Wealthy Chinese Are Fleeing the Country Like Mad

Wealthy Chinese Are Fleeing the Country Like Mad

A ChinaFile Infographic Translation

• February 3, 2015

https://www.chinafile.com/sites/defa...?itok=meuldyzV


Last year, Chinese millionaires maxed out the quota for EB-5 visas under the U.S.’s Immigrant Investor Program, and recently it was reported that 90% of Australia’s Significant Investor visas were given to Chinese nationals. All over the world, immigrant investor programs are being flooded with applicants from China.

https://www.chinafile.com/sites/defa...?itok=gjpoNNld
Since 1990, China has gone from being the 7^th largest exporter of immigrants to the 4^thlargest, an increase of more than 125%. Chinese people are emigrating in ever greater numbers, particularly the wealthy.

More and More Wealthy Chinese Want to Emigrate

Percentages of Rich People Who Leave the Country

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Meanwhile, a recent survey from Barclays shows that 47% of wealthy Chinese would like to emigrate. The response rate for the survey was 29% worldwide.

Percentage of Wealthy Individuals Who Plan to Move Abroad Within the Next 5 Years

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As more Chinese become wealthy, the number of people who want to emigrate is increasing. So where do wealthy Chinese want to go?

Rich Chinese Want to Go to North America

According to the Hurun Report’s “2014 Immigrant Investor White Paper,” the U.S. and Canada are the first choices for wealthy Chinese looking to emigrate.

Top Destinations for Wealthy Chinese Emigrants

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Since most high-net-worth Chinese accumulate their wealth in China, from a business perspective it is advantageous for them to remain close to China. So what is involved in getting an immigrant visa to a foreign country?

Requirements for Getting an Immigrant Investor Visa

Types of immigration include immigrant investor programs, skilled worker programs, study abroad, and irregular immigration. Most wealthy Chinese immigrate through investment.

Minimum Investment Required to Immigrate, by Country

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U.S.

EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa
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Canada

Immigrant Investor Plan (IIP) [cancelled 2014]
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Australia

Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa
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U.K.

Tier 1 (Investor) visa
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New Zealand

Investor visa
https://www.chinafile.com/sites/defa...?itok=J9HsTRI0


Singapore

Global Investor Programme (GIP)
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South Korea

Corporate Investment (D-8) visa
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For wealthy Chinese, who can easily be worth tens of millions, the threshold for immigrating isn’t high at all. And the thresholds of many countries, including America, have dropped considerably.

As the ranks of China’s upper class swell, the low thresholds for many countries’ immigrant investor programs are tempting more and more wealthy Chinese to join in the rush. According to government statistics compiled by CNN:

Total Number of Chinese to Receive Immigrant Investor Visas for the U.S., 2004-2014

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Note: The U.S. offers a yearly quota of 10,000 visas to foreign nationals who invest at least U.S.$500,000 in commercial enterprises under the EB-5 immigrant investor program.


In 2014 the number of applicants for the U.S. immigrant investor program hit an all-time high, and 85% of the applicants were Chinese. This was the first time the yearly quota maxed out, and the U.S. government temporarily ceased accepting applications.

A similar situation has arisen in Canada. Over the past few years, the number of applicants from China has exploded, and in February 2014 the Canadian governmentannounced that it will be calling a halt to their Immigrant Investor Plan (IIP) launched in 1986.
https://www.chinafile.com/sites/defa...?itok=nWkRouNf

As they rush to emigrate, wealthy Chinese are draining away large amounts of the country’s wealth...

Immigration Through Investment Depletes China’s Wealth

https://www.chinafile.com/sites/defa...?itok=kZbOMh8_




The money that wealthy Chinese invest abroad far exceeds the wealth that they bring back. So what are they investing in, exactly?

Chinese Investors Are Mad for Overseas Real Estate

In addition to getting immigrant visas by buying bonds, wealthy Chinese are particularly enamored of investing in real estate, and are buying up land overseas like mad. The Chinese are becoming major buyers of real estate in foreign countries.

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Late last year the U.K.'s Tier 1 (Investor) visa requirement was increased to £2 million. This graphic has been updated to reflect that change. The link to the New Zealand Investor Visa has been updated for clarification.

