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Because immigrants to Vancouver who lack proficiency in English suffer a long-lasting income penalty, more funding for settlement programs that emphasize language skills is needed to speed their integration into the economic mainstream. That’s the principal recommendation of a study, The Economic Integration of Immigrants in Metropolitan Vancouver, by University of B.C. geography professor Daniel Hiebert for the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Or at least Hiebert says that’s the most important issue emerging from his analysis of the IMDB database that links immigrant landing information with their tax records.

But it could be argued that the most surprising finding, and just as relevant from a public policy perspective, is the failure of those arriving under the business category to achieve the objectives governments expect from this privileged class of immigration. Perhaps Hiebert didn’t want to revisit territory he’d already explored in an earlier study, Big Potential, small reward, but the myth that wealthy immigrants will have greater success and contribute more to the Canadian economy merits a second look.
Generally, immigrants to Canada, with the exception of refugees and those arriving under family re-unification, are graded on educational attainment, language facility, job experience, age, personal adaptability and whether employment has been pre-arranged. Out of a possible 100 points, a skilled worker needs 67 to pass. A business class immigrant, however, needs half the number of points or less.
To qualify as a business immigrant, an applicant may be an investor, entrepreneur or self-employed. An investor must demonstrate business experience, have a net worth of $800,000 and deposit $400,000 with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The deposit is returned without interest in five years. The government pays commissions to facilitators at financial institutions to help applicants finance the deposit. To immigrate as an entrepreneur, an applicant must have a minimum net worth of $300,000, at least two years business experience and make a commitment to own and operate a business in Canada within three years that will contribute to the economy and create at least one job. The self-employed category tends to be the preserve of professionals, performers and sports celebrities.
Between 2002 and 2005, about 12 per cent of immigrants to Vancouver were business class, compared with five per cent for Canada as a whole. We might expect a high level of economic achievement among Vancouver’s immigrants, Hiebert says, given the large cohort of individuals who are affluent or successful enough to qualify as business-class immigrants. They could also be expected to propel economic growth in Vancouver given the entrepreneurial energy and capital they are supposed to generate.
However, this is far from the case. Barely one-quarter hold a university degree and only a third can communicate in an official language, compared with 71 per cent of skilled worker immigrants who are graduates and and 80 per cent who can speak one or both official languages. Moreover, the income level of business-class immigrants is the lowest of all groups.
“It suggests that business-class immigrants are not achieving economic success despite their entrepreneurial background and/or considerable wealth,” the study says.
Indeed, of the 14,565 principal applicant business-class immigrants arriving in Vancouver between 1989 and 2004, the average income was just $13,513, compared with $33,839 for skilled workers. It is reasonable that business-class immigrants would not report employment earnings since they didn’t come to Vancouver to find work, but neither do they report much income from self-employment.
A 2006 study by Statistics Canada found that four out of 10 business-class immigrants admitted between 1980 and 2000 left Canada within 10 years of their arrival. Unless federal and provincial governments can provide evidence that the business-class immigration program offers benefits to Canada, B.C. and Vancouver, it should be scrapped forthwith.
henchin@vancouversun.com
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