Evaluation of the Federal Business Immigration Program Evaluation Division June 2014 Research and Evaluation Research Ci4-127/2014E-PDF 978-1-100-25087-8 Ref. No.: E2-2013 Table of contents Acronyms ........................................................................................................ iv Executive summary ................................................................................................. v Evaluation of the Federal Business Immigration Program - Management Response Action Plan ........................................................................................................ xi 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Purpose of the Evaluation ..................................................................................... 1 1.2. Program Profile ................................................................................................. 1 1.2.1. Program description and objectives ......................................................................... 1 1.2.2. Governance ...................................................................................................... 4 1.2.3. Beneficiaries .................................................................................................... 5 1.2.4. Numbers of BIP admissions .................................................................................... 5 1.2.5. Characteristics of BIP immigrants ........................................................................... 6 1.2.6. BIP costs, 2006/07 to 2011/12 ................................................................................ 9 2. Methodology .............................................................................................. 10 2.1. Evaluation Issues and Questions ............................................................................ 10 2.2. Evaluation Scope ............................................................................................. 11 2.3. Data Collection Methods ..................................................................................... 11 2.3.1. Literature and document review .......................................................................... 12 2.3.2. Key informant interviews ................................................................................... 12 2.3.3. Case study site visits ......................................................................................... 12 2.3.4. Telephone survey ............................................................................................. 13 2.3.5. Administrative data analysis ............................................................................... 13 2.3.6. Analysis of program costs ................................................................................... 14 2.4. Limitations and Considerations ............................................................................. 14 3. Relevance ................................................................................................. 17 3.1. Continued Need ............................................................................................... 17 3.1.1. Rationale for the SE class under BIP ....................................................................... 18 3.2. BIP Consistency with Priorities ............................................................................. 19 3.3. BIP Consistency with Federal Role ......................................................................... 20 4. Management Outcomes ................................................................................ 22 4.1. BIP Application Management ................................................................................ 22 4.1.1. BIP immigration levels target .............................................................................. 22 4.1.2. BIP application processing and inventory management................................................. 23 4.1.3. Average processing times and perceptions of timeliness ............................................... 25 4.2. Application Processing and Effectiveness ................................................................. 27 4.2.1. Coordination .................................................................................................. 27 4.2.2. Consistency in processing ................................................................................... 28 4.2.3. Training of Visa Officers .................................................................................... 29 4.2.4. Objectivity .................................................................................................... 30 4.2.5. Clarity of application process .............................................................................. 30 4.3. Monitoring the EN Class...................................................................................... 30 5. Program Performance .................................................................................. 32 5.1. Economic Outcomes .......................................................................................... 32 5.1.1. Introduction to Economic Outcomes ....................................................................... 32 5.1.2. Self-employment activities ................................................................................. 34 5.1.3. Investment capital mobilized through the IIP ............................................................ 46 5.1.4. Post-admission investment.................................................................................. 49 5.1.5. Employment income ......................................................................................... 51 5.1.6. Taxable income and taxes paid ............................................................................ 53 5.1.7. EI and SA benefits received ................................................................................. 54 - i - 5.1.8. Profile of income sources ................................................................................... 56 5.1.9. Summary ....................................................................................................... 57 5.2. Interprovincial Mobility & Out-migration ................................................................. 57 5.2.1. Interprovincial mobility ..................................................................................... 58 5.2.2. Out-migration ................................................................................................. 59 5.3. Unintended Impacts .......................................................................................... 61 6. Resource Utilization .................................................................................... 62 6.1. Efficiency ...................................................................................................... 62 6.1.1. Program budget and costs .................................................................................. 62 6.1.2. Efficiency of BIP .............................................................................................. 63 6.2. Selection Criteria and Alternatives ........................................................................ 64 7. Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................................. 67 7.1. Relevance ..................................................................................................... 67 7.2. Management Outcomes ...................................................................................... 67 7.3. Program Outcomes ........................................................................................... 68 7.4. Recommendations ............................................................................................ 69 Appendix A: Business Immigration Program Logic Model ................................................ 73 Appendix B: Evaluation Issues, Questions and Indicators ............................................... 75 Appendix C: IMDB Capture Rate ............................................................................... 78 Appendix D: Weighting of the Survey Results .............................................................. 79 Appendix E: Glossary of Economic Concepts ............................................................... 81 Appendix F: Income Profile .................................................................................... 85 List of tables Table 1.1: Summary of criteria for BIP classes ...................................................................... 3 Table 1.2: Number of BIs admitted by class and year, 2007-2011 (Principal Applicants) ..................... 5 Table 1.3: Characteristics of BIP, FSW & PNP Immigrants, 2007-2011 (Principal Applicants) ................ 7 Table 1.4: Total annual federal costs for BIP (Federal and Quebec BIP cases) by fiscal year ................ 9 Table 2.1: Summary of interviews completed ..................................................................... 12 Table 2.2: Interview data analysis scale ........................................................................... 12 Table 4.1: Government of Canada levels target for Economic Immigrants, 2007 to 2011 (number of persons) .................................................................................................... 23 Table 4.2: Processing of BIP applications, 2007 to 2011, number of cases ...................................