With regards to the IIP not being a solution to the soaring housing prices in Vancouver, I believe that is necessary to consider the undermining factors of this phenomenon. The first factor I would like to point out is the reason to why so many Mainland Chinese are inclined to obtain PR status in a Canada. According to a blog post written by the aforementioned Dan Scarrow, he summarizes their reasoning to the following five points.
- The potential for social instability in China
- The integrity of judicial and administrative processes in China, about possible risks associated with sudden shifts in government policies, and about the risks of capricious expropriation of private wealth
- The quality and intensely competitive nature of children’s education
- Extreme levels of pollution in the big cities
- The long term sustainability of China’s economy in the context of a country with diminishing energy, water and other resources and 1.4 billion people with generally rising, not diminishing, expectations
In a nutshell, they are seemingly concerned about political uncertainty, the education system, and the environmental issues that are apparent in China today. According to an online survey conducted by the Vancouver Sun, results show that 77% of the Chinese immigrants are happy with their level of political freedom, 67% prefer Canada’s education system, and 81% claim that the environment is better than where they lived prior to immigration.
In his blog, Mr. Scarrow also introduces us to the common “family plan” alongside immigration. He asserts that there is one spouse, usually dad, to continue running the family business or working in his pre-immigration job in China, traveling intermittently and briefly to Canada to visit the family. Colloquially he is an “astronaut”. As a rule, the astronaut dad has no intention of actually residing in Canada or becoming a Canadian citizen. For him the arrangement is kind of an insurance policy. Mom and child, on the other hand, intend to remain in Canada, become citizens and then consider their options. Often the longer term goal is for the child to get the best public or private school education possible in Canada and then move on to college in the USA, the notion being that good US colleges have a better brand recognition than Canadian universities, both in China and internationally.
Canada is not the only country with an investor program. Countries such as Australia and the UK also have a similar program that is still functional. The question here is: why is Vancouver such a popular destination? According to an article by the National Post, investor immigrants consider Vancouver to be very secure on three levels; politically, geographically, and economically. It has nice neighborhoods, excellent public schools and a mild climate; there are myriad reasons why Vancouver, unaffordable as it is, has for many years been ranked in the world’s top-five “most livable” cities. Moreover, these “millionaire migrants” consider Vancouver to be a hedge city, where investment risk is low, and where capital can arrive safely and be withdrawn quickly.