How does the US investment program differ from the Canadian program?

Canada requires an investment of $800,000 and a net worth of $1,600,000 to qualify under its investment program. In general, processing of Canadian investor applications can take more than two years and the investor must have earned the funds used for the investment. Processing for the US program can be achieved in less than one year, and there is no requirement that the investor earned the money (for example, the funds may have been a gift).

The Canadian program does offer a couple of advantages not found in the US program: 1) the Canadian federal or provincial government guarantees the return of the funds; and 2) financing options are offered to substantially reduce the amount of investment. While citizenship can be acquired quicker in Canada than in the US (after 3 years of physical presence out of 4; the US requires the elapse of 5 years, with 2 ½ years spent in the United States), Canada has more stringent requirements to maintain permanent residence status (two years out of five should be spent in Canada) than the United States.

For more information on the differences between the U.S. investment program and similar programs offered in other countries, contact an EB-5 visa application lawyer of White & Associates at 818-730-3540.