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2010-07-28 09:49:37
By Chris Hogg BBC Shanghai Correspondent
Porsche cars parked in Shanghai China's wealthy say it is easy to find enough
cash to move to the West
Growing numbers of rich Chinese are applying for permanent residency in Western
countries under programmes that allow investors with a high net worth to "buy"
citizenship.
The number of Chinese investors granted permanent residency in Canada has
doubled in two years.
Ottawa has now halted all applications to its federal immigrant investor
programme while it consults on plans to double the funds needed to obtain a
visa.
Applicants are still allowed to apply to a scheme run by the province of
Quebec, however,
And at seminars run by visa consultancy firms in China, advisers are
encouraging people to apply for the scheme before Quebec also doubles its
minimum requirements to match the federal government's proposals.
Cash and experience
Visa consultant Vincent Chen The average age is 40 to 45, says visa consultant
Vincent Chen
On a rainy Saturday afternoon, in a conference room at a five-star Shanghai
hotel, more than 30 potential "investor applicants" arrive to hear how they
might be able to exchange their cash for a foreign passport.
Many are in their 30s. There are several young couples. Most are professionals.
Few are dressed smartly. They appear to be a pretty average cross-section of
Shanghai's moneyed middle class.
They are shown a video that the visa company has made to promote Canada, and
the country's visa application service.
"You don't have to worry about integrating," the video's commentary declares.
"You don't even need to speak English."
Then the advisers go through the detail.
The Quebec scheme requires applicants to show they have a net worth of
C$800,000 (US$776,000; 502,000) and they must invest up to C$400,000.
They also need to show they have had two years' experience in management.
Different requirements
That's considerably cheaper, they point out, than the UK, which requires
investors to invest 1m ($1.5m) for five years.
Continue reading the main story
Start Quote
People hate you [here] if you have money, and the rich bully the poor
End Quote David Lu Telecommunications manager
There are pros and cons of each of the countries' schemes.
Canada's applications currently take about two-and-a-half years, but the
financial requirements are the lowest in the world.
The United States requires applicants to invest up to $1m ( 646,000) in a
business that creates at least 10 new jobs. Applications take up to
one-and-a-half years.
The UK's application process is the quickest. It can be completed in just three
months, according to the visa consultants at the seminar, and there is no
interview.
But it is also the most costly.
"Usually, the applicants are business owners or senior managers," explains
Vincent Chen, senior consultant for the Visa Consulting Group.
"The average age is 40 to 45, but it's getting younger."
Easily achievable
Canada has not changed its "immigrant investor" programme requirements since
1991.
Woman walks past Cartier shop in Shanghai Some just want the passport before
they move back to China
"Back then, C$800,000 was a huge amount," Mr Chen says.
"But now, with the increases in property prices in cities like Shanghai, people
don't think it's that hard to achieve.
"That's why you've seen the numbers granted permanent residency have doubled."
Other factors are also at work here.
Increasingly, those who come to the seminars have friends who have already
emigrated.
Reasons to move
David Lu, 38, a manager in a telecommunications company, has come to the
seminar to find out more about how to apply to move to Canada.
Continue reading the main story
Start Quote
China is losing the talent it really needs
End Quote Dr Wang Huiyao Centre for China and Globalisation
At the end of the session he starts filling in the forms eagerly.
He has positive reasons to move. Some of his relatives already live in Canada.
And during holidays there he has enjoyed the lower pollution levels there.
Also, he says, the Canadians are "a lot more relaxed" than the Chinese.
There are other reasons though why he wants to leave China.
"People hate you [here] if you have money, and the rich bully the poor," he
says.
"Another issue for me is health care," he adds.
"I don't think anyone interested in moving abroad would worry about the costs.
We want their better quality medical care."
Brain drain
Fabio Xu, 30, runs a paint company in Shanghai.
He says he wants to move to the US "because of the better medical care there,
and better educational opportunities for my child".
"In China, all my money goes on my mortgage, food, clothing and travel," he
says, "but in the States there's generally more freedom. I would be able to
develop myself more creatively and get more out of life."
Some Chinese academics worry that China is losing its brightest and most able
citizens, as well as huge amounts of money.
Last year 1,823 investors were granted citizenship in Canada under the
immigrant investor programme.
Even if they had only invested the minimum amount required, that would mean
almost US$700m had been taken out of the country.
"China is losing the talent it really needs," says Dr Wang Huiyao, the director
general of the Centre for China and Globalisation.
"As China tries to develop its economy and change it from 'made in China' to
'created in China', it needs these people to build the country."
In touch with China
Dr Wang believes many people want a foreign passport because it is so hard to
travel freely around the world on Chinese documents.
Indeed, one woman at the seminar is anxious to know how quickly she could get
her Canadian passport, so she could return home to China.
For her it appears the motivation is not to get a new home abroad, but to
obtain a passport that might make life more convenient.
A Western diplomat in Shanghai offers another explanation for the increase in
these kinds of visa applications.
The internet, he says, means you can live abroad, but never leave China.
"You can wake up in the morning and browse the People's Daily online over
breakfast. You can trade your stocks on the Shanghai exchange with the click of
a mouse," he says.
"You can chat all day to relatives for free on Skype, or run your business
remotely."
His point is that emigration is no longer necessarily the emotional wrench that
it once was for people.
The need to assimilate in their adopted country for practical reasons is not as
great as it once was - which in itself could yet pose its own challenges for
Western societies.