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• Australia: Requires a $1.5-million investment in a company, but the investor must also be under 45 years of age, have assets of $2.25 million, have a “vocational level of English-language” proficiency, and proof of business experience. Australia has other programs for older investors, though these have greater restrictions. For instance, those over age 55 can’t have dependents.

• New Zealand: Limits applicants to age 65 or younger, requires they can speak English and make a $1.5-million investment in a five-year government bond. They must also prove they intend to settle there, and have the ability to do so.

• France: Allows investors to live there for up to 10 years by investing at least 10 million euros ($14.4 million) in “industrial or commercial assets” in France. Other European countries are less stringent.

• Germany: Requires a one million euro investment that will create at least 10 jobs, but applicants must also prove they have health insurance and enough money to support themselves. Only after holding a five-year residency permit, and showing they can speak German, can they apply for permanent residency status.

Papademetriou said many countries rushed into the programs starting in the 1980s but have since toughened restrictions or, in the Canadian government’s case, cancelled the program after realizing the benefits were marginal.

One of the issues touching Vancouver, he said, is not unusual among countries that have launched investor programs and then faced pressures due to an influx of money, especially from Asia.

“When you have hyperinflation in housing, and you have the local population not getting on first step ladder to owning a home, that creates additional resentment.”

Pressure to end investor programs is often countered by financial interests that benefit, he said.

Lawyers and consultants, such as those acting as brokers in the Quebec program, “make a lot of money out of these things.”

poneil@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/poneilinottawa