Asia has the highest number of migrants in the world and China is the largest source of outbound migration, according to the 2015 Report on International Chinese Migration by the Social Sciences Academic Press China.
American dream alive and well among Chinese
There are around 60 million overseas Chinese living in USA, Canada, Australia, Korea, Japan and Singapore.
In 2013, a total of 133,000 Chinese received permanent residency in three countries - roughly 71,798 in the USA, 34,000 in Canada and 27,334 in Australia.
The USA remained the top destination choice for Chinese migrants, and Chinese became the second largest immigrant group after Mexicans in 2013, accounting for 7.2% of all US permanent residence permits issued that year.
China has been Canada’s largest immigration source for the past 15 years and has also become the largest immigration source for the UK for the last two years.
Investment immigration visa becomes status symbol for Chinese
Concerns about the Chinese economy, environment and education have fueled demand for migration and the number of Chinese migrants is expected to continue to grow in the near future.
China is the largest source of investment immigration to the USA, having grown from 26.7% in 2008 to 85.4% in 2014. Some 9,128 of the 10,692 investment visas issued by the US in 2014 were for Chinese, up 46% against 2,878 visas issued in 2013.
Compared to other forms of immigration to the USA, investment immigration is attractive for offering a higher pass rate for interviews, shorter processing time, lower requirements for secure funding, education, language proficiency and age limits, and eligibility for social benefits including education.
Since 2007, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange relaxed the individual limit for foreign exchange from US$20,000 to US$50,000 annually. Meanwhile experimental zones for direct individual overseas investment have been launched in places like Wenzhou and Shanghai.
China becoming attractive destination for expats
Meanwhile, China is also becoming an attractive destination for foreign relocations thanks to its improved international image and economy in recent years. The number of foreign residents in China has been increasing annually at an average of 3.9% over the last 10 years, and there were 848,500 foreign nationals living in China in 2013, according to UN estimates.
China was ranked third in the “most attractive countries and regions to live in for expats” in HSBC’s 2014 Expat Survey Report, after Switzerland and Singapore and ahead of developed nations like the US, Japan, France and the UK.(Translation by David)
