The Federal Immigrant Investor Program

ONTARIO PILOT PNP - HOW TO APPLY: MULTINATIONAL INVESTOR CATEGORY

Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program for Business Immigration (MPNP-B)


We all know that immigration to Canada has become a lengthy process since 1998, with no accurate timing which is a mix of official estimates, their convenience factor, office laziness and probably a messy workflow in the visa section in Syria!

Meanwhile, some of the categories finalize faster than others. For example, if the Skilled Worker category is selected and applicant has an official job offer, the process will speed up dramatically.

Also if he/she has been active in business and a Canadian province happens to demand that specialty, focusing on the province and letting them know that there is an intention to establish a business unit in that field, will reduce the processing time to a good 20% and often gets completed within 6 to 9 months. Adding the extra time spent on Security checks and Police clearance – which may take up to another 9 months – the whole process will finalize in about 1.5 years, a miracle compared to other methods!

Immigration under Investor Category has two types: Federal and Provincial.

The federal investor category– which is lengthy and takes somewhere between 4 and 5 years – demands $400,000 to be invested in Canada. Applicants must prove their business and trades capabilities, bring a minimum of $400,000 and show that they have a net worth of over $800,000 which should be brought to Canada over the years.

Banks have been providing facilities over this, depositing the required $400,000 in government’s account on applicants’ behalf, after charging them the 5 year interest of $120,000. If applied as a Quebec Investor, applicants will face the same conditions but due to the recent facilitation provided by the Quebec government, the processing time falls down to 2 years.

The Provincial Investor category is the fastest way. Initial capital requirement is set by the province (it would cost somewhere around $110,000 to $150,000 in interests should one use the bank loan) and $25,000 of the capital will be kept as a security deposit, to make sure the investor will stay in the province for a minimum of one year. This process usually leads to the interview phase in less than 5 months! When all the requirements are met, a certificate will be issued under the applicant’s name which will be sent to the immigration office, along the other documents and the process will enter the security check.

The Federal government has introduced a new bill to the Parliament, to expand the “Flexibility” of selection process over the immigration applications. Critics are worried this bill will enable Diane Finley – Minister of Immigration – to go ahead with the changes without parliamentary – or public – oversight.
Legal experts and immigrant advocates made their reservations known after the Conservative government announced plans to relinquish Parliament’s decision-making power on immigration policies to a single person – the minister.
Finely has been touting Bill 50 – which was introduced this month – as the way to reduce the 800,000 backlogged applications and cut long waiting times for immigration applications. Meanwhile critics, while commending the government's effort to tackle the backlogged files, said they were caught off guard by the secrecy surrounding the new provisions.
The bill would allow the minister to discard applications from specific countries, reject applicants who otherwise meet all immigration criteria, and accelerate some other applications, allowing queue-jumping. To make the matter worst, the rejected applicants couldn't appeal anymore!
Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said the approach goes against the points system that was introduced in the late 1960s to make the system non-racist and accountable. Waldman believes this new change will question all of these values by giving the minister the power reject valid cases and having the capability to approve applications be processed despite them not meeting the objective criteria.
The bill could also terminate the processing of humanitarian applications from overseas and limit the number and type of applications each person could file.
Finley, during an interview on CTV denied such conditions and insisted that to speed up the 900,000 applications – which grew from its 50,000 units to current backlog level- there is no other way.
Finley said the changes will help fill jobs that go empty while qualified people wait, as well as provide the option of faster processing for applicants from troubled areas.
The amendment is contained within the 2008 budget implementation bill, which means it would go through if a vote of confidence is issued. This way there is no room for debate of the content among the opposition parties. They have to accept it or bring down the government and face an election.
It's a concern because these changes aren't made without reasons. Someone would have thought it out. What targets do they have in mind? They are not seen in the legislation.
Alex Stojicevic, the chair of the immigration section of the Canadian Bar Association, announced that he has made his case against the proposal and his association, which represents 859 immigration lawyers, will also be calling members of Parliament to discuss the issue at hand and it will issue a press release to outline the position soon.
The NDP say they are preparing an amendment to the budget bill of 2008 that would remove the immigration changes.

Each year, as we get close to the starting day of spring - the beginning of the new Solar year and Norouz (Nowruz) day - Toronto bares witness to various activities by Iranian immigrants creating the grounds and the atmosphere for the celebrations. Iranian goods’ stores present components of the famous “Haft-Sin” table, and Norouz ceremonial objects plus the White fish and herbs for the infamous New Years Eve dish called “Sabzi-polo” and “Maahi Sefid” (Herb rice with Fish), and Norouz greeting cards.

