Many Vietnamese firms said they can dodge the law to transmit money abroad for their clients who are applicants for immigrant investor programs offered by the U.S. and other countries.
Such money transmissions are necessary for applicants to prove their financial capability as required by such programs as the U.S.’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and two other programs of Canada.
Under the EB-5 program, there are two minimum qualifying investment rates: US$1 million as the general rate, while $500,000 is applied to investors in a high-unemployment or rural area in the U.S.
Meanwhile, applicants for the Canadian Immigrant Investor Program must have a minimum of CA$1.6 million, while those for Canada’s Immigrant Entrepreneur Program must demonstrate a legally acquired personal net worth of at least CA$300,000.
In order to transfer money in foreign currencies from Vietnam to other countries as overseas investment, the transferor must obtain an overseas investment license granted by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), said Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).