Canada kills investor visa popular with Chinese

Canada is killing a decades-old investor program that had allowed scores of wealthy Chinese to move to the country over the years.

The program allowed rich foreign investors to apply for permanent residency in Canada if they had a minimum net worth of 1.6 million Canadian dollars ($1.5 million) and invested 800,000 Canadian dollars in the form of a multi-year, interest-free loan to the government.

But the government has decided to scrap the program after finding it provided little economic benefit.

"For decades, it has significantly undervalued Canadian permanent residence, providing a pathway to Canadian citizenship in exchange for a guaranteed loan that is significantly less than our peer countries require," the Canadian Ministry of Finance wrote in its 2014 budget report. "There is also little evidence that immigrant investors as a class are maintaining ties to Canada or making a positive economic contribution to the country."