Norouz bazaars open around the city, held by some Iranian-owned businesses – gathering large groups of producers of Iranian delicacies and gourmet foods and ceremonial items, under one roof, hosting entertainment programs for various age groups, highlighted with several daily prize draws. This provides a good opportunity for one-stop shopping of all your new year’s needfuls and may be seeing a few familiar faces.

Mel Lastman Square, located in North York municipality’s main yard – accessible through the North York Centre subway station – hosts the publicly accessible Annual Norouz Celebration ceremony. Traditionally held on the first Sunday after the Norouz, celebration’s music and dance program starts around noon and continues to 4:00 pm. Often times, local Iranian singers and entertainment bands – and sometime guests from as far as Los Angeles – are invited to perform. Dance and music is the core of the program and sometime food and services are sold by stands belonging to some famous Iranian food and goods stores. Due to changeling and volatile Toronto weather these days, the celebration may enjoy a great sunny day fit for a full-day program, or simply fall into a rainy and windy mess and get wrapped up in a two hour window!

But the celebration stretches far beyond a single event. Many groups, from campus social clubs to professional catering and event organizers, hold their own Norouz parties around the city, usually a mix of dinner and entertainment program spiced up with presence of one or two well-known singers and DJ programs. Tickets to these programs are priced based on their history, reputation, and open/closed door policy. The less people are accepted and harder it is to get invited, the higher the price one has to pay to secure a seat.

There are also groups of friends and families who would gather together in a booked party room or a privately reserved club floor and get catering and DJ and celebrate the night in a more private manner.

Newcomers to Canada will need sometime to gradually find Iranian friends and establish a network of people to celebrate with, but they can easily attend the public celebrations – such as “ChaharShanbehSuri” and Mel Lastman’s program - and might be willing to spend a little cash and attend the New Year programs in one of the clubs around the town.

Happy Norouz and Happy New Year to all of you my good friends!

Wish you all a great happy year filled with health, prosperity and success!

Toronto, the safest Canadian Megacity

MacLean’s, the Canadian magazine focusing on Canadian social, political and economical issues, has published a list of 100 most dangerous Canadian cities – concerning homicide and crime rates.

Toronto, despite being the largest and the most populated city in Canada, serving as the entry point for many newcomers, and acting as a centre for many refugees of various ethnic groups, did not even make it to the 20th position, while Saskatoon became second and Regina made number one.

Many of the GTA's regions are considered the safest communities, with Halton, Peel and York regions in the top 20 safest places to live. The rankings were tabulated using 2006 Statistics Canada crime data – including homicides, sexual assaults, vehicle thefts, robberies and break-in’s.

Public opinion shows that residents believe the rates have gone up compared to 10 or 15 years ago. This distorted perception can be blamed on the massive and country-wide media coverage of incidents happening in the GTA. In 2006, the GTA, including Mississauga and Peel, had a population over 5,400,000 and there were 99 homicide victims (1.8 homicides for 100,000 people). In Regina, there were 9 homicides for a population of only 200,000 (4.5 homicides rate per 100,000 people.)

It is important to remember that U.S. cities have not been included in the report. A previous study showed that the most dangerous large Canadian city had a crime rate less that 50% of the safest large U.S. city.

Have a great day!

Changes in the weblog and Good News

I have made some changes to the appearance of the weblog and added some keywords.
From now on, each log will have a portion in English language to serve a major and a minor cause.

The major reason is to get visitors accustomed to reading the same log in the English language and expanding their vocabulary regarding to the context of immigration which will serve them in near future.
The minor reason is to make weblog better known to English search engines, especially Google. At the moment, most of the visitors come to Tehrantonian through Google search results and making the weblog bilingual will facilitate its recognition by Google’s English search engine. This elevation of Tehrantonian’s ranking serves two purposes:

Will make it easier to find when Iranians are searching for an English word in the context of immigration and will also enable Tehrantonian to absorb advertising related to Immigration, Job hunting, Buying your first home, Applying for your home loan and helps us cover the expenses incurred in expansion of Tehrantonian – which is not feasible inside the weblog – and would require separate hosting service, domain registration, email address creation and so on.
Of course I have already acquired the hosting space and the domain is also ready and I have prepared some very useful articles on Job hunting and Resume writing which, god willing, will soon give you the good new about!

The Forum is also in the plan and an Electronic Newsletter to follow, is also under construction.

Have a great day!