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Chinese migrants flocking to San Diego, stats show

By Tatiana Sanchez | 2:10 p.m. June 6, 2016

The number of unauthorized Chinese immigrants coming to San Diego has skyrocketed in recent years, the result of a lucrative smuggling industry, mass emigration from China and a diversifying pool of unauthorized immigrants settling in the United States.

Border Patrol agents in the San Diego sector apprehended an estimated 663 Chinese nationals between October and May, compared with 48 Chinese nationals last fiscal year, five in fiscal 2014 and eight in fiscal 2013, according to data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Before that, “we just weren’t getting (Chinese nationals),” said Wendi Lee, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol.

Lee said criminal organizations involved in smuggling maximize their profits by transporting Chinese immigrants, often charging each several thousands of dollars to get them across the border.

“We’re talking anywhere from $50,000 to $70,000 per person,” said Lee. “The further you travel from, the more arrangements these criminal organizations have to make, the more expensive it will get.”

China has become one of the world’s leading sources of immigrants, according to a February report by the Migration Policy Institute.

“High-skilled and high-value emigration from China is rising fast, while low-skilled and unskilled emigration is stagnant — a divergence that has been widening since the late 2000s.

The emigration rate of China’s highly educated population is now five times as high as the country’s overall rate.

China’s wealthy elites and growing middle class are increasingly pursuing educational and work opportunities overseas for themselves and their families, facilitated by their rising incomes,” the report said.

Many of the foreign students enrolled in American universities hail from China, for example, a result of their country’s emerging economy and growing middle class.

The Chinese account for the fifth-largest population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., according to an October report by MPI. An estimated 285,000 unauthorized Chinese immigrants resided in the country in 2013.

Generally, non-Mexican immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol are turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, which is responsible for determining whether they will remain detained or be released while their case is reviewed by an immigration court, according to ICE.

“ICE makes custody determinations on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all aspects of the person’s circumstances, including whether the individual represents a threat to public safety or is a possible flight risk,” the agency said.

Some request political asylum, others request to return to their home country.

Xiao Wang, a lecturer of Chinese Studies at UC San Diego, said a common factor of migration from China is economic. Small-business owners travel to sell products — perfumes, electronics and cosmetics — in the United States.

“It’s people who are trying to make money,” Wang said. “I think this is happening more and more. It’s closely related to Chinese culture.”
Once one person emigrates, more will follow, she said.

“In past years, it may have been that they take a boat, and there was a lot of hardship (associated with emigrating). Perhaps nowadays there are more advanced ways of entering the States,” Wang said.

But it’s important for people to keep in mind the bigger picture, according to Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at the New York University School of Law.

“It’s tempting to say that this is a dramatic rise. In the scheme of things, it’s not a dramatic rise,” he said. “(China) is the world’s largest country.

You would say it’s still a drop in the bucket. So it really depends what side you’re looking at this from.”

And while fewer people are immigrating to the U.S. from Mexico, there’s a growing number of people emigrating from countries such as China and India.

“If you just look at the general trend of Chinese migration, it’s one of the highest from all over the world,” he said.

“Whenever you have an increase of immigration, there is always an increase in illegal immigration because people want to join their families.”

Lee said some become victims of human trafficking.

Authorities discovered 12 unauthorized immigrants in the attic of a home in City Heights on May 6. They were being held without food, very little water and no access to a restroom, according to Lee. Five of the immigrants were Chinese.

All of the immigrants were arrested, along with two smugglers.

tatiana.sanchez@sduniontribune.com

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...se-immigrants/

Chinese illegals are unlikely to speak English fluently and so if they are employed, they are employed by Chinese legals. Perhaps their wealthy Chinese employers have decided their businesses have no future because of looming threats to the immigration rackets that keep them in labor. Could be a good sign.

As the Chinese flee China to the U.S.:

Chinese nationals invested $110 billion in US real estate in last 5 years

THEY ARE RENTING PROPERTIES TO ILLEGALS - NO ONE ELSE BREAKS OUR LAWS OF AIDING AND ABETTING ILLEGAL ENTRANTS BUT THE ASIANS - THEY KNEW BEFORE AMERICAN CITIZENS KNEW WE ARE BEING INVADED. PUT THAT TOGETHER.

Chinese buying up U.S. luxury hotels

Chinese buying up American companies fast

Chinese Group to Buy US Chicago Stock Exchange

Had heard months ago the Chinese are buying homes in Irvine, CA for cash and part of the draw is good schools.

