Cashed-up Asians are lining up to get into Canada and can pump more than a billion dollars into the economy if visa processing times are improved, an internal Immigration Canada memo states.
At the same time, a report out of Hong Kong said Chinese citizens flushed with cash are on a multibillion-dollar binge of overseas luxury-home in long-favoured destinations such as Canada and Australia.
Vancouver, Canada has become a hot spot according to Robert Chen, a realtor at Regent Park Fairchild Realty.
Chen told the South China Morning Post  the B.C. of British Columbia now stands for “Bring Cash”, since mainlanders typically snap up properties in Vancouver with hard currency.
The Immigration Canada memo obtained by Richard Kurland, a lawyer and one of Canada’s top immigration analysts, underlines the long queues at Canadian diplomatic missions in Asia for people wanting into the country.
It was written last August by Jim Versteegh, the Immigration Program Manager at the Consulate General of Canada in Hong Kong .
“As Finance Minister Flaherty wraps up his visit to China (he is in Shanghai today) promoting stronger business ties and encouraging Chinese investment in Canada (‘Canada is a good place to invest’, as Minister Flaherty is quoted as saying in China) it appears to be the opportune time to bring to your attention a rather dramatic development in our investor program, ” wrote Versteegh.
“If the federal government is interested in attracting dollars into approved investment funds in Canada, the potential from China is huge as our intake suggests. If we were to approve only half of the federal investor cases we currently have in process in Hong Kong they would together contribute a billion dollars to Canada’s coffers. And that is only the minimum investment that the applicants would need to make. Their actual assets are considerably higher.”
 “At our current target levels it will take us at least five and a half years to process the applications now coming in, and then only if the numbers don’t continue to go up. Some of the new applicants may simply be looking for some insurance in case the economy does not recover sufficiently in China and may not be committed to moving to Canada once we reach the selection stage,” states the memo.
It is highly unlikely, however, that the serious ones would wait over five years for our decision. (Australia and New Zealand, among others, are beckoning).”
“If we as a department remain committed to this program we will need to process the applications that are coming in and we will need larger targets in Hong Kong to do so. We are certainly willing but are not presently resourced to deliver higher numbers.”
“We recognize the importance of the NV program (especially in the current economic climate and in light of efforts by the federal government to attract more investment to Canada) and want to bring to your attention that we have the potential, and the opportunity, to produce larger numbers next year and beyond. To do so, however, we will need to cut back significantly on other programs or be given incremental resources.”
The Hong Kong memo follows another obtained by Kurland which stated that close to 600,000 skilled workers around the world are also waiting in line to get into Canada with some processing missions showing visa queues that could stretch up to 15 years.
Meanwhile, The South China Morning Post reported this month that  China’s economy has been minting millionaires, and its relatively strong currency and soaring domestic housing market has sent rich mainland investors flooding overseas to get more for their money.
Property agents overseas say wealthy mainlanders out to take advantage of falling real estate prices are the perfect clients: they make decisions quickly, pay in cash, focus on high-end property and don’t ask for discounts, the paper said.
“We have seen a growing number of mainland couples aged between 30 and 40 years old come here to buy properties for investment purposes,” Robert Chen, told the paper.
Previously, sales were dominated by Chinese buying homes to accommodate their children while they studied in Vancouver.
To capture the mainland buying interest, Chen founded Regent Park Fairchild Realty in Vancouver, catering to the wealthy.
“Mainlanders own 60 per cent of the 100 most expensive houses in prestigious areas in Vancouver,” he said.
Prices for houses with net areas of 6,000 square feet in West Vancouver have risen 150 per cent to C$2.5 million (HK$19.19 million) now, up from C$1 million three years ago.
“Prices are rising due to the growing demand from the mainlanders,” he said.
Most of Chen’s clients come from major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and even Dalian.
Chen said most of his clients buy a cheaper unit for around C$600,000 for their first investment to test the market.
“Then, one or two years later, they will aim at houses worth C$3.5 million,” he said. “They make very fast decisions and will not ask for a discount.”