August 8, 2014. Copyright 2014, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Chinese visa applicants sue Canadian government

LONDON, August 8, Graphic News: More than 1,400 Chinese citizens who had their applications for Canadian permanent residence visas terminated when the Immigrant Investor Programme was closed are suing the Canadian government.

The 1,469 are part of a class action launched in the Canadian federal court in June 2014 after Canadian immigration minister Chris Alexander announced the closure of the programme in February this year.

They have been joined by 100 other disappointed applicants from other countries including Turkey, the UK, South Africa and India. They are seeking CAN$5 million each in damages.

Their lawyer, Tim Leahy of Forefront Migration Ltd., argues that their applications were not processed within Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) target timeframe. Had they been handled within the CIC timeframe, their applications would have been processed before the programme closed. “It will cost the treasury $16.5 billion if the minister chooses not to comply with the order to process the applicants on their merits. But they will”, Leahy said.

The immigrant investor programme allowed foreigners, in effect, to buy Canadian passports by paying the treasury $800,000, said WorkPermit.com, a specialist visa consultancy. Due to rampant demand, the government suspended the scheme, leaving around 65,000 foreigners in limbo. The majority of cases -- about 70 percent -- were Chinese. A survey has shown that more than six in 10 Chinese millionaires are seeking permanent residence elsewhere in the world.
/ENDS