Rich foreigners seeking to gain Canadian residency through a controversial Quebec program are being advised to hide questionable assets, lie about their intention to settle in the province and even adopt a new identity, according to a hidden-camera investigation by Radio-Canada.
The investigation revealed that immigration advisers have counselled clients to do things such as change their name, shift funds to accounts in the Caribbean and not declare them to tax authorities or immigration agents.
“We have a lot of clients who have a lot of assets who do this,” said one consultant at one of the biggest firms in the industry in a conversation captured on hidden camera.
The revelations pose troubling questions for the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program (QIIP), a special immigration track under which foreigners with at least $2 million in assets can get Canadian residency for themselves and their family if they agree to loan $1.2 million to the Quebec government.
Last year alone, more than 5,000 people obtained permanent residency through the program. Typically, two-thirds of those accepted each year come from mainland China. However, most successful applicants through the Quebec program don’t actually settle in the province.
