GTA Worldwide offers immigration consulting services across the entire range of employment activities in these markets. Our service draws upon our specific expertise in, and knowledge of, the business environment within these regions.

We assist with document gathering (individual and corporate) and pre-processing, obtaining translations as appropriate, legalisations, and similar authentications as and when where required. We then coordinate the processing of these visas and applications drawing on our in-house professional skills and network as required.

Our services include:

For further information on how GTA Worldwide can be of assistance please contact our Hong Kong Office.

Canada Federal Investor Immigration Program

To be considered an Investor Immigrant under the Federal program, a foreign national must have

• owned or managed and controlled a qualifying business for at least two years in the five years prior to submitting the application for immigration to Canada,
• a legally obtained net worth of at least 800,000 Canadian Dollars, and
• be willing to invest 400,000 Canadian Dollars for five years.

The net worth can be made up of value of liquid funds and business and/or personal property owned by applicant and their spouse or common-law partner. Applicant must provide documentation to support their claim.

For the business to qualify under the program, the applicant must prove that the business meets any two of the following requirements:

• the percentage of equity, multiplied by the number of full-time job equivalents, is equal to or greater than two full-time job equivalents per year;
• the percentage of equity, multiplied by the total annual sales, is equal to or greater than $500,000;
• the percentage of equity, multiplied by the net income in the year, is equal to or greater than $50,000; or the percentage of equity, multiplied by the net assets at the end of the year, is equal to or greater than $125,000

For an example of the requirements please see the table below:

Ownership Option - Management of a qualifying business
	Attribute	Percentage Ownership Of Business
		100%	50%	20%
(i)	Full-Time Employees	2	4	10
(ii)	Sales (CAD)	$500,000	$1,000,000	$2,500,000
(iii)	Net Income (CAD)	$50,000	$100,000	$250,000
(iV)	Equity (CAD)	$125,000	$250,000	$625,000

As an alternative to actual ownership, investors may qualify by proving that, over any two of the five years preceding the application submission, they had managed at least 5 full-time employees in a business. The Investor definition also includes individuals who have exercised significant senior managerial control over businesses of a substantial size notwithstanding that such individuals may have not have an ownership interest or have assumed entrepreneurial risk directly.

Applicant can make their investment anytime after their application has been submitted to Immigration Canada but prior to immigrant visa issuance. Immigrant visa will only be issued after the investment payment has been made to Immigration Canada.

Canadian Immigration acts as an agent on behalf of the Canadian investment funds who decide where to invest the funds that investor immigrant places with the Receiver General for Canada.

Immigration Canada will repay the invested funds in five years without interest. The date of repayment depends on the date Receiver General receives the investment. At the earliest, this will be in five years, two months and at the latest, five years, three months from the date of receipt.

The investor is allowed to finance the investment in the Immigrant Investor Program. With a minimum deposit of 120,000 CAD, an investor can secure the maximum loan from these financial institutions in order to complete the required 400,000 CAD investment. GTA can assist with arrangement of the finance for prospective immigrants.

After the five year obligatory investment period, the initial capital deposit will have served to pay the interest on the loan. This offer may vary according to Canadian interest rate fluctuations and the financial institution concerned.

Major details of the Investor Immigration Program:

• Applicant can invest their own funds or get their investment financed (with a loan) through a Canadian financial institution.
• Investors receive unconditional visa and do not have to start business in Canada but they may if they are willing to.
• Investment repayment is guaranteed by the Canadian government.
• If an investor has made an investment and immigrant visa is refused, their investment will be refunded.
• GTA will assist throughout this process up to and including the interview process if required.

For further details on the Federal Government Canadian Immigration Program please contact our London office.

Canadian Immigration Services

A total of 235,808 people immigrated to Canada in 2004, a seven percent increase over the previous year. This number was within the planning target range of 220,000 to 245,000 new immigrants. Fifty-seven percent of immigrants were in the economic class, 27% in the family class, and 14% were refugees.

The top three countries of origin (country of last permanent residence) were China (36,410), India (25,568) and the Philippines (13,299). The largest change among the leading countries of origin was the declining importance of South Korea, which ranked ninth overall compared to fifth in 2003. This represented a 25% decrease in the number of South Korean immigrants in 2004. Two top 10 countries recorded large increases: the United States (25%) and France (22%).

Immigration by Top Source Countries
(Principal Applicants, Spouses and Dependants)

Country of Last Permanent Residence	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total	2004 Rank
China , People’s Republic of	1	9,401	10,196	9,354	7,459	36,410
India	2	5,047	7,253	7,505	5,763	25,568
Philippines	4	3,112	4,158	3,604	2,425	13,299
Pakistan	3	2,806	4,066	3,423	2,501	12,796
United States	6	1,830	2,067	1,865	1,731	7,493
Iran	7	1,500	1,739	1,872	952	6,063
United Kingdom	9	1,318	1,737	1,709	1,292	6,056
Romania	8	1,474	1,792	1,518	871	5,655
South Korea	5	1,033	1,325	1,695	1,284	5,337
France	12	1,019	1,404	1,586	1,018	5,027
Total - Top Ten Only		28,540	35,737	34,131	25,296	123,704
Total - Other Countries		26,374	31,505	31,450	22,775	112,104
Total		54,914	67,242	65,581	48,071	235,808