the truth to leave you believing a lie.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#94

Post by Qasaur »

rb808 wrote: post #23

The dumb thing is how cheap these go for. If you had to pay 500k for a passport it would make sense. Investing 500k costs very little. You'll likely make more money than if you bought Chinese real estate. Even if you have to borrow 500k its only going to cost you ~10-20k a year.

As far as I understand the specific law in question, you are disqualified for a investment residency if the money you are using to invest is borrowed from someone else.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#95

Post by mistermann »

andy_bandy wrote: post #48
rapind wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My belief has always been foreign capital (speculation) is bad, but immigration is good. So if you want to move here and bring all that foreign capital great! If you want to speculate or park money in Canadian real estate (empty houses and condos) that's really bad for the locals. It never should have been allowed.

They don't pay income tax. In a country with free medicare and cheap post-secondary education, and many other low income benefits this is a massive problem. "nine of 10 recent Chinese immigrants arrive in Metro Vancouver with enough money to immediately buy homes. But only half hold down jobs during their first five years in Canada, while four of 10 report they’re surviving on low incomes." https://vancouversun.com/o…

> But only half hold down jobs during their first five years

I wonder how long it will be before the government decides to change their data format so immigrant employment numbers can no longer be associated with country of origin, under the guise of "privacy" or something like that.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#96

Post by wharnal »

mistermann wrote: post #89
jseliger wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we only had a technology that could be used to build more housing units on a given plot of land, we could probably build as many housing units as people want to buy. Until such technologies emerge from the land of science fiction, we'll be stuck with shortages, because the problems are really technical, not legal. https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/urban-sprawl-housin...

A housing bubble based on domestic demand is dangerous enough, adding in who knows how much foreign demand on top of that, if it was to pop it could be more than doubly impactful. Before we go on a building spree, I say we should get a decent handle on the total amount of foreign money in play.

You're right, it'd be a real tragedy if they built too many homes and just anyone could afford to live in Vancouver.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#97

Post by mistermann »

selimthegrim wrote: post #31

As is usual in cases like these, NOLA had their number. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/30/chinas-louis... I remain profoundly ashamed that Al Jazeera rather than an American or local news outlet had to break this story.

Likewise, the South China Morning Post has broken more stories on foreign activity in Canadian real estate markets than Canadian newspapers combined.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#98

Post by mistermann »

wharnal wrote: post #96
mistermann wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A housing bubble based on domestic demand is dangerous enough, adding in who knows how much foreign demand on top of that, if it was to pop it could be more than doubly impactful. Before we go on a building spree, I say we should get a decent handle on the total amount of foreign money in play.

You're right, it'd be a real tragedy if they built too many homes and just anyone could afford to live in Vancouver.

In the long run it may be fine. In the short run, crashing housing bubbles can bankrupt families and cause chaos in both financial and job markets.

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#99

Post by dghughes »

jseliger wrote: post #49
Tiktaalik wrote: post #4

> But Canada closed its federal programme in 2014 (some provincial schemes, such as Quebec’s, continue). Only mentioned as an aside, but for Vancouverites, this has been very painful. Uniquely Quebec manages its own immigration (let's not get into it) and they have an investor immigration scheme that essentially sells citizenship for a pittance. Of course since persons have freedom of movement there's nothing stoppin…

If we only had a technology that could be used to build more housing units on a given plot of land, we could probably build as many housing units as people want to buy. Until such technologies emerge from the land of science fiction, we'll be stuck with shortages, because the problems are really technical, not legal. https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/urban-sprawl-housin...

Apartment buildings are being slapped together quickly now with cheap materials. Fast isn't good if the result is a house of cards that's ready to fall down at any time.

A three story apartment building in my town burned down because the decorative mulch outside caught fire and spread to the building. Making it worse sprinkler systems are not mandatory in Canada for three story apartment buildings. Luckily all 52 seniors living in the apartment building got out there were no deaths.

The fire chief said the building went up fast because of the materials used in the building.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-fire...

Re: Chinese are big customers for schemes selling foreign residency

#100

Post by dev_dull »

addicted wrote: post #75
dev_dull wrote: post #69

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think the $500k investment is a great idea. Why is it in our interest for that money to be invested elsewhere? I also think we should staple green-cards to the back of people who receive higher-education degrees in the united states. Unfortunately our immigration system rewards the rule-breakers and encourages people to lie. Like many things in life, the honest people get hosed.

While I agree with most of what you say, I'm struggling to see how rule breakers get rewarded. For the most part pretty much everyone in the immigration system gets screwed, other than the wealthiest, whether they buy their residency, or they hire the workers who are either here illegally or legally.

Applying for asylum after illegally crossing the border versus applying for asylum before entering the USA.
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