arundasp said:
Why car is not an asset ?
You’re not the first person to ask why “assets” such as house and car cannot be shown as assets for migration purposes - you certainly won’t be the last, either.
Here’s my understanding why only “liquid” assets are considered assets for immigration purposes. Assets can be classified into liquid assets and illiquid assets. Cash, stocks, bonds, etc, are examples of liquid assets, whereas houses and cars are considered illiquid assets. What distinguishes the two is that liquid assets can be converted to FAIR MARKET VALUE OF CASH QUICKLY. Illiquid assets, on the other hand, are usually hard to do so. For example, a stock, which for example traded, say at$ 25 yesterday, can be sold today around that price fairly quickly. A house – an illiquid asset – takes, usually, several months to be sold (If you try to sell it quickly you’ll most likely sell the house well below fair market value).
Additionally, most people cannot claim their houses and cars as fully owned assets. Why? Because most buy homes and cars and houses through loans. The lender (the bank/ financial institution that gave the loan) has right to the house or loan until the loan has been fully paid off.
Furthermore, questions regarding the value of an asset such as a car or house can also arise. For example, say a person who bought a house on a mortgage has fully paid off the loan. What’s the value of the house? Is it the value of the mortgage that he paid off or is it what the value of what he can sell it at present? If it’s the latter, then he needs to get the house appraised. And as anyone who has ever gotten a home appraised would say, there is a lot of subjectivity with respect to appraisals. Not wanting a subjective assessment of an asset is probably another reason why immigration processes are less keen on including illiquid assets such as houses and cars as assets.
These are some of the reasons why illiquid assets such as houses and cars are not considered assets for immigration purposes, while liquid assets such as cash, stocks, and bonds are.
Hope this gives you clarity!