The required management experience is the assuming of duties related to the planning, management and control of financial resources and of human or material resources under the Investor’s authority. This, for at least 2 years in the 5 years preceding the application for a selection certificate.

The Investor must prove he has net assets worth at least $1,600,000 CAN. All of the investor’s assets must be declared but not all of them must be brought to Canada. The assets of his wife or de facto spouse can be included.

The actual percentage of cash typically required from the Investor is around 25% or $200,000 CAN, the balance can be borrowed from a Canadian bank.

The investor must prove he has acquired these assets legally. Legitimate activities or businesses are those that do not contravene the laws of the host country and are generally accepted in Western countries. Illegal activities are, for example, smuggling, drug trade, corruption, tax evasion.

This requirement is often difficult to satisfy. The reasons usually are the following:

-There are no indications at the financial statements, or from the governments, that personal and company taxes have been paid;

-The reasons for not having paid taxes are not substantiated. No proof is given that the person or his companies did not have to pay taxes;

– Sloppy accounting: Unaudited financial statements; lack of evidence the accountants are certified; inconsistent financial figures (different statements for the shareholders and the taxman …); inconsistencies between bank statements and financial figures; shareholders wild and legally unauthorized withdrawals of money from their company; failure to maintain air tight separation between personal and company assets and “personality”. In other words: business practices that are too different from those in the West;

– Lack of business documents: Incorporation certificates, tax reports and assessments, bank statements, yearly financial figures, paystubs, commercial documents, etc.;

–  Unrecorded, or orally agreed only, or legally unauthorised shuffling of company shares among brothers, friends, family members, or other shareholders;

–  Lack of actual Deed of ownership of property;

– Lack of certified property assessments;

-The investor making no distinctions between himself and his companies; being used to cash transactions, and ending up not being familiar with his own affairs and not being able to answer all of the questions asked by the immigration officer at his admission interview.

Selection Phase
The passing score is 40 points out of a total of 94 – Investor with or without spouse or de facto spouse.

Points Allocation
The points are distributed among the following factors:

• 14 points – Training (Education Level: 14 points; & Areas of Training: 0 point;
• 10 points – Experience;
• 10 points – Age;
• 22 points – Language Proficiency (French: 16 points – English: 6 points);
• 8 points – Stay and Family in Quebec (Stay in Quebec: max: 5 points;
• Family in Quebec: max: 3 points);
• 5 points – Adaptability;
• 25 points – Investment Agreement.

It must be the true intention of the investor to come live in Quebec. Many people use the Quebec system because they qualify in it, but do not actually come to Quebec. Indications in the file that the investor may not really want to come to Quebec may carry a refusal to issue a Quebec authorization (Called a CSQ for Certificat de Sélection du Québec). If it does not, it may carry a refusal on the part of the federal government (the government of Canada) to issue a visa even if Quebec has issued a CSQ.

The Canadian federal government no longer accepts applications in its immigrant investor program. Only Quebec does.

Quebec accepts a limited number of applications from investors that do not speak “intermediate-advanced” French. It receives this limited number of applications at periods it decrees. It receives applications from French speaking applicants at all times and fast-tracks them.

Quebec investors must make their investment through either one of several brokers associated to big banks and certified by Quebec. Given Quebec only accepts a limited number of applications from investors that don’t speak French, those brokers reserve the right to accept only those applications that have the greatest chance to succeed.

Additional requirements apply and will be discussed during BDIA’s evaluation of your eligibility. Contact us if you want to immigrate to Canada under the Investor Program.

The application fee with Quebec is 15 000,00 CAD. There are no application fee for the spouse and the children.

The investor can apply for himself and his “dependents”, that is his spouse, his children under 22 years of age, and those above 22 years if they are still dependent.

If Quebec issues a CSQ, the investor must apply for a visa with Immigration-Canada. Canada will issue the visa to him and his dependents if none of them are inadmissible, including those of his dependents that may choose not to come. The main reasons for inadmissibility are the following: criminal problems, health problems, security, no passport, previous problems with Immigration-Canada, lack of settlement fund, etc.

The fees to be paid to the federal government with the visa application are 1 050,00 CAD for the investor; 550,00 CAD for his spouse and his children 19 and older, and 150,00 CAD for each of his children under 19. If the visas are issued, there is an additional fee of 490,00 CAD, but only for those 19 years of age and older.

If Quebec does not issue a CSQ, it may be because it rejected the application or because it refused it.

It rejects applications in 2 kinds of circumstances: (1) when people fail to provide what is asked for, or do not provide it in the form that is asked for (original, copy, certified copy, copy certified by someone in particular, only, etc.), and (2) when people file fake or fraudulent documents. When that happen, the investor can contest in Superior Court but must do it within 30 days of the rejection.

It refuses an application when the investor does not meet the requirements. When that happens, the investor has 90 days to apply for an Administrative Review of his case by higher people at the Department. If the AR is refused, the investor may contest in Superior Court within 30 days of the decision.

If it is the federal government that refuses to issue a visa, the investor has 60 days to contest in the Federal Court of Canada.