Citizenship and Immigration Canada has significantly extended the deadline for applications made through the country’s Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) pilot programme.
The application window for the programme had originally been due to last just two weeks, but is now set to close on 15th April, instead of the 11th February.
The programme, which offers permanent residency to immigrants who are worth a minimum of CDN$10 million and agree to hand over CDN$2 million for Canada’s government to invest on their behalf, is aiming to attract 500 immigrant investor applications.
The initial ministerial instructions had said the scheme, which opened on 28th January, would only accept applications until 11th February or until a maximum of 500 applications are received, whichever comes first. Only a maximum of 60 randomly drawn applicants and their families will be allowed to immigrate.
Although there has been no official announcement with regards to why the application period has been so significantly extended, the most likely reason would seem that the programme has thus far failed to attract the desired interest from overseas investors.
Canada’s former Immigration Investor Programme had been the world’s most popular vehicle for wealth-based migration before it was axed last year. In 2010 alone, the scheme attracted a peak of 12,675 applications representing 42,312 wealthy would-be immigrants.