Immigration to Victoria

Immigration is nothing new to Victoria, with diverse cultures represented and coexisting harmoniously. Averaging a very consistent net growth in our population of approximately 1% annually, we are a chosen destination increasingly for our mild weather and island lifestyle. We attract not only retirees, as commonly known, but also many high tech businesses now making up the largest sector of our economy, doubling tourism and government surprisingly. For many years we have observed significant immigration of Chinese citizens to the lower mainland, mostly in Richmond and more recently into high end Vancouver neighborhoods. Comparatively, over the past couple decades, we have seen only a small fraction of new Chinese immigrants choosing Greater Victoria and Vancouver Island as their destination. That seems to have changed! We have recently seen a surge of immigration particularly with intense demand for small qualifying businesses complying with the British Columbia PNP Program, which in a nutshell allows those wishing to immigrate the ability to invest at least $200,000 in a business that has been in operation with the same owner for at least 5 years and with at least one full time non-family employee. Total qualifying investment can include acquisition price, inventory, upgrades, marketing and even management and training fees to the departing seller. Evidence suggest that they literally have purchased all available for sale qualifying businesses in Vancouver and are now seeking opportunities in other areas of BC. The Neal Estate Team’s Commercial Division is working with Immigration Consultants and have facilitated 6 transactions of this nature in the past 6 months alone. Join me in welcoming these educated, wealthy, hard-working entrepreneurs and their families. If you have a small business and are interested in an exit strategy and you might consider selling, please call us today for a no obligation consultation.