80% Of All New Home Buyers In Irvine Are Chinese | Zero Hedge

www.zerohedge.com/.../80-all-new-home-buyers-irvine-are-...

Zero Hedge
Sep 30, 2015 - Chinese bought 32% of homes sold to foreign buyers in California, double ...

Indian immigrants and their children own half of the motels in the U.S.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jean

Had heard months ago the Chinese are buying homes in Irvine, CA for cash and part of the draw is good schools.

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They have to bring CASH with them because it is very hard to get a mortgage when you don't have a credit history in the U.S.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

They have to bring CASH with them because it is very hard to get a mortgage when you don't have a credit history in the U.S.

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So true, yes.

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• China
• Wealth
• Luxury

A lust for speed: Young, rich and Chinese in rural America

The latest obsession for China's 'Great Gatsby generation' in the US? They come to study but they also spend big on luxury cars.

• By Mark Johanson

8 June 2016

When Michael Kwan moved to the US from Hong Kong in 2012 to attend university his parents provided him with a generous budget for living expenses.

The amount was far above what he needed at the rural Midwestern campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, so Kwan used the excess cash to purchase an $80,000 Cadillac Escalade.

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Nicholas Lam, cofounder of New York Auto Depot, and his 2012 Mercedes SLS. He has built a business selling cars to Chinese students in the eastern US. (Credit: Tom Starkweather)


The idea was to “have a huge car and fit in with American culture,” he said. But Kwan quickly found himself entrenched in a secretive group of about a dozen luxury car owners on campus, all of whom were from mainland China and drove much smaller sports cars such as Nissan GT-Rs and BMW M5s. By the end of his freshman year, the now 22-year-old engineering major had traded in his Escalade for a sleeker $100,000 Maserati Quattroporte, which he brings to late night meet-ups organised on the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat.

The reaction from his American peers: envy.

The reaction from his American peers: envy.

“There are a lot of guys who want to sit in the passenger seat of my car and I’ll take them for a ride sometimes,” Kwan said, explaining that he and his Chinese friends tend to be more outwardly affluent than the locals.

The number of students from mainland China studying stateside during the 2014-2015 academic year was 304,040, an 11% increase year-on-year and five times as many as a decade ago, according to a report by the nonprofit Institute of International Education (IIE). The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign alone has nearly 5,000 Chinese students among its 44,000 student body, giving it one of the largest concentrations of Chinese students in the nation.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has one of the largest concentrations of Chinese students in the US, including a group of a dozen luxury car owners. (Credit: Alamy)


From the plains of the American Midwest to the big cities on either coast, Chinese students are not only changing the cultural landscape of American colleges, they’re also fuelling an economic boom. The IIE believes that Chinese students last year injected a staggering $9.8 billion into the US economy through tuition and fees, and the proof of their purchasing power is more evident than ever in the towns in which they study.

The dream car salesman
New York City is a common point of entry for many Chinese students arriving in the US, and Shanghai-native Nicholas Lam is often one of the first people they meet after they land. Lam graduated from Stony Brook University on Long Island in 2013 and has built a small empire selling Chinese students new and used luxury cars though his company New York Auto Depot.

The 25-year-old admits that he didn’t know much about cars when he first moved to the US in 2009. “But after purchasing one at a price that I later found out was very unfair I decided to learn everything I could and start my own business,” he explained.

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About 95% of New York Auto Depot's clients are Chinese international students. Cars in the $100,000 range make up 20% of sales. (Credit: Tom Starkweather)


Lam now has eight full-time employees and 54 promoters at universities up and down the East Coast who help him to sell exotic cars to foreigners like the Lamborghini Huracan (with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $199,800). “We sell cars on this level about once a month,” he boasted, adding that luxury cars in the $100,000 range make up about 20% of his sales. Lam said that 95% of his clients are Chinese international students, mostly at universities between Boston and Washington, DC.

Chinese students in the US purchased just under $15.5 billion worth of new and used cars in the 2012-13 school year, according to the latest data provided by market research firm CNW Research. Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and BMW were, far and away, the most preferred brands.

‘The generation of Great Gatsby’
If there’s anyone who’s been following the luxury car trend closely it’s Timothy Lin. The 27-year-old runs a popular Chinese-language digital media platform called CollegeDaily that’s aimed at students studying abroad in America. It reaches more than 600,000 people – double the number of students who are actually stateside – and delves into everything from current events (such as the rise of Donald Trump) to social tips (like how to use dating app Tinder) to the latest designer goods (including luxury cars).

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Dylan Gao, Shawn Mao, Nicholas Lam and Victor Yang with their cars: a 2015 BMW M4, 2015 Nissan GTR, 2012 Mercedes SLS, and a 2011 BMW M3. (Credit: Tom Starkweather)


Lin said that while American students might view luxury cars as an expensive folly, Chinese students see them as the bargain of a lifetime.

“What if I told you that if you moved abroad you could buy a Ferrari for half or even a third of the price back home? What would you do?” he asked. “You’d buy that Ferrari because it’s a huge discount and a once in a lifetime chance to experience a car you might never afford otherwise.”

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Shawn Mao opens the hood of his 2015 Nissan GTR. (Credit: Tom Starkweather)


Exorbitant taxes on luxury goods in mainland China can mean that a Ferrari 458 that retails for $290,000 in Boston costs more than $700,000 in Beijing. Consequently, some Chinese students in the so-called “rich second generation” look at their four-year American college experience as the time to try out a dream car, buy designer clothing and live out a discounted version of the luxury lifestyle.

A lot of people in China are making new money so they want to buy luxury things.

Lin, who graduated from Ohio’s Miami University in 2012, views the Chinese students in America right now as The Generation of Great Gatsby. “We’re acting out an American history that was happening 100 years ago,” he explained. “A lot of people in China are making new money so they want to buy luxury things, luxury clothes, luxury foods, luxury cars. They want to try all the new things.”

Luxury brands are well aware of this seemingly insatiable desire. High-spending Chinese students often serve as unofficial opinion leaders for their friends back home, and brands have done everything they can to capitalise on their new found purchasing power.

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"A lot of people in China are making new money so they want to buy luxury things, luxury clothes, luxury foods, luxury cars," said Timothy Lin, of College Daily. (Credit: iStock)


Bloomingdales recently organised a fashion show for Chinese students in the Chicago area, high end department store Bergdorf Goodman sponsored Chinese New Year celebrations at Columbia and NYU, and State College Motors (which sells Mercedes-Benz, Audi and other luxury vehicles) sponsored an annual car show for the Chinese Undergraduate Student Association at Pennsylvania State University.

‘An economic development story’
The luxury desires of Chinese students is perhaps most evident in one of the nation’s least ethnically diverse enclaves: the American Midwest. A recent report from the Brookings Institution found that nine of the 25 American universities with the highest Chinese populations belong to the Big Ten, a group of 14 universities, primarily located in the Midwest.

During the recession these large, mostly public, universities in Middle America heavily recruited international students whose substantially higher tuitions help subsidise their American peers.

Enrolment has snowballed ever since.

The University of Iowa, for example, leapfrogged from fewer than 600 Chinese students in 2007 to nearly 3,000 in 2016. The impact of this dramatic shift — including the influx of luxury cars in campus parking lots — has made headlines across America.

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Not far from the University of Iowa campus, crops outnumber people. More than 3,000 Chinese students attended the university in 2016. (Credit: Alamy)


“There is this kind of economic development story unfolding,” said Tom Snee of the University of Iowa News Services. “You have people coming here and, in a lot of ways, really changing the face of Iowa City.”

Snee said there’s a shopping mall food court one block from his office with 10 restaurants. “Eight of them are Chinese,” he noted, adding that many of them used to be empty. The small university town has only one Starbucks, but there are three bubble tea shops. Iowa’s car dealerships, meanwhile, report a strong customer base of international students, according to Brittany Bungert at the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association.

Need a car? Check WeChat
As graduation approaches this spring, so, too, does a flurry of activity on WeChat as many international students sell off their cars and head back to China.

“Some people who don’t care about price and need to sell fast will sell it back to the dealership, but most will try to sell on WeChat or with someone like me,” said Lam of New York Auto Depot.

Kwan, at the University of Illinois, agreed. He said he’ll probably sell his car after he graduates this May and before he moves back home. If he does, you’ll need to sign on to WeChat to make an offer.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201...-rural-america

More Chinese Immigrants Are Coming To The U.S...Through Mexico?