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Rich and elite make China emigration leader

By Cheng Anqi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-06-08 14:45

China tops the world with exporting immigrants, with the rich and intellectual making up the biggest part, the Southern Weekly reported.

The rocketing housing price in Beijing, which costs more than 30,000 yuan per square meter for a new home within the second ring road, has prompted some emigration agencies to market a new idea – going abroad instead of buying a house.

“Theoretically, all the Beijing residents living inside the second ring road meet the condition to immigrate to the U.S.,” said President Qi Lixin from Beijing Entry and Exit Service Association.

According to the latest statistics from the association, Chinese applicants for the EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors to the United States reached 1,000 in 2009, doubling the 500 who applied in 2008. It was in that year that 147 magnates raised $73.5 million, with each contributing $500,000, to invest in the expansion of Philadelphia Convention Center. But due to a suspicion of illegal immigration, all applicants were turned down.

But the dream of moving to the United States is still strong among many Chinese. Statistics released by U.S. Department of State show 70 percent of the 4,218 EB-5 visas issued in 2009 were applicants from China. Canada also allocated more than 1,000 of its targeted 2,055 immigrant investors to China in 2009, the report said.

Besides, Europe, despite having higher requirements, also attracts the attention of wealthy Chinese families. Huang Xin, an alias for a lawyer’s assistant in an emigration service agency in Holland, who did not want their name published, said rich people from China have become their best clients and they are invited to explore investment projects in Holland with free air tickets and hotel accommodation.

In 2007, the report of Global Politics and Security from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences showed that China suffered from a huge ‘brain-drain’ as it became the largest immigrant export country in the world.

Since 1978, there have been 1.06 million Chinese students studying overseas, of which, only 275,000 came back. Some worry this may lead to a further ‘brain-drain’ as China inevitably shoulders more global responsibility amid its economic rise.

The top reasons that attract Chinese emigrants are identified as the high-quality education, clean air, safe food, asset transfers, and the sense of security in foreign